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Fruit from Myanmar

Saung-gyan chin (sour Capparis fruit)

The hard rind of Capparis flavicans fruit is removed, and the inside is fermented with rice water, sometimes with cooked rice, for about a week. Market samples measured pH 4.23 with 7.43 log CFU/g of lactobacilli. It is seasonal and only available in the hot season.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Saung-gyan chin itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Lahpet, the closest documented tea leaf ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Saung-gyan chin.

Short entryFruit7 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
inner part of Capparis flavicans fruit
rice water
sometimes cooked rice

Total time across the steps of Lahpet: 14 days – 12 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: young tea leaves and buds

Step 1 of 6 · steps of Lahpet
Pick the young flush
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Picked by hand in five picking seasons from mid-March to mid-November. The best leaf is the first harvest, from mid-March to early April. Output: young leaves and buds.

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

The hard rind of Capparis flavicans fruit is removed, and the inside is fermented with rice water, sometimes with cooked rice, for about a week. Market samples measured pH 4.23 with 7.43 log CFU/g of lactobacilli. It is seasonal and only available in the hot season. Made in 2 steps over 7 days. The longest step, ferment with rice water, takes 7 days (Bo Bo 2022). Lactobacilli, 7.43 log CFU/g in market samples; the isolate from this ferment was identified as Lactobacillus helveticus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[bobo2022]Ferment with rice water
AciditypH 4.2Measured[bobo2022]Ferment with rice water

What makes this one different

Saung-gyan chin is one of Myanmar's rice-water shin, like moanlar shin from radish, but it is made from a fruit and is only available in the hot season. It had the lowest total acidity of the six shin measured.

Related ferments

History and sources

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

  1. [bobo2022] Bo Bo, Aye Aye Win 2022, Myanmar popular plant-based fermented foods, their processing, and their microorganisms potential for probiotics, Bacterial Empire 5(3):e430, doi:10.36547/be.430paper