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Fermentation Atlas

Vegetables

Kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles and other vegetables soured in salt or brine.

221 entries listed here, page 3 of 3.

Compare them

FermentRegionMain stepTemperatureSaltpH
Chaoshan xian cai / kiam-chai (Teochew salted mustard)Chaoshan, Guangdong10 days9 %
Chhài-pó͘ (salted dried radish)Taiwan, Fujian, Chaoshan, Hong Kong, Macau
Da tou cai (salted root mustard)Kaifeng6–10 years
Danmuji (Korean yellow pickled radish)Korea
Dobrovodské kysané zelí (Dobrá Voda sauerkraut)Dobrá Voda u Hořic, Hradec Králové region, Czech Republic28–56 days12–15 °C
Donggwa kimchi (wax-gourd kimchi family)Korea
Dongji kimchi (Jeju kimchi)Jeju, Korea
Eoyuk kimchi (fish-and-beef broth kimchi)Korea
Gamdongjeot kimchi (tiny-shrimp jeot kimchi)Seoul and Gyeonggi
Gamtaeji (Jeolla green-laver kimchi)South Jeolla tidal flats24 h – 2 days
Gegukji (crab-brine kimchi)Seosan and Taean, South Chungcheong, on the west coast of Korea
Georgian-style cabbage with beetroot (mzhave)Georgiaup to 8 days
Goguma-julgi kimchi (sweet-potato stem kimchi)Korea
Gosu kimchi (coriander kimchi)Hwanghae Province
Gyeoja kimchi (mustard kimchi)Korea
Haejeo bang (Imwon gyeongje-ji seafood seokbakji)Korea
Hum choy (South China rice-water leaf pickle)South China4 days
Izekomi-na / yudekomi-na and sunana-zuke (unsalted greens pickles of Niigata and Fukui)Niigata
Jeju kimchi (tot, gyul mul-kimchi, gat mul-kimchi, kkotdae)Jeju Island
Jeotgukji (jeot-broth kimchi)Chungcheong, Korea
Jiang-gua (Taiwanese fermented cucumber)Taiwan
Jjanji / mu-jjanji (whole radish salted hard and aged)Korea
Jo-beop (Joseon wine-lees pickles of ginger, garlic and eggplant)Korea
Jonjoli (pickled bladdernut flower buds)Georgia
Kachin sour bamboo shoots (mahkri sum, buried shoots)Myanmar
Karashi-zuke (mustard-koji pickle, especially autumn eggplant)Japan30 days
Kimchi named by method or season (sogimchi, pusae, neutgimchi, jirae, dok, jjok)Korea
Kinkon-zuke (Hanamaki stuffed white-melon miso pickle)Hanamaki, Iwate, Japan
Kkakdugi variants of the 1930s cookbooks (cucumber, clam, julienne, whole-cabbage)Seoul
Kkeomeokji (black aged radish-green pickle)Chungcheongat least 6 months
Knieperkohl (Prignitz mixed-cabbage sour kraut)Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany28 days – 2.3 months
Kongbat-mu kimchi (bean-field radish kimchi)Korea
Kongnamul kimchi (soybean-sprout kimchi) and nokdu jangeum chimchaeKorea
Kovászos uborka (Hungarian leavened cucumbers)Hungaryat least 30 h25–30 °C
Ma-keua-dtor-laer-dorng (dry-salted eggplant)Thailand3 days
Ma-keua-proh-dorng (pickled young Thai eggplant)Thailand2 days
Mie regional salt pickles (Matsusaka akana, Asama kona, Kumano takana)Mie, Japan
Mohnyin tjin (Burmese sour mustard)Myanmar
Mon-la chin (sour radish)Myanmar24 h – 2 days3.5
Nam phak (Northern Thai fermented Chinese cabbage)Northern Thailand2–3 days
Njetim and jegietsang dui (Naga fermented mustard-leaf paste)Nagaland, Northeast India10 days
Ombolo wa koba (ash-treated cassava-leaf dish)Democratic Republic of the Congo3–4 days
Pak-kaat-dorng-haeng (dried pickled mustard greens)Thailand5–7 days
Parae kimchi (green-laver kimchi)Korea
Russian salt-fermented beetrootRussia
Saenggang kimchi (ginger kimchi)Korea
Sinnamani (Gorkha freshly fermented radish)North East India
Subak kimchi (watermelon-rind kimchi)Korea
Suk-kkakdugi (cooked-radish kkakdugi)Seoul
Tandal acharIndia
Tang-chai (fermented cabbage seasoning)Thailand30 days
Tuaithur (Hmar fermented bamboo shoot)Mizoram and Manipur, northeast India
Ueong kimchi (burdock kimchi)Gyeongsang, Korea
Uri no teppō-zuke (Narita "gun-barrel" melon pickle)Narita and Katori, Chiba, Japan7 days
Whole-head sour cabbageRomania and Croatia7–42 days18–22 °C
Xichuan suancai (Henan blanched-greens sour vegetable)Xichuan county, Nanyang, Henan, China
Yangzhou jiangcai (Yangzhou sauce pickles)Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
Yatsugashira kuki-zuke (Mie taro-stem and red-shiso pickle)northern Higashi-Kishū, Mie, Japan4–5 days
Yuja chimchae (citron water kimchi)Korea
Yukina no fusube-zukeOkitama3 days2 %
Zaocai (Fuzhou red-lees mustard)Fuzhou and Minqing County, Fujian, China

Bold names have a full page with the animated steps. Blank cells: no sourced value yet.

