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Vegetables from Thailand

Hooa-pak-kaat-dorng / chai po (sweet-salted dried radish)หัวผักกาดดอง

Chai po is white radish kneaded with salt, salted again at about 20 % of its weight, sun-dried, pressed in a cloth bag for 3 days and dried in the sun until brown. It is then coated with palm-sugar syrup and dried again. This is a salt and drying cure rather than a sour lactic ferment, and the community standard fixes it at no less than 8 % salt.

Fully documentedVegetables3.1 months – 4.1 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHome recipe from the JIRCAS card. Only the second salting has an amount, as a share of the radish weight.
Chinese white radishTo tasteWashed, kneaded with a little coarse salt and left overnight[jircas]
Fine saltAbout 20 % of the radish weightAdded the next morning and kneaded in[jircas]
Palm sugarDissolved in cold boiled water for the coating; the card gives no amount[jircas]
Starternone (salt and sun cure)

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months – 4.1 months

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a piece

What changes: Radishes are kneaded with a little coarse salt until soft and left overnight

Step 1 of 6
Knead with a little salt and leave overnight
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

Chai po is white radish kneaded with salt, salted again at about 20 % of its weight, sun-dried, pressed in a cloth bag for 3 days and dried in the sun until brown. It is then coated with palm-sugar syrup and dried again. This is a salt and drying cure rather than a sour lactic ferment, and the community standard fixes it at no less than 8 % salt. Made in 6 steps over 3.1 months – 4.1 months. The longest step, keep, takes 3–4 months (JIRCAS 2026). Salt is 20 % (JIRCAS 2026).

Key numbers
Main step3–4 monthsReported[jircas]Keep
Salt20 %Reported[jircas]Knead in fine salt and sun-dry for a day

What makes this one different

Unlike the sour Thai brine pickles, chai po is cured by heavy salt, pressing and sun-drying, then sweetened with palm sugar. Its community standard sets a minimum salt level instead of a pH limit.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Whole or cut chai poThe standard allows whole radishes or pieces cut to size, sun-dried or not, sweetened with sugar and other seasonings such as honey [tcps137].

Safety

Thailand's community standard for flavoured salted radish requires at least 8 % salt, moisture at most 60 % for dry packs, total microbes at most 5 × 10^3 per gram, no Staphylococcus aureus in 0.1 g, no Salmonella in 25 g and yeasts and moulds at most 100 per gram. It bans borax and synthetic colours, and caps benzoic and sorbic acid at 1,000 mg/kg in total [tcps137].

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella (the flavoured-salted-radish standard sets limits for both).

History and sources

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

Suthon Sukphisit wrote in the Bangkok Post in 2016 that it is not known exactly when or how the Chinese radish reached Thailand, and that it was probably brought by Chinese immigrants; he lists hua chai po among the forms in which Thais eat it, made by salting and drying [bangkokpost2016].

  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand, Hooa-pak-kaat-dorng (dried sweet / salt Chinese radish) card, read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [tcps137] Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2003, Thai Community Product Standard มผช.137/2546, Flavoured salted radish (hua phakkat khem prung rot, commonly called hua chai po) (copy on archive.org)spec
  3. [bangkokpost2016] Sukphisit S. 2016, The roots of radish, Bangkok Post, 25 September 2016 (B Magazine)web