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Vegetables from Thailand

Pak sian dong (pickled spider plant)ผักเสี้ยนดอง

Pak sian dong is a sour Thai pickle of spider plant leaves and shoots (Cleome gynandra). The greens are wilted in the sun, mixed with a little salt and cooked rice, and weighted under their own brine in the shade for a few days while lactic acid bacteria sour them.

Fully documentedVegetables2 days – 7.1 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHome-industry recipe from the JIRCAS database of Thai fermented foods (after The Traditional Fermented Foods of Thailand, 1995); salt and rice are given as a share of the vegetable weight.
Spider plant (pak sian) leaves and shoot tipsDefective stems, leaves and flowers trimmed off, then washed[jircas]
SaltAbout 2–4 % (w/w)[jircas]
Cooked riceAbout 2–4 % (w/w)Some makers use rice-washing water instead[jircas][panutai2024]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 7.1 days

Start
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What changes: Spider plant leaves and shoots wilt in the sun for 1–2 hours

Step 1 of 4
Trim, wash and wilt in the sun
Time
1–2 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. plantarum
Pediococcus pentosaceus
Levilactobacillus brevis
Lactobacillus fermentum
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

Pak sian dong is a sour Thai pickle of spider plant leaves and shoots (Cleome gynandra). The greens are wilted in the sun, mixed with a little salt and cooked rice, and weighted under their own brine in the shade for a few days while lactic acid bacteria sour them. Made in 4 steps over 2 days – 7.1 days. The longest step, ferment in the shade, takes 2–7 days (JIRCAS Database of Fermented Foods of Thailan…). Salt is 2–4 % (JIRCAS Database of Fermented Foods of Thailan…). Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Pediococcus pentosaceus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–7 daysReported[jircas][panutai2024]Ferment in the shade
Salt2–4 %Reported[jircas]Mix with salt and cooked rice
AciditypH 3.7Measured[panutai2024]Ferment in the shade

What makes this one different

Pak sian dong is soured with a little cooked rice as extra sugar for the bacteria, like other Thai pak dong pickles, but its base is a wild spider plant and it keeps only about two weeks.

Related ferments

Safety

Samples measured pH 3.72 ± 0.53 [panutai2024]. Keep the greens under the brine while they ferment, and eat within the 15-day storage life [jircas].

History and sources

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

Koch Cha Sarn Journal of Science (2021) lists pickled vegetables (som phak to the Thai-Lao, chu to the Thai-Khmer) among eight fermented foods found in both ethnic groups in border villages of Surin province, and names pak sian among the vegetables both groups pickle. Makers in both groups say they inherited the method from their ancestors and passed it to their children. The paper says the Thai-Khmer only salt-pickle and add rice-washing water the day before eating, while the Thai-Lao make salted and sweet pickles and do not add rice-washing water [trongjit2020].

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [jircas] JIRCAS Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Pak-sian-dorng (after The Traditional Fermented Foods of Thailand, 1995, ISBN 9679932249), read 2026-10gov
  2. [panutai2024] Pan-utai W., Settachaimongkon S., La-ongkham O., Pornpukdeewattana S. et al. 2024, Physicochemical, nutritional, and antioxidant properties of traditionally fermented Thai vegetables, Foods 13(17):2848, doi:10.3390/foods13172848paper
  3. [pumriw2021] Pumriw S., Luang-In V., Samappito W. 2021, Screening of probiotic lactic acid bacteria isolated from fermented Pak-Sian for use as a starter culture, Curr Microbiol 78:2695–2707, doi:10.1007/s00284-021-02521-w (abstract)paper
  4. [trongjit2020] กฤช ตรองจิตต์ and อุบลวรรณ สุวรรณภูสิทธิ์ 2021, Fermented food technology, local wisdom and eating culture of ethnic groups along the Thailand-Cambodia border regions (เทคโนโลยีอาหารหมัก ภูมิปัญญาท้องถิ่นกับวัฒนธรรมการกินอาหารของกลุ่มชาติพันธุ์บริเวณชายแดนไทย-กัมพูชา), Koch Cha Sarn Journal of Science 42(2):13-39 (section 3.6, pickled vegetables)paper