FERMENTED FISH

The term fermented fish is applied to two groups of products, mostly confined to

East and Southeast Asia: the more widely known fish/salt formulations such as fish

sauces and pastes, and fish/salt/carbohydrate blends. Strictly speaking, only in the

latter case is the description ‘fermented’ fully justified. Microbial action in the

production of fish sauces and pastes is slight if not insignificant and the term is

being used in its looser, non-microbiological, sense to apply to any process where

an organic material undergoes extensive transformation.

In many areas where they are produced, fish sauces and pastes are the main flavor

principle in the local cuisine and provide a valuable balanced source of amino

acids. Fish sauces and pastes are usually made from a variety of small fish which

are packed into tanks or jars with salt usually at a ratio of around three parts fish to

one-part salt. This is more than sufficient to saturate the aqueous phase, to produce

water activity below 0.75 and arrest the normal pattern of spoilage. The only

organisms likely to be able to grow under such conditions are anaerobic extreme

halophiles. Although there have been recent reports of isolations of organisms such

as the proteolytic Halobacterium salinarium from fish sauce, their importance

remains to be established since earlier work has shown that acceptable fish sauce

could be made using fish sterilized by irradiation.

The production process can take up to 18 months or more, during which the fish

autolyze, largely through the action of enzymes in the gut and head of the un-

eviscerated fish, to produce brown salty liquid rich in amino acids, soluble peptides

and nucleotides. Products in which autolysis is less extensive are described as fish

pastes.

Authentic lactic-fermented fish products have to include as an ingredient an

exogenous source of fermentable carbohydrate. Considerable variation in recipes

has been noted but production is governed by two general principles: the higher the

salt content of the product, the longer the production process takes but the better

the product’s keeping qualities; and the higher the level of added carbohydrate, the

faster the fermentation and the more acidic the flavor.

Fish/salt/carbohydrate products are generally much less popular than the fish

sauces and pastes and are produced on a smaller scale. Their production also tends

to be more common away from the coast and to use freshwater fish. Though

superficially their production appears similar to that of fermented meat sausages,

they are quite distinctive.

In products such as Burong-isda (Philippines), Pla-jao, and Pla-som (Thailand) and

I-sushi (Japan), cleaned fish flesh is dry salted with about 10–20% salt and left for

a period of up to a day. The flesh is then usually removed from the brine that

develops and may be subjected to further moisture reduction by sun-drying for a

short period. Lactic fermentation is then initiated by addition of carbohydrate. This

is usually in the form of rice although traditional saccharifying agents (koji, Japan;

look-pang, Thailand; ang-kak, Philippines) employing mold enzymes may be

added. These accelerate the fermentation, since most LAB are not amylolytic, and

also increases the total acid produced. Garlic is often added along with the rice as a

flavoring ingredient and this may play a similar role in directing the fermentation

as spices do in fermented sausage production. Garlic is also a source of the

fermentable carbohydrate inulin. The product is normally ready for consumption

after about two weeks of fermentation when the microflora is dominated by yeasts

and LAB which are present at levels around 107 cfu g-1 and 108 cfu g-1 respectively.

With the exception of I-sushi, these products are usually cooked before

consumption and this along with the low pH generally guarantees safety. However,

the small, very often domestic-scale, production can lead to extreme variations in a

product’s character and failure to obtain a satisfactory rapid fermentation in I-sushi

has led to outbreaks of botulism in Japan caused by C. botulinum type E.