Mum (mam)

Two names, two meat variants

The Thai name หม่ำ is used for a family of fermented meat products. JIRCAS records two local names: Mam-moo for fermented pork and Mam-neua for fermented beef. The distinction is the animal species, not a pair of interchangeable spellings. The supplied meat-atlas record notes that wider usage can include buffalo and other named regional forms; those details should not be assumed to describe the JIRCAS formulations.

English spellings vary across publications, including Mum-moo in a 2024 research paper. This page keeps the established atlas identity “Mum (mam)” and treats Mam-moo and Mam-neua as named forms within it. It does not imply the two forms share one exact formula.

Ingredients and recorded method

JIRCAS lists ground meat and the matching liver, salt, minced garlic, ground roasted rice and cooked rice. It says meat is usually the main ingredient but gives no fixed meat-to-liver ratio or weights. The 2024 study’s sample table independently describes Mum-moo as minced pork and liver with salt, roasted rice and garlic; it does not list cooked rice for that sampled product. This difference indicates that recorded formulations vary; it is not a reason to combine the accounts into one exact recipe.

The JIRCAS account includes a covered overnight rest, stuffing into cleaned intestine or stomach, and hanging in shade or an airy place. It also records plastic casing in contemporary Mam-moo and a paste form for Mam-neua. A customary fermentation span is recorded, but no measured temperature, validated acidity or other critical process limit is given. This entry preserves those details as documentation rather than turning them into a reliable home protocol.

A food with changing serving practice

JIRCAS records raw Mam served with fresh garlic, bird’s-eye chilli and vegetables as a main dish, alongside a contemporary practice of deep-frying before eating. It documents use; it does not test the safety of raw servings. Fermentation time alone cannot be treated as proof that a meat product is safe.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment advises consumers to avoid raw pig-meat products, including raw sausages, unless sufficiently heated, with particular concern for people at higher risk of severe hepatitis E. CDC notes that curing, drying or smoking alone does not consistently kill Trichinella and that homemade sausage can be a source of infection. These sources do not provide a Mam-specific validated method, so this record supplies no critical limit.

What the microbiology study establishes

Krongkeha’s 2024 study obtained ten lactic-acid-bacteria isolates from one Mum-moo sample. The authors identified isolate MU-9 as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and found that its culture supernatant inhibited selected test bacteria in laboratory assays. They describe possible future use of selected strains as starter cultures. These findings concern isolated organisms and laboratory tests; they do not show that the sampled sausage was pathogen-free, establish which organisms dominate every Mam batch, or validate a household process.

Place and historical limits

JIRCAS associates home-industry Mam production with northeastern Thailand, supporting a regional production association but not a particular village or birthplace. Its reference list includes a 1995 book, which shows the tradition had been recorded by then but does not establish an earliest attestation. The 2024 paper adds a later study of a Mum-moo sample without dating the product’s beginning.