Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Fruit from Thailand

Ma-yom-dorng (pickled star gooseberry)มะยมดอง

Ma-yom-dorng is mature star gooseberry soaked for 2 to 3 hours in lime solution, then soured in an earthen jar under a 10 to 15 % brine. The closed jar stands in the shade for 3 days. It is a sour, salty snack.

Fully documentedFruit34 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHome method from the JIRCAS Thai fermented-food card; only the brine strength and soak time are given, not the batch size.
Mature star gooseberriesWashed[jircas]
Lime solutionFor a 2–3 hour soak before brining[jircas]
Salt brineAbout 10–15 % (w/v)Enough to cover the fruit[jircas]

Total time across the recorded steps: 34 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: salt moving into a piece

What changes: The star gooseberries soak in limewater for 2 to 3 hours, then are washed

Step 1 of 4
Soak in lime solution, then wash
Time
2–3 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacillus plantarum
L. brevis
Lactococcus lactis

The standard's definition of pickled fruit allows this soak in limewater or a firming agent before brining.

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-yom-dorng is mature star gooseberry soaked for 2 to 3 hours in lime solution, then soured in an earthen jar under a 10 to 15 % brine. The closed jar stands in the shade for 3 days. It is a sour, salty snack. Made in 4 steps over 34 days. The longest step, store, takes 30 days (JIRCAS 2026). Salt is 10–15 % (JIRCAS 2026). Lactobacillus plantarum, L. brevis, L. pentosus and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 daysReported[jircas]Store
Salt10–15 %Reported[jircas]Cover with brine in an earthen jar
AciditypH up to 3.5Set[tcps160]Close and ferment in the shade

What makes this one different

Ma-yom-dorng follows the general Thai fruit-pickle method but the fruit is soaked in limewater first to firm it, as the community standard allows.

Related ferments

Safety

Thailand's community standard for pickled fruit names ma-yom among its fruits. It requires pH 3.5 or below, total microbes at most 1 × 10^4 per gram, no Staphylococcus aureus in 0.1 g, E. coli below 3 per gram (MPN) and yeasts and moulds at most 100 per gram. It bans synthetic colours, borax and non-sugar sweeteners. Wash the limewater off well before brining.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (the pickled-fruit 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-yom-dorng (pickled star gooseberry), read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [tcps160] Thai Industrial Standards Institute 2003, Thai Community Product Standard มผช.160/2546, Pickled fruit (phonlamai dong) (copy on archive.org)spec
  3. [xin2025] Xin Y., Xu J., Li N., Yang L.Y., Zhu H.T., Zhang Y.J. 2025, New terpenoids and lignans from Phyllanthus acidus fruits with antioxidant activity, Foods 14(3):452, doi:10.3390/foods14030452 (introduction)paper
  4. [chanprasert2010] Chanprasert N. 2010, Growth inhibition of foodborne pathogens by crude bacteriocin produced from lactic acid bacteria isolated from pickled Garcinia schomburgkiana Pierre products, MSc thesis, Suranaree University of Technology (abstract and chapter text, in English and Thai)paper