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Fish and seafood from Philippines

Balao-balaobalao-balao

Balao-balao is whole shrimp salted at 20 % of their weight, mixed with 4.8 times their weight of cooked rice and a little more salt, and packed in wide-mouth glass jars for 7 to 10 days at 28 °C. Lactobacilli make lactic acid from the rice, which preserves and softens the shrimp, and the pH is listed as falling from 7.52 to 3.80. Wikipedia says it is stir-fried and eaten with rice or used as a dip.

Fully documentedFish and seafood7 days – 10 days

Recipe

Balao-balao, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Judgefloro, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe amounts are the method listed in table 2 of Narzary et al. 2021; the 1:4.8 ratio is unsalted shrimp to rice by weight.
Shrimp (Penaeus indicus or Macrobrachium sp.), whole1 part by weight (unsalted)[narzary2021]
Salt, for the first salting20 % of the shrimp weight[narzary2021]
Cooked rice4.8 parts by weight[narzary2021]
Salt, mixed in thoroughly before packing3 %The table does not say 3 % of what[narzary2021]
Angkak (red yeast rice)Wikipedia lists it among the ingredients; the table in Narzary et al. does not[wp-balao]

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days – 10 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: salt moving into a fishSalt 20 %

What changes: Salt is added to the whole shrimp at one fifth of their weight

Step 1 of 4
Salt the whole shrimp
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
20 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacilli
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Balao-balao is whole shrimp salted at 20 % of their weight, mixed with 4.8 times their weight of cooked rice and a little more salt, and packed in wide-mouth glass jars for 7 to 10 days at 28 °C. Lactobacilli make lactic acid from the rice, which preserves and softens the shrimp, and the pH is listed as falling from 7.52 to 3.80. Wikipedia says it is stir-fried and eaten with rice or used as a dip. Made in 4 steps over 7 days – 10 days. The longest step, pack in wide-mouth jars and ferment, takes 7–10 days (Narzary Y 2021) and runs at 28 °C (Narzary Y 2021). Salt is 20 % (Narzary Y 2021). Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Pediococcus cerevisiae and Lactobacillus plantarum do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–10 daysReported[narzary2021]Pack in wide-mouth jars and ferment
Temperature28 °CReported[narzary2021]Pack in wide-mouth jars and ferment
Salt20 %Reported[narzary2021]Salt the whole shrimp
AciditypH 7.5 → 3.8Reported[narzary2021]Pack in wide-mouth jars and ferment

What makes this one different

Balao-balao is made with whole shrimp and about 4.8 parts rice to 1 part shrimp, where burong isda uses freshwater fish and rice (Narzary et al.).

Related ferments

Safety

Narzary et al. list pH 7.52–3.80 for balao-balao, fermented 7 to 10 days at 28 °C. The same review reports elevated histamine and tyramine in fermented seafood made from anchovy, squid, clam and shrimp. It also says Clostridium botulinum, Salmonella, Listeria and Staphylococcus aureus have been reported from many fermented fish products. This page records a practice, not a tested home recipe.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [narzary2021] Narzary Y., Das S., Goyal A., Lam S., Sarma H., Sharma D. 2021, Fermented fish products in South and Southeast Asian cuisine, Journal of Ethnic Foods 8:33, doi:10.1186/s42779-021-00109-0 (table 2)paper
  2. [wp-balao] Wikipedia, Balao-balao (accessed 2026-10)wiki
  3. [lara2024] Lara Z.B., Amoranto M.B.C., Elegado F.B., Dalmacio L.M.M., Balolong M.P. 2024, Draft genome sequence of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BS25 isolated from a local fermented rice-shrimp mixture from the Philippines, Microbiology Resource Announcements 13(2):e00808-23paper