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Alcoholic drinks from Assam, India

Xaj / rohi (Ahom rice beer)

Xaj is the Ahom rice beer of Assam. Steamed glutinous bora rice is mixed with powdered xaj-pitha starter cakes, packed into an earthen pot sealed with fern leaves and kept on a shelf above the hearth. The sweet, light-yellow liquid that collects, rohi, is drawn off and diluted with water to make xaj.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks7 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe household ratio of 4 starter cakes per kg of rice from Bora et al. 2016; cake weights are from their five Titabar samples. A lab study used 2.0 g of starter per 50.0 g of rice.
Glutinous bora rice, steamed and cooled on a bamboo mat1 kg[bora2016]
Xaj-pitha starter, powdered4 cakes (each about 11.6–14.5 g)Rice-flour cakes made with many herbs; the Ahom also call it vekur pitha[bora2016][rawat2021]
Water, to dilute the rohi[bora2016]
Starterxaj-pitha (vekur pitha), a dry rice-and-herb cake holding moulds, yeasts and lactic bacteria; the Sonowal use saoul pitha

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days

Start
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What changes: Glutinous rice is steamed, then spread on a bamboo mat to cool

Step 1 of 5
Steam the rice and cool it on a bamboo mat
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Aspergillus sp.
Yeasts
Wickerhamomyces ciferrii
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: cooked glutinous rice.

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 is the Ahom rice beer of Assam. Steamed glutinous bora rice is mixed with powdered xaj-pitha starter cakes, packed into an earthen pot sealed with fern leaves and kept on a shelf above the hearth. The sweet, light-yellow liquid that collects, rohi, is drawn off and diluted with water to make xaj. Made in 5 steps over 7 days. The longest step, pack into an earthen pot, seal with fern leaves and keep above the hearth, takes 7 days (Keot J 2020) and runs at 25–30 °C (Keot J 2020). Amylolytic moulds Rhizopus delemar and Aspergillus sp. and Yeasts Meyerozyma guilliermondii, Wickerhamomyces ciferrii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida glabrata do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7 daysMeasured[keot2020]Pack into an earthen pot, seal with fern leaves and keep above the hearth
Temperature25–30 °CMeasured[keot2020]Pack into an earthen pot, seal with fern leaves and keep above the hearth
AciditypH 6 → 3.3Measured[keot2020]Pack into an earthen pot, seal with fern leaves and keep above the hearth

What makes this one different

Xaj ferments solid in a sealed pot on a shelf over the hearth and is diluted only at the end. The Ahom starter carries many herbs, and the strong first liquid (rohi) is kept apart from the diluted drink.

Related ferments

Safety

The home-made starter can carry Mucor circinelloides and opportunistic bacteria such as Acinetobacter and Stenotrophomonas, which Keot et al. 2020 give as reasons to develop defined mixed starters. In their lab ferment the pH fell to 3.3 and enterobacteria were gone by day 4.

Hazards the sources name: Mucor circinelloides in the starter, a known cause of zygomycosis; Enterobacteria (rose slightly in the first three days of a lab ferment, then disappeared by day 4) and opportunistic Acinetobacter and Stenotrophomonas in starters.

History and sources

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

Bora et al. 2016 trace the Ahom, a Tai-Shan people, to Burma, from where they crossed the Patkai range and entered Assam under a leader named Sukapha; skilled women of rural background in the community make the xaj.

  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., Kangabam R.D., Barooah M. 2020, Assessment of microbial quality and health risks associated with traditional rice wine starter Xaj-pitha of Assam, India, 3 Biotech 10(2):64paper
  3. [das2026] Das R., Medhi M.C., Tamang B. 2026, Microbial diversity and its links to retinol pathways and aroma compounds in ethnic fermented rice beverages of Assam, AMB Express 16:91 (rohi modh)paper
  4. [rawat2021] Rawat J.M., Pandey S., Debbarma P., Rawat B. 2021, Preparation of alcoholic beverages by tribal communities in the Indian Himalayan Region: a review on traditional and ethnic consideration, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 5:672411paper