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Fish and seafood from Philippines

Tinabaltinabal

Tinabal is larger fish, such as frigate tuna or parrotfish, cleaned, mixed with salt and left to ferment at ambient temperature. Lactic acid bacteria rise and the pH falls over the first week, and tasters liked parrotfish tinabal best at two weeks. It is the large-fish counterpart of the anchovy ferment guinamos.

Fully documentedFish and seafood21 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA thesis trial on frigate tuna at four salt-to-fish ratios; household tinabal has no fixed amounts.
Frigate tuna (Auxis thazard), degutted and cleaned3–6 parts by weight, by treatmentFresh fish in the 2019 thesis trial[ortizo2019]
Salt1 part by weightThe thesis tested salt-to-fish ratios of 1:3, 1:4, 1:5 and 1:6[ortizo2019]

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 days

Start
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What changes: The fish are gutted and cleaned

Step 1 of 4
Gut and clean the fish
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Pediococcus pentosaceus
Streptococcus equinus
Leuconostoc
Lactobacillus
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

Tinabal is larger fish, such as frigate tuna or parrotfish, cleaned, mixed with salt and left to ferment at ambient temperature. Lactic acid bacteria rise and the pH falls over the first week, and tasters liked parrotfish tinabal best at two weeks. It is the large-fish counterpart of the anchovy ferment guinamos. Made in 4 steps over 21 days. The longest step, ripen into the second week, takes 14 days (Calanoga E.D.L. 1995). Pediococcus pentosaceus and Streptococcus equinus from day 0, with Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus on day 9, when lactic acid bacteria made up 68% of the total count and Lactobacillus casei, L. fermenti, L. delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Leuconostoc spp., Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus spp., presumptive identifications do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14 daysReported[calanoga1995]Ripen into the second week
AciditypH 5.9–6.7Measured[calanoga1995]Ripen into the second week

What makes this one different

Tinabal uses larger fish such as tuna or parrotfish, where guinamos is made from anchovies.

Related ferments

Safety

Lactic acid from Pediococcus, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus held back Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and Alcaligenes early in parrotfish tinabal, and the pH stayed between 5.93 and 6.65 (Calanoga 1995), which is near neutral. The WHO says botulinum toxin has been found in fermented, salted and smoked fish, and that homemade fermented foods need extra caution [who-botulism]. The FDA says scombrotoxin (histamine) poisoning is mainly linked to tuna and some other fish, and that bacteria form it when the fish is held warm [fda-ch7].

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus, held back early in fermentation by the lactic acid bacteria (parrotfish).

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. [calanoga1995] Calanoga E.D.L. 1995, Study of microbiological, biochemical and nutritional changes in tinabal molmol (Scarus spp.) fermentation, thesis (FAO AGRIS record and abstract)archive
  2. [ortizo2019] Ortizo R.G.G. 2019, Antioxidative activities and lactic acid bacteria composition of fermented frigate tuna at different salt-fish ratio, master's thesis, University of the Philippines Visayas (abstract)archive
  3. [wiki-bagoong] Wikipedia, Bagoong (outline only; names tinabal as larger fermented fish and guinamos as the anchovy form of the southern Visayas and Mindanao), read 2026-10wiki
  4. [who-botulism] World Health Organization, Botulism (fact sheet)gov
  5. [fda-ch7] US Food and Drug Administration, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, chapter 7, Scombrotoxin (histamine) formationgov