Short entries

What the sources record about each of these so far.

Chaoshan xian cai / kiam-chai (Teochew salted mustard)Chaoshan, Guangdong

Also called 咸菜, 鹹菜, 酸咸菜, kiam chai.

Whole heads of large-leaf mustard (da cai) are sun-wilted for a day, salted at about one part salt to ten of mustard, and packed into a jar under stones so they stay in their brine. The sealed jar stands in the sun for about ten days. A sour form uses less salt and cooled rice water.

  1. Wash and sun-dry whole mustard heads24 h
  2. Salt, pack into a jar and weight with stones9 % salt
  3. Stand the sealed jar in the sun10 days
Chhài-pó͘ (salted dried radish)Taiwan, Fujian, Chaoshan, Hong Kong, Macau

Also called 菜脯, chhài-pó͘, preserved radish, salted dried radish.

Chhài-pó͘ is salted white radish that has been dried. It is called 菜脯 in Taiwan, Fujian, Chaoshan, Hong Kong and Macau, and goes into omelettes, fried eggs and stir-fries or is eaten with rice balls and congee. The source read gives no times, salt levels or measurements.

  1. Salt and dry the radish
  2. Pack for sale
Da tou cai (salted root mustard)Kaifeng

Also called 大头菜, 五香大头菜, 大頭菜, datoucai.

Da tou cai is the root of root mustard (Brassica juncea) pickled in salt. It is called a high-salt fermented food, and some Sichuan da tou cai is fermented for 6 to 10 years.

  1. Salt-cure the roots
  2. Long fermentation (Sichuan)6–10 years
Danmuji (Korean yellow pickled radish)Korea

Also called 단무지.

Danmuji is the Korean form of Japanese takuan. In the traditional method, Japanese-type radish is sun-dried until it bends, then buried in salt and rice bran to ferment and mature. Most danmuji sold today is instead steeped in a salt or sugar solution, and some is steeped in a liquid with sweeteners, acids and colour.

  1. Sun-dry the radish until it bends by hand
  2. Bury in salt and rice bran to ferment and mature (traditional)
  3. Steep in a seasoned salt or sugar solution (modern)
Dobrovodské kysané zelí (Dobrá Voda sauerkraut)Dobrá Voda u Hořic, Hradec Králové region, Czech Republic

Also called Dobrovodské zelí, Dobrovodské kysané zelí.

White or red cabbage of the local Pour varieties is shredded, mixed with salt and caraway only, and tamped into deep pools to ferment for six to eight weeks. Many households around Dobrá Voda buy shredded cabbage and ferment it at home.

  1. Core and shred the cabbage
  2. Mix with salt and caraway and tamp down20 °C
  3. Ferment under its juice28–56 days · 12–15 °C
  4. Pack, or keep the crock cold
Donggwa kimchi (wax-gourd kimchi family)Korea

Also called 동과저 (冬瓜菹), 동과엄침채, 동과섞박지, 동아섞박지, 동아숙박이, 침동과.

Donggwa kimchi is a family of old Korean kimchi made from wax gourd. An early form, in the Eumsik dimibang of 1670, is wax gourd cured in salt alone; later cookbooks mix the gourd with seasonings and salted fish as seokbakji. No modern study of it was found.

  1. Salt the wax gourd
  2. Mix with seasonings and salted fish (seokbakji form)
  3. Ferment
Dongji kimchi (Jeju kimchi)Jeju, Korea

Also called 동지김치.

Dongji kimchi is a Jeju regional kimchi. Korean Wikipedia lists it among the kimchi of Jeju, and no source we read describes how it is made.

Eoyuk kimchi (fish-and-beef broth kimchi)Korea

Also called 어육김치, 어육침채.

Eoyuk kimchi is a kimchi made by pouring over the vegetables a broth of fish heads and beef boiled together.

  1. Boil fish heads with beef to make the broth
  2. Pour the broth over the vegetables and leave to ripen
Gamdongjeot kimchi (tiny-shrimp jeot kimchi)Seoul and Gyeonggi

Also called 감동젓김치, 곤쟁이젓김치, gonjaengi-jeot kimchi.

Gamdongjeot kimchi is a Seoul and Gyeonggi kimchi seasoned with gamdongjeot, jeot of gonjaengi, tiny mysid shrimp. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture records gamdong as an old name for gonjaengi, which is caught with very fine nets and made into jeot. No recipe with amounts was found.

