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Fish and seafood from Indonesia

Pedahpedah

Pedah (peda) is Indonesian mackerel that is salted and fermented, and a review describes it as a fatty, salty, partly dried fish. Local makers are reported to salt the fish twice at 25 % and to ferment it for one to two weeks. In a 2014 lab study the fish were salted for 7 days, washed and aired, then salted again for 21 days in a container lined with rice husk and dried banana leaves.

Fully documentedFish and seafood29 days

Recipe

Pedah, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: User:Affandy Murad, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe laboratory method of Fajri et al. 2014, which followed the two-stage salting used by local makers and added a terasi soak as a starter. A review gives the salt to fish ratio as 1:3.
Mackerel (kembung)In the study, four fish weighing 400 to 450 g were soaked in the terasi solution (36 fish in all, across three salt levels)[fajri2014]
Salt15 %, 20 % or 25 % (w/w) at each saltingPanellists liked the 25 % treatment best; local practice salts twice at 25 %[fajri2014]
Terasi (shrimp paste) solution as a lactic acid bacteria source10 g terasi in a 20 % (g/L) salt solutionThe study's addition, not part of the traditional method[fajri2014]
Rice husk and dried banana leavesLine the container for the second salting[fajri2014]
Starterspontaneous in local practice, with no starter added; the study added a terasi soak as a lactic acid bacteria source

Total time across the recorded steps: 29 days

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a piece

What changes: The mackerel soak briefly in a salty terasi solution

Step 1 of 4
Soak the mackerel in a terasi brine (study only)
Time
3 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus curvatus
L. sakei
L. plantarum
S. thermophilus

The study's way of adding lactic acid bacteria; local makers skip it.

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

Pedah (peda) is Indonesian mackerel that is salted and fermented, and a review describes it as a fatty, salty, partly dried fish. Local makers are reported to salt the fish twice at 25 % and to ferment it for one to two weeks. In a 2014 lab study the fish were salted for 7 days, washed and aired, then salted again for 21 days in a container lined with rice husk and dried banana leaves. Made in 4 steps over 29 days. The longest step, second salting in a lined container, takes 21 days (Fajri Y 2014). Salt is 15–25 % (Fajri Y 2014). Lactic acid bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step21 daysReported[fajri2014]Second salting in a lined container
Salt15–25 %Reported[fajri2014]First salting

What makes this one different

Pedah is salted twice, with a wash and airing in between, and in the 2014 lab study the fish were packed for the second salting in a container lined with rice husk and dried banana leaves (Fajri et al. 2014).

Related ferments

Safety

Mackerel can form histamine if it is not kept cold before it is processed, and this causes scombrotoxin poisoning. The fish may not look or smell bad, and cooking, freezing and canning do not get rid of the toxin once it has formed, so keep the fish at 40 °F (4 °C) or lower before it is processed [fda-bbb]. In a 14-day study with 30 to 50 % salt, finished peda held 16.8–18.4 mg/100 g total volatile bases and 2.2–3.4 mg/100 g trimethylamine, and both fell as the salt rose (Desniar et al. 2009).

History and sources

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

Rao and colleagues (1958) cite Van Veen (1953) on pedah Siam, a partly dried salted mackerel (Scomber neglectus and S. kanagurta) from Thailand that careful packing matured into a product highly valued in Indonesia.

  1. [fajri2014] Fajri Y., Sukarso A.A., Rasmi D.A.C. 2014, Fermentasi ikan kembung (Rastrelliger sp.) dalam pembuatan peda dengan penambahan bakteri asam laktat (BAL) yang terkandung dalam terasi empang pada berbagai konsentrasi garam, Jurnal Biologi Tropis 14(2), doi 10.29303/jbt.v14i2.142paper
  2. [narzary2021] Narzary Y., Das S., Goyal A.K., Lam S.S., Sarma H., Sharma D. 2021, Fermented fish products in South and Southeast Asian cuisine, Journal of Ethnic Foods 8:33, doi 10.1186/s42779-021-00109-0paper
  3. [desniar2009] Desniar, Poernomo D., Wijatur W. 2009, Pengaruh konsentrasi garam pada peda ikan kembung (Rastrelliger sp.) dengan fermentasi spontan, Jurnal Pengolahan Hasil Perikanan Indonesia 12(1):73–87paper
  4. [rao1958] Rao S.V.S., Nayar M.R., Valsan A.P. 1958, Preliminary investigations on the pit curing of fish in India, Indian Journal of Fisheries 5(1):160–169 (cited for the pedah Siam history only)paper
  5. [thariq2014] Thariq A.S., Swastawati F., Surti T. 2014, Pengaruh perbedaan konsentrasi garam pada peda ikan kembung (Rastrelliger neglectus) terhadap kandungan asam glutamat pemberi rasa gurih (umami), Jurnal Pengolahan dan Bioteknologi Hasil Perikanan 3(3):104-111 (introduction cited for where peda is made)paper
  6. [idwiki-peda] Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, Peda (ikan asin) (used only for the Sundanese and Betawi dishes)wiki
  7. [fda-bbb] U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Bad Bug Book, Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins, 2nd ed. (chapter on scombrotoxin; general hazard, not specific to pedah)gov