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Meat from India

Khyopehkhyopeh

Khyopeh is a fermented yak meat of Lachung in North Sikkim. Chopped yak meat and innards are salted, stuffed into the rumen taken from the same yak, tied with twine and hung over the earthen oven for 4 to 6 months. The result is very dry, with about 2.5 % moisture and a pH near 5.9.

Fully documentedMeat4 months – 6 months

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedA household preparation with no fixed amounts; the sources give the ingredients and steps but no weights.
Yak meat and innards, chopped[bhutia2021]
Salt[bhutia2021]
Yak rumenTaken from the slaughtered yak and used as the casing[bhutia2021]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 months – 6 months

Start
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What changes: Yak meat and innards are chopped and mixed with salt

Step 1 of 4
Chop yak meat and innards; mix with salt
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
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

Khyopeh is a fermented yak meat of Lachung in North Sikkim. Chopped yak meat and innards are salted, stuffed into the rumen taken from the same yak, tied with twine and hung over the earthen oven for 4 to 6 months. The result is very dry, with about 2.5 % moisture and a pH near 5.9. Made in 4 steps over 4 months – 6 months. The longest step, hang on bamboo strips above the earthen oven to ferment, takes 4–6 months (Bhutia M.O 2021). Lactobacillus sakei and Enterococcus, the most abundant bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4–6 monthsReported[bhutia2021]Hang on bamboo strips above the earthen oven to ferment
AciditypH 5.9Measured[bhutia2021]Hang on bamboo strips above the earthen oven to ferment

What makes this one different

Khyopeh ferments for months inside the yak's own rumen and dries almost completely. Kargyong, from the same region, is boiled first and smoked for only 10 to 15 days.

Related ferments

Safety

In a 2021 Sikkim study no enterotoxins were found in khyopeh, and it had the lowest coliform and staphylococcal counts of the meats tested. It is a raw, long-fermented meat; cook it before eating.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia fergusonii (isolate).

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.
  1. [bhutia2021] Bhutia M.O., Thapa N., Tamang J.P. 2021, Molecular characterization of bacteria, detection of enterotoxin genes, and screening of antibiotic susceptibility patterns in traditionally processed meat products of Sikkim, India, Frontiers in Microbiology 11:599606paper
  2. [bhutia2021fri] Bhutia M.O., Thapa N., Shangpliang H.N.J., Tamang J.P. 2021, Metataxonomic profiling of bacterial communities and their predictive functional profiles in traditionally preserved meat products of Sikkim state in India, Food Research International 140:110002 (abstract)paper