Shrimp
Gonjaengi (mysids), under 20 mm in Korean waters; the Jaemulbo (19th century) gives gamdong as its Korean name
  1. Season vegetables with gamdongjeot and chilli; ferment
Gamtaeji (Jeolla green-laver kimchi)South Jeolla tidal flats

Also called 감태지, 감태김치, gamtae kimchi.

Gamtaeji is a winter kimchi of gamtae, a fine green alga (gasi-parae) gathered by hand from the mudflats, washed free of mud, salted the same night and mixed with pre-salted green chillies. It is eaten after a day or two.

  1. Gather gamtae by hand on the winter mudflat
  2. Wash out the mud
  3. Salt the same night
  4. Mix with salted green chillies and ripen briefly24 h – 2 days

Safety: Gamtae spoils fast, so only the day's fresh shoots are used and they are salted that night.

Gegukji (crab-brine kimchi)Seosan and Taean, South Chungcheong, on the west coast of Korea

Also called 게국지, 게국지김치, 겟국지, 갯국지, 깨꾹지.

Gegukji is a rough kimchi of outer cabbage leaves left over from kimjang, seasoned with the liquid of gejang made from small crabs instead of jeotgal. Once it has ripened it is boiled as a stew, and it is now better known as that stew.

  1. Make gejang from small crabs and keep the liquid
  2. Season the leftover greens with the crab brine
  3. Let it ripen
  4. Boil as a stew
Georgian-style cabbage with beetroot (mzhave)Georgia

Also called მჟავე, mzhave.

Cabbage is cut into wedges and layered with beetroot, herbs, garlic and chilli under brine. The beet dyes the brine pink within a day and maroon by the second, and the jar ferments at room temperature with a loose lid until the bubbles stop. The method here rests on one web recipe.

  1. Cut the cabbage into wedges
  2. Layer the cabbage with beet, herbs, chilli and garlic
  3. Boil the brine and pour it in hot
  4. Ferment with a loose lid until the bubbles stopup to 8 days
  5. Move to the fridge
Goguma-julgi kimchi (sweet-potato stem kimchi)Korea

Also called 고구마줄기김치, 고구마순김치, sweet potato stem kimchi.

Goguma-julgi kimchi is made from the peeled leaf stalks of the sweet potato. The stalks are salted lightly and tossed with chilli powder, garlic, jeot and green onion, and they are sometimes eaten at once without fermenting.

  1. Peel the stalks
  2. Salt lightly
  3. Toss with the seasonings
Gosu kimchi (coriander kimchi)Hwanghae Province

Also called 고수김치, coriander kimchi, cilantro kimchi.

Gosu kimchi is a Hwanghae kimchi in which coriander is the main green. The leaves are soaked overnight in cold water to take off their harsh edge, then mixed with radish and cabbage and seasoned with clams or clam, croaker or other jeot. Further south, coriander is added to other kimchi in the belief that it keeps them from turning sour.

  1. Soak the coriander overnight in cold waterOne night in cold water, to take off the harsh taste
  2. Mix with radish and cabbage
  3. Season with clams or jeot and pack
  4. Ripen
Gyeoja kimchi (mustard kimchi)Korea

Also called 겨자김치, 개자김치.

Gyeoja kimchi is the dictionary name for kimchi tossed with mustard. The mustard is made the Korean way, with seeds soaked, ground and warmed in steam to bring out their bite, then mixed with honey, salt and vinegar.

  1. Make the mustard
  2. Salt the vegetables
  3. Toss the vegetables in the mustard and rest
Haejeo bang (Imwon gyeongje-ji seafood seokbakji)Korea

Also called 해저방 (醢菹方), haejeo.

Haejeo bang is the early 19th-century recipe in Seo Yu-gu's Imwon gyeongje-ji for a rich mixed kimchi. Salted radish with its greens is mixed with cucumber, cabbage, cheonggak seaweed, spices, yellow croaker, jeotgal, abalone, conch and octopus, and abalone shells go into the jar. It is a text-only reconstruction, read here only through a secondary summary.

  1. Salt radish with greens; mix with vegetables, seaweed, spices and seafood
  2. Add abalone shells and ferment
Hum choy (South China rice-water leaf pickle)South China

Also called 咸菜.

Hum choy is a South Chinese pickle of a local leafy vegetable. The leaves are salted and wilted on racks in the sun, packed into earthenware pots, covered with the water left from washing rice, sealed and left to sour for four days. Unopened, it keeps for up to two months.

  1. Wash, drain, cover in salt and wilt on racks in the sun
  2. Pack into earthenware pots and cover with rice water
  3. Seal and ferment4 days
  4. Keep sealed
Izekomi-na / yudekomi-na and sunana-zuke (unsalted greens pickles of Niigata and Fukui)Niigata

Also called いぜこみ菜, ゆでこみ菜, すなな漬.

