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Fish and seafood from Thailand

Poo-khemปูเค็ม

Poo-khem is whole crab salted live in an earthenware jar and left closed overnight. The crab turns black and salty, and is used in som tam or cooked with coconut milk. The community product standard also covers crabs soaked in brine or fish sauce, and says they should be cooked before eating.

Fully documentedFish and seafood24 h

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe JIRCAS database method gives no amounts; the community product standard defines the product but sets no salt level.
Live crabsWashed clean[jircas][tcps1334]
SaltOr a seasoned soaking liquid such as brine or fish sauce, under the standard[jircas][tcps1334]

Total time across the recorded steps: 24 h

Start
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What changes: The live crabs are washed clean

Step 1 of 3
Wash the live crabs
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Poo-khem is whole crab salted live in an earthenware jar and left closed overnight. The crab turns black and salty, and is used in som tam or cooked with coconut milk. The community product standard also covers crabs soaked in brine or fish sauce, and says they should be cooked before eating. Made in 3 steps over 24 h. The longest step, close the jar and leave overnight, takes 24 h (JIRCAS 2010).

Key numbers
Main step24 hReported[jircas]Close the jar and leave overnight

What makes this one different

Poo-khem is salted for only a day and the crab stays whole, so it is closer to a salt cure than a long ferment. Nam-poo is crab cooked down to a paste.

Related ferments

Safety

The community product standard (TCPS 1334-2549) asks for fewer than 1 × 10^6 bacteria per g, no Salmonella in 25 g, fewer than 100 S. aureus per g, lead no more than 1 mg/kg, inorganic arsenic no more than 2 mg/kg, mercury no more than 0.5 mg/kg and cadmium no more than 0.2 mg/kg, with no preservatives or synthetic colours. It says salted crab should be cooked before eating.

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.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Poo-khem (references Bacillus siamensis sp. nov., isolated from salted crab (poo-khem) in Thailand, 2010, doi 10.1099/ijs.0.018879-0), read 2026-10gov
  2. [tcps1334] Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2006, Thai Community Product Standard มผช.1334/2549, Salted crab (TCPS 1334-2549)spec
  3. [sumpavapol2010] Sumpavapol P., Tongyonk L., Tanasupawat S. et al. 2010, Bacillus siamensis sp. nov., isolated from salted crab (poo-khem) in Thailand, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 60(10):2364–2370, doi 10.1099/ijs.0.018879-0 (abstract)paper