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Fruit from Thailand

Ma-nao-dorng (brine-pickled lime)มะนาวดอง

Ma-nao-dorng is lime with its oily skin scraped off, steamed, sun-dried and then kept under a very salty boiled brine. The jar is set in the sun every day for 15 days, or until the brine is clear. The finished limes are brown. It is used in soups and other dishes.

Fully documentedFruit15 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceRecipe from the JIRCAS Thai fermented-food card, for 30 limes; the card does not give the water volume.
Fresh limes30 fruitSkin scraped to remove the oil cells, which turn the pickle bitter[jircas]
Salt3 cupsDissolved in water to make a very salty brine, then boiled and cooled[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days

Start
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What changes: The oily outer skin is scraped off the limes

Step 1 of 4
Scrape the skin
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The oil-bearing cells are scraped off; the standard also allows rubbing with salt and airing before steaming.

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

Ma-nao-dorng is lime with its oily skin scraped off, steamed, sun-dried and then kept under a very salty boiled brine. The jar is set in the sun every day for 15 days, or until the brine is clear. The finished limes are brown. It is used in soups and other dishes. Made in 4 steps over 15 days. The longest step, cover with very salty brine and set in the sun, takes 15 days (JIRCAS 2026).

Key numbers
Main step15 daysReported[jircas]Cover with very salty brine and set in the sun
AciditypH up to 4Set[tcps1167]Cover with very salty brine and set in the sun

What makes this one different

Ma-nao-dorng is steamed and dried before brining, and it has its own community standard with a looser pH limit (4.0) than the general pickled-fruit standard (3.5). Sun-drying salted limes until the skin turns brown is also described in a Practical Action brief for lime pickle [practicalaction].

Related ferments

Safety

Thailand's community standard for pickled lime requires pH 4.0 or below, total microbes below 1 × 10^4 per gram, Staphylococcus aureus below 100 per gram, E. coli below 3 per gram (MPN) and yeasts and moulds at most 100 per gram. It bans synthetic colours, and the brine must show no white film or bubbles from fermentation.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (the pickled-lime standard sets limits for both).

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.
  1. [jircas] JIRCAS, Database of Fermented Foods of Thailand: Ma-nao-dorng (brine pickled lime), read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [tcps1167] Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2006, Thai Community Product Standard มผช.1167/2549, Pickled lime (manao dong; catalogued in English as Pickled lemon) (copy on archive.org)spec
  3. [practicalaction] Azam-Ali S. 2008, Lime pickle (brined), Practical Action technical brief KnO-100257 (copy in the RACHEL offline library)other