Izekomi-na or yudekomi-na in Niigata and sunana-zuke in Fukui are named as salt-free greens pickles like Kiso's sunki, and are now hardly made. No account of how they are made was found, so this entry records only their names and their kinship with sunki.

  1. Pickle greens without salt, as sunki is made
Jeju kimchi (tot, gyul mul-kimchi, gat mul-kimchi, kkotdae)Jeju Island

Also called 톳김치, 귤물김치, 갓물김치, 꽃대김치.

This entry groups four kimchi that Korean Wikipedia lists for Jeju Island, made from hijiki seaweed, tangerine, mustard leaf and flower stalks. Only their names and region were found; the ingredients are read from the names and no method was found.

Jeotgukji (jeot-broth kimchi)Chungcheong, Korea

Also called 젓국지, 열젓국지, 젓무법.

Jeotgukji is a kimchi with a broth made by stirring jeotguk, the liquid of salted fish, usually yellow croaker, into cold water and pouring it over the vegetables. Korean Wikipedia lists it among the regional kimchi of Chungcheong. No source read gives amounts or times.

  1. Mix the jeotguk into cold water and pour it over
  2. Ripen
Jiang-gua (Taiwanese fermented cucumber)Taiwan

Also called 醬瓜, 醬瓜仔, jiang gua, jiangua, Taiwanese pickled cucumber.

Jiang-gua (fermented cucumbers) is a popular traditional fermented food in Taiwan. A 2012 study isolated 103 lactic acid bacteria from jiang-gua samples and raw cucumbers. Samples made without soy sauce were dominated by Weissella cibaria and Leuconostoc lactis, and soy-sauce samples by Lactobacillus pentosus and L. plantarum.

  1. Ferment, with or without soy sauce
Jjanji / mu-jjanji (whole radish salted hard and aged)Korea

Also called 짠지, 무짠지, 무수짠지, 짠무김치, jjanji, mu jjanji.

Jjanji is whole radish, or sometimes cabbage or cucumber, salted very hard in a jar under a stone at kimjang and left until the kimjang kimchi runs out in spring. It is desalted before eating, sliced and floated in cold water or dressed like a fresh salad.

  1. Layer whole radish with plenty of salt
  2. Weigh down with a big stone
  3. Top up with brine, cover and seal until spring
  4. Desalt and serve
Jo-beop (Joseon wine-lees pickles of ginger, garlic and eggplant)Korea

Also called 조강법 (糟薑法), 조산법 (糟蒜法), 조가법 (糟茄法), lees ginger, lees garlic, lees eggplant.

Joseon cookbooks list three wine-lees pickles, of ginger, garlic and eggplant, each named with the character 糟 (lees). The vegetable is buried in salted wine lees (jigemi) in a crock. Each appears once in the cookbooks reviewed by Lee and Lee (1990); no method text was read, so this is a text-only outline.

  1. Bury in salted wine lees in a crock
  2. Cure in the lees
Jonjoli (pickled bladdernut flower buds)Georgia

Also called ჯონჯოლი, Colchis bladdernut, Staphylea colchica pickle.

Jonjoli is the Colchis bladdernut, a Caucasian shrub whose unopened flower buds are picked in May and pickled. In the old way the buds were taken off the stems in a single day, packed tightly into a bowl under salt water and kept for winter. Today they are usually dropped into boiling salt water and jarred in salt water with vinegar, which keeps their golden colour.

  1. Pick the unopened buds in May and take them off the stems
  2. Traditional: pack tightly in a bowl under salt water for winter
  3. Modern: scald in boiling salt water and jar with salt water and vinegar
Kachin sour bamboo shoots (mahkri sum, buried shoots)Myanmar

Kachin households sour bamboo shoots by burying them in the ground without air and digging them up months later. The only record found is a Jinghpaw-language oral recording in the PARADISEC archive, so the timing below is unconfirmed.

  1. Bury the shoots in the groundDug in June–July and taken out in October (about 3–4 months); seen only in a search summary of an untranslated recording
Karashi-zuke (mustard-koji pickle, especially autumn eggplant)Japan

Also called からし漬け, karashizuke.

Karashi-zuke is a vegetable, most often autumn eggplant, first salted in brine and then packed into a bed of developed mustard mixed with koji and sake. The lid is sealed and the pickle is eaten after about a month. The sources read give a household method only.

  1. Pre-pickle the eggplant in boiled, cooled brine under a stone3–4 days
  2. Develop the mustard with boiling water and a red-hot coal
  3. Pack the eggplant into the mustard, koji and sake, and seal the lid30 days
Kimchi named by method or season (sogimchi, pusae, neutgimchi, jirae, dok, jjok)Korea

Also called 소김치, 푸새김치, 늦김치, 지레김치, 독김치, 쪽김치.

