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Vegetables from Northern Thailand

Nam phak (Northern Thai fermented Chinese cabbage)น้ำผัก

Nam phak is a Lanna ferment of Chinese cabbage soaked in brine and left for two to three days. Lactic acid bacteria rise sharply within the first day, and the Leuconostoc family is the most abundant group. It is usually eaten as a side dish.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Nam phak itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Phak gard dong (pickled mustard green), the closest documented vegetables ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Nam phak.

Short entryVegetables2 days – 3 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo amounts or salt level are given in the source found.
Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis)[pakwan2020]
Brine[pakwan2020]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the steps of Phak gard dong (pickled mustard green): 3.5 days – 11 days

Start
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What changes: Mustard greens are washed, wilted in the sun and cut small

Step 1 of 4 · steps of Phak gard dong (pickled mustard green)
Wash, partly sun-dry until wilted, and cut
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Weissella
Pediococcus
Lactobacillus

Output: wilted, cut greens.

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

Nam phak is a Lanna ferment of Chinese cabbage soaked in brine and left for two to three days. Lactic acid bacteria rise sharply within the first day, and the Leuconostoc family is the most abundant group. It is usually eaten as a side dish. Made in 2 steps over 2 days – 3 days. The longest step, leave to ferment, takes 2–3 days (Pakwan C 2020). Leuconostocaceae, the most abundant family, with Leuconostoc in significant proportion and Lactic acid bacteria, rising from 3.1 log CFU/g at day 0 to 7.5 log CFU/g after one day do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysReported[pakwan2020]Leave to ferment

What makes this one different

Nam phak is a short brine ferment of two to three days. The 2020 study likens it to Korean kimchi, which also has cabbage as its main ingredient.

Related ferments

History and sources

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

  1. [pakwan2020] Pakwan C., Chitov T., Chantawannakul P., Manasam M., Bovonsombut S. and Disayathanoowat T. 2020, Bacterial compositions of indigenous Lanna (Northern Thai) fermented foods and their potential functional properties, PLoS ONE 15(11), e0242560 (full text, PMC7673563)paper