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Starters and koji from Assam, India

Xaj-pitha (Ahom rice wine starter)সাজপিঠা

Xaj-pitha is the Ahom rice-wine starter of Assam. Rice flour and many herbs are made into small round or oval cakes of about 12–14 g, seeded with an older cake, wrapped in banana leaves and dried. Four cakes are crumbled over each kilogram of steamed glutinous bora rice to make the sweet wine rohi.

Fully documentedStarters and koji9 days – 12 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo source gives amounts for the cake mix. The use rates found are 4 cakes per kg of steamed rice (Bora et al.) and roughly 30–50 g of starter per kg of rice (Fuloria et al.).
Rice flour[bora2016]
HerbsLygodium flexuosum, Cissampelos pareira, Scoparia dulcis, Leucas aspera, Piper betle and Cinnamomum glanduliferum are named in one review; the mix varies by household[fuloria2022]
An older pithaAdded as the yeast source[fuloria2022]
Water[fuloria2022]
Xaj-pitha, powdered, for the wine4 cakes per kg of rice (Bora et al.); about 30–50 g per kg of rice (Fuloria et al.)[bora2016][fuloria2022]
Glutinous bora rice, steamed, for the wine[bora2016]
Starterback-slop: an older pitha is added as the yeast source

Total time across the recorded steps: 9 days – 12 days

Start
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What changes: Rice and herbs dry in the shade and are ground to powder

Step 1 of 5
Mix rice with herbs and dry the mixture in the shade
Time
24 h – 2 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Moulds

Output: rice and herb powder.

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

Xaj-pitha is the Ahom rice-wine starter of Assam. Rice flour and many herbs are made into small round or oval cakes of about 12–14 g, seeded with an older cake, wrapped in banana leaves and dried. Four cakes are crumbled over each kilogram of steamed glutinous bora rice to make the sweet wine rohi. Made in 5 steps over 9 days – 12 days. The longest step, wrap the cakes in banana leaves, takes 4–5 days (Fuloria S 2022). Moulds Rhizopus delemar and Mucor circinelloides, with Aspergillus and Yeasts Meyerozyma guilliermondii, Wickerhamomyces ciferrii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida glabrata and Debaryomyces hansenii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4–5 daysReported[fuloria2022]Wrap the cakes in banana leaves
Temperature25–30 °CMeasured[keot2020]Crumble over steamed bora rice and seal in an earthen pot
AciditypH 6 → 3.3Measured[keot2020]Crumble over steamed bora rice and seal in an earthen pot

What makes this one different

Unlike emao, where moulds far outnumber bacteria, or thiat, where Enterobacteriaceae lead, the bacteria in xaj-pitha are mostly lactic, led by Lactobacillus plantarum. Its wine pots are kept on a bench above the fireplace.

Related ferments

Safety

Keot et al. collected 60 household samples and sequenced one composite of five, which held opportunistic contaminants. They isolated 22 moulds and report an aflatoxin test (detection limit 20 ppb) for only the four best starch-digesters, which were below that limit, while Aspergillus was among the moulds detected in the cakes. They call Mucor circinelloides, also detected, a potential health risk. Two S. cerevisiae isolates could make biogenic amines in a lab screen.

Hazards the sources name: Opportunistic contaminants Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and Micrococcus, from sequencing one composite sample.

History and sources

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

Bora et al. (2016) give the Ahoms of the Tai-Shan family as coming from Burma across the Patkai range into Assam under a leader called Sukapha. Their paper, with samples collected in Titabar on 20 August 2014, calls itself the first metagenomic report on xaj-pitha; Keot et al. (2020) later assessed the microbial quality and health risks of 60 household starters.

  1. [bora2016] Bora S.S., Keot J., Das S., Sarma K., Barooah M. 2016, Metagenomics analysis of microbial communities associated with a traditional rice wine starter culture (xaj-pitha) of Assam, India, 3 Biotech 6:153paper
  2. [keot2020] Keot J., Bora S.S., Das Kangabam R., Barooah M. 2020, Assessment of microbial quality and health risks associated with traditional rice wine starter xaj-pitha of Assam, India, 3 Biotech 10:64 (full text on PMC)paper
  3. [fuloria2022] Fuloria S., Mehta J., Talukdar M.P. et al. 2022, Synbiotic effects of fermented rice on human health and wellness, a natural beverage that boosts immunity, Frontiers in Microbiology 13:950913 (review of xaj-pani)paper