A set of kimchi names that describe when or how a kimchi is made rather than what goes in it. Jirae kimchi is a small batch made to eat before the kimjang kimchi ripens, and neut-gimchi is made with little seasoning, more salt and no jeot so that it lasts into spring. Others name a kimchi that is unsalted, unripe, cut into pieces or kept in a large jar.

  1. As per variant
Kinkon-zuke (Hanamaki stuffed white-melon miso pickle)Hanamaki, Iwate, Japan

Also called 金婚漬, 金婚漬け, きんこづけ, kinkonzuke, kinkozuke, golden-wedding pickle.

Kinkon-zuke is a shirouri melon, hollowed and salted, then stuffed with salted carrot, burdock and cucumber rolled tightly in kombu. The stuffed melons are laid in a barrel under miso, or in moromi, and left to age for a long time. Cut across, the amber melon shows the vegetables like a flower or a family crest.

  1. Cut the ends off the melon, hollow it out and salt it
  2. Wrap the salted vegetables tightly in kombu and stuff the melon
  3. Lay in a barrel under miso and age

Safety: Low-salt versions are now sold; the sources give no salt or pH figures. Warabi, an occasional filling, is bracken fern, which contains the carcinogen ptaquiloside. Kim 2023 advises boiling soaked dried bracken for at least 20 minutes. That cut ptaquiloside by a median of about 96 %. At average daily intake, the study rated boiled bracken as safe at the median ptaquiloside level, not at the highest level it found. It did not test salting or miso ageing, so do not count on them to remove it.

Kkakdugi variants of the 1930s cookbooks (cucumber, clam, julienne, whole-cabbage)Seoul

Also called 오이깍두기, 외깍두기, 조개깍두기, 채깍두기, 배추통깍두기.

Early 20th-century Korean cookbooks give kkakdugi made from much more than cubed radish, including cucumber, clams with cabbage hearts, julienned radish and whole stuffed cabbage. The pieces are briefly salted and tossed with chilli and shrimp jeot, and the court-style cucumber kind is packed in a crock under cabbage leaves and a stone. This is a text-only reconstruction from the cookbooks; they give no times or amounts.

  1. Cut, salt briefly, toss with chilli and shrimp jeot
  2. Pack in a crock, cover with outer cabbage leaves, weight with a stone and seal (court-style oi-kkakdugi)
  3. Ripen
Kkeomeokji (black aged radish-green pickle)Chungcheong

Also called 꺼먹지.

Kkeomeokji is leftover radish greens salted heavily, pressed and aged for six months or more until they turn black, the colour its name refers to. It is desalted and cooked before eating. Only a one-line summary of the method was found.

  1. Salt leftover radish greens heavily and press
  2. Age until blackat least 6 months
  3. Desalt and cook
Knieperkohl (Prignitz mixed-cabbage sour kraut)Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany

Also called Knieperkohl, Knieperkahl, Kniperkol, Surn Hansen.

Knieperkohl is a sour dish of the Prignitz made from white cabbage, blue marrow-stem kale (or red cabbage leaves) and curly kale, with vine and cherry leaves. The leaves are boiled, pressed, salted and layered in stoneware pots to sour for four to ten weeks.

  1. Boil the cabbage leaves briefly and press them out
  2. Salt and layer with vine and cherry leaves in stoneware pots, under weight
  3. Lactic fermentation28 days – 2.3 months
Kongbat-mu kimchi (bean-field radish kimchi)Korea

Also called 콩밭무우김치, 콩밭무김치.

Kongbat-mu kimchi is named in one Korean cookbook reviewed by Lee and Lee (1990). The name means radish from the bean field, which suggests small radishes grown between soybean rows and pickled with their tops; no method text was found.

  1. Salt young radish with tops; season; ferment (like yeolmu or chonggak kimchi)
Kongnamul kimchi (soybean-sprout kimchi) and nokdu jangeum chimchaeKorea

Also called 콩나물김치, 녹두장음침채, bean sprout kimchi.

Kongnamul kimchi is a kimchi of soybean sprouts, named in two cookbooks reviewed by Lee and Lee (1990), with a mung-bean-sprout version named in one. Soybean sprouts grow in about a week, so they were a fresh green in winter; no method text for the kimchi was found.

  1. Season the sprouts and ferment
Kovászos uborka (Hungarian leavened cucumbers)Hungary

Also called kovászos uborka, leavened pickles, bread pickles.

Kovászos uborka is Hungary's summer cucumber pickle, made without vinegar. Slit cucumbers are packed in a glass jar with dill and garlic, covered with salted water and topped with a slice of bread, then left somewhere warm or in the sun for a few days. The bread is the "kovász" (leaven), and the pickle sours by lactic fermentation.

  1. Pack slit cucumbers with dill and garlic in a glass jar
  2. Cover with salted water and lay bread on top
  3. Leave in a warm place or in the sunat least 30 h · 25–30 °C
Ma-keua-dtor-laer-dorng (dry-salted eggplant)Thailand

Also called มะเขือตอแหลดอง, fermented garden eggplant.

Ma-keua-dtor-laer-dorng is young garden eggplant, whole or cut in pieces, mixed with about a cup of salt per kilogram and closed in a jar in a sunny place. The card lists only eggplant and salt. In 3 days it turns light green, salty and sour.

  1. Wash and cut the eggplants
  2. Mix with salt
  3. Close in a jar and ferment in a sunny place3 days
Ma-keua-proh-dorng (pickled young Thai eggplant)Thailand

Also called มะเขือเปราะดอง, ma-keua-dorng, pickled young garden eggplant.

Ma-keua-proh-dorng is young Thai eggplant slit into 6 to 8 joined sections and covered with salt, sugar, a little vinegar and rice-wash water. The tightly closed jar stands in the sun for 2 days until the eggplant turns sour. It keeps about a week.

  1. Wash and slit the eggplants
  2. Cover with the salted rice-wash water, close tightly and ferment in the sun2 days
Mie regional salt pickles (Matsusaka akana, Asama kona, Kumano takana)Mie, Japan

Also called 松阪赤菜, 朝熊小菜の漬物, 高菜漬け (熊野), 日野菜漬け.

Mie has many local vegetable pickles, and the basic method is salting the vegetable. They include Matsusaka akana, a red-purple turnip revived in 2001, Asama kona greens grown soft by frost on Mount Asama, and Kumano red-shiso takana salted with salt alone.

  1. Harvest the local greens or turnip
  2. Salt the vegetable
  3. Leave to pickle
Mohnyin tjin (Burmese sour mustard)Myanmar

Also called မုန်ညင်းချဉ်, mon nyin jin, mohn-hnyin gyin, sour mustard green.

Mohnyin tjin, "sour mustard green", is mostly white radish leaves with mustard greens, carrot, leek bulbs, ginger and garlic chives, pickled with glutinous rice, rice wine, chilli, spices and cane sugar. It is a standard condiment for Shan noodle dishes, and fermented mustard is eaten at breakfast in place of a noodle sauce.

  1. Prepare the greens and vegetables
  2. Pack with glutinous rice, rice wine, chilli and sugar
  3. Ferment until sour
Mon-la chin (sour radish)Myanmar

Radish, carrot and other vegetables are cut into a fermentation pot with congee, or rice water, and a little salt, and left for a day or two. Market samples measured about pH 3.5.

  1. Cut the vegetables into a fermentation pot
  2. Add congee and a little salt
  3. Ferment24 h – 2 days
Nam phak (Northern Thai fermented Chinese cabbage)Northern Thailand

Also called น้ำผัก, nam pak.

Nam phak is a Lanna ferment of Chinese cabbage soaked in brine and left for two to three days. Lactic acid bacteria rise sharply within the first day, and the Leuconostoc family is the most abundant group. It is usually eaten as a side dish.

  1. Soak the cabbage in brine
  2. Leave to ferment2–3 days
Njetim and jegietsang dui (Naga fermented mustard-leaf paste)Nagaland, Northeast India

Also called njetim, jegietsang dui, jegietsang.

Njetim and jegietsang dui are black pastes made from fermented mustard leaves by Naga peoples. In the Zeliang method, mustard leaves wither and yellow on a mat in the shade, are pounded and left in jars for about ten days; the juice is then wrung out and boiled down to a thick black paste. The pressed leaves are dried and eaten too.

  1. Let the leaves wither and yellow on a mat in the shade3–5 days
  2. Pound the leaves and ferment them in jars or pots10 days
  3. Wring out the juice; sun-dry the pressed leaves
  4. Strain and boil the juice down to a black paste3 h
  5. Store in a tightly capped bamboo mug

Safety: The juice is boiled for about 3 hours into a thick paste, which the Zeliang source says keeps edible for more than a year in a tightly capped bamboo mug.

Ombolo wa koba (ash-treated cassava-leaf dish)Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cassava leaves are left for three or four days to wilt and turn black, then chopped and boiled for about an hour with an alkaline extract of ash from banana skins and palm flowers. Salt, dried fish or meat and acid palm oil finish the dish. The FAO bulletin lists it as a fermented cassava-leaf product.

  1. Leave the leaves to wilt and turn black3–4 days
  2. Chop and boil1 h
  3. Add the ash extract
  4. Add salt and fish, cool a little and stir in acid palm oil

Safety: Chopping cassava leaves frees hydrocyanic acid, which is toxic. The source says the alkaline ash extract neutralises it, but gives no measurement, and no study we found tested this dish, so do not rely on the ash to make the leaves safe. Keep to the full hour of boiling, and never eat the leaves raw. In FAO's figures for mpondu, another cassava-leaf dish, boiling took the leaves from 68.6 mg/kg to 1.2 after 30 minutes [fao1990]. In ntoba mbodi, a related leaf ferment, cyanide stopped falling once the leaves turned alkaline [kobawila2003].

Pak-kaat-dorng-haeng (dried pickled mustard greens)Thailand

Also called ผักกาดดองแห้ง, dried pickled mustard greens.

Pak-kaat-dorng-haeng is Thai mustard greens that are salted, fermented and then dried. The greens are kneaded with salt overnight, pressed, sun-dried for a day, fermented in a closed jar in the shade for 5–7 days and dried again on bamboo trays. The JIRCAS card gives a storage life of 4–6 months.

  1. Knead with salt and leave overnightOvernight
  2. Press out the liquid and sun-dry24 h
  3. Pack in a closed jar and ferment in the shade5–7 days
  4. Sun-dry on bamboo trays

Safety: The JIRCAS card lists a storage life of 4–6 months but gives no pH, salt percentage or test behind it. Its wash and soak before cooking is to remove excess salt and soften the greens, not a safety step [jircas-haeng].

Parae kimchi (green-laver kimchi)Korea

Also called 파래김치.

Green laver (parae), a winter seaweed of the tidal flats, is washed well and mixed with radish strips and seasoning. It is listed in one historical cookbook in a survey of kimchi recipes.

  1. Wash the laver well and mix with radish strips and seasoning
Russian salt-fermented beetrootRussia

Also called квашеная свёкла, kvashenaya svyokla.

Beetroot is cleaned, sliced and packed in a container with salt, where it ferments. Its high sucrose lets the bacteria make dextrans, which can give the product a slimy texture (FAO, citing Pedersen 1979).

  1. Clean and slice the beetroot
  2. Pack with salt and ferment
Saenggang kimchi (ginger kimchi)Korea

Also called 생강김치.

Saenggang kimchi is a kimchi with ginger (saenggang) as its main ingredient. It is listed in one historical cookbook in a survey of kimchi recipes.

  1. Salt, season and ferment the ginger
Sinnamani (Gorkha freshly fermented radish)North East India

Also called sinnamani.

Sinnamani is a radish ferment of the Gorkha, eaten freshly fermented and sour as a pickle. Sinki, the Gorkha's other radish ferment, is dried.

  1. Prepare the radish
  2. Ferment
  3. Make into a pickle
Subak kimchi (watermelon-rind kimchi)Korea

Also called 수박김치.

Subak kimchi is a summer kimchi of watermelon rind. The green skin is peeled off and the white rind is sliced, salted, seasoned and fermented briefly. A 1990 review of 61 Korean cookbooks found it in only one of them.

  1. Peel the green skin, slice the white rind, salt and season; ferment briefly (typical)
Suk-kkakdugi (cooked-radish kkakdugi)Seoul

Also called 숙깍두기.

Suk-kkakdugi is kkakdugi made from boiled radish cubes, seasoned with jeot broth, chilli, scallion, garlic and ginger and fermented briefly. The 1924 cookbook Joseon Musang Sinsik Yori Jebeop calls it a soft kkakdugi good for the elderly.

  1. Boil radish, season with jeotguk and chilli, ferment briefly
Tandal acharIndia

Also called achar tandal.

FAO lists tandal achar among the pickled fruits and vegetables of the Indian sub-continent.

  1. Pickle the fruit or vegetable
Tang-chai (fermented cabbage seasoning)Thailand

Also called ตั้งฉ่าย.

Tang-chai is sun-wilted cabbage cut in 1 cm squares and mixed in an earthen jar with brown sugar, salt, garlic, galangal and a little rice mould. It is sealed for 2 days, then moved to another airtight jar and left in the shade for about 30 days, until it turns brownish yellow. It is used as a seasoning in clear soups and pork noodles.

  1. Wash, sun-wilt and cut the cabbage
  2. Mix with the seasoning and rice mould and seal2 days
  3. Move to an airtight jar and ferment in the shade30 days
Tuaithur (Hmar fermented bamboo shoot)Mizoram and Manipur, northeast India

Tuaithur is a wet, solid, sour fermented bamboo shoot made by the Hmar and Baite peoples of Mizoram and Manipur. It is eaten as a pickle or cooked into curry. Lactic acid bacteria and Bacillus species have been isolated from it.

  1. Ferment until sour
Ueong kimchi (burdock kimchi)Gyeongsang, Korea

Also called 우엉김치.

A rare kimchi of burdock root. Korean Wikipedia lists it among Gyeongsang's regional kimchi, and a review of old cookbooks found it in only two. No source read describes how it is made, so the single step below is only a placeholder.

  1. Prepare the burdock, season and ferment
Uri no teppō-zuke (Narita "gun-barrel" melon pickle)Narita and Katori, Chiba, Japan

Also called 瓜の鉄砲漬, 鉄砲漬, teppozuke, gun pickle.

A hollowed, salt-stored white melon is desalted for about 2 days, stuffed with green chilli wrapped in shiso leaf and steeped in a boiled and cooled soy, mirin and sake liquid. The liquid is boiled and cooled again each day for 4 to 5 days, and the pickle is ready in about a week. The chilli is the "gunpowder" in the melon "barrel".

  1. Hollow and salt-store the melons
  2. Desalt in water, changing it now and then2 days
  3. Squeeze dry and stuff with shiso-wrapped chilli
  4. Steep in the boiled and cooled seasoning, re-boiling it each day4–5 days
  5. Rest until ready7 days
Whole-head sour cabbageRomania and Croatia

Also called kiseli kupus u glavicama, kiselo zelje u glavicama, varză murată, кисело зеле, lakër turshi, kiseli kupus.

Whole heads of white cabbage are cored, salted in the core and packed tightly in a barrel under brine and a stone. Over one to several weeks lactic bacteria sour them, while the brine is drawn off at the bottom and poured back over the top. The whole sour leaves are used to wrap sarma and sarmale, and the brine is drunk.

  1. Core the heads and fill the cores with salt
  2. Pack the heads in a barrel and cover with brine
  3. Ferment, drawing off the brine and pouring it back7–42 days · 18–22 °C
  4. Move somewhere cool once sour

Safety: The heads are kept fully under the brine and weighted down, and the barrel is moved somewhere cool once the cabbage is sour.

Xichuan suancai (Henan blanched-greens sour vegetable)Xichuan county, Nanyang, Henan, China

Also called 淅川酸菜, Xichuan sour vegetable.

Xichuan suancai is wild and garden greens boiled until 30 to 50 % cooked, then lifted into a big vat and covered to sour. The finished greens are bright yellow in a thick sour liquid, eaten with noodles, fried, or used in dumplings. No salt is named in the method.

  1. Boil the greens until 30–50 % cooked
  2. Lift into a big vat and cover to sour (捂酸)
Yangzhou jiangcai (Yangzhou sauce pickles)Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China

Also called 扬州酱菜, Yangzhou sauce-pickled vegetables, Yangzhou pickles.

Yangzhou jiangcai is a family of vegetables pickled in sauce, among them Chinese artichoke, baby cucumber, young ginger, radish heads and lettuce stem. They are known as fresh, sweet, crisp and tender, and taste different from Beijing sauce pickles. Lactic acid bacteria have been isolated from pickles made by the Sanhe Simei company.

  1. Steep in sauce
Yatsugashira kuki-zuke (Mie taro-stem and red-shiso pickle)northern Higashi-Kishū, Mie, Japan

Also called 八つ頭の茎漬け, 茎漬け.

Unpeeled stems of yatsugashira taro are salted under 20 kg of stones for a day and a night, and the drawn liquid is thrown away. They are then repacked with liquid from a finished batch and red shiso coloured with ume vinegar, turned top to bottom each day under a lighter and lighter weight, and ready in 4 to 5 days. It is a summer pickle that must be kept cold.

  1. Pre-pickle in salt under stones (karizuke)24 h
  2. Main pickle with old liquid and red shiso4–5 days
  3. Turn the stems top to bottom each day
  4. Peel, slice and serve cold

Safety: The recipe says to store it in the refrigerator, because at room temperature fermentation goes on and spoils the taste and colour.

Yuja chimchae (citron water kimchi)Korea

Also called 유자침채, 유자김치.

Yuja chimchae is a water kimchi scented with yuja (Citrus junos) peel. A 1990 survey of kimchi in old Korean cookbooks is said to list it, but the survey's text could not be read, and no source we read gives its ingredients or numbers.

Yukina no fusube-zukeOkitama

Also called 雪菜のふすべ漬け.

Yukina, a blanched flower stalk grown under the snow, is cut, dipped three times for a few seconds in boiling water, steamed briefly in its own heat, cooled, and salted at 2 % under a weight in a sealed container. On the third day a sharp heat comes out. MAFF names the heat as isothiocyanate and describes no lactic ferment, so this is a boundary entry.

  1. Wash and cut the yukina
  2. Dip in boiling water three times ("fusuberu") and rest in its own heat
  3. Cool in cold water and drain
  4. Salt, weight and seal3 days · 2 % salt
  5. Keep cool and eat within a week

Safety: The MAFF recipe uses only 2 % salt and no acid. It seals the blanched stalks in thick plastic under a weight, puts them in a cool place such as the refrigerator once water rises, and says to eat them within 1 week, because the pungency fades with time.

Zaocai (Fuzhou red-lees mustard)Fuzhou and Minqing County, Fujian, China

Also called 糟菜, vegetables in wine lees.

Mustard greens are sun-dried, salted and then rubbed with hongzao, the red wine lees, and packed into a container to cure. The finished greens keep all year and are cooked as a seasoning.

  1. Sun-dry the mustard greens
  2. Salt the dried greens
  3. Rub with red lees and pack to cure

Numbers come from cited sources and carry a label that says how each is known. How this atlas is made