Phak sian dong (pickled spider plant)

Spider plant, not mustard

Phak sian dong (ผักเสี้ยนดอง), called Pak-sian-dorng by JIRCAS, is a fermented preparation of young spider-plant tips or flowers. JIRCAS identifies the plant as *Cleome gynandra* and gives the local name Pak-sian-khaao-dorng. This is a different plant from the *Brassica* mustard greens used for phak kat dong and from napa cabbage used in other cabbage ferments.

The available sources describe more than one regional context. JIRCAS reports home-industry production in northeastern Thailand. A 2018 study documents Lao Khrang methods in Huai Duan, Don Tum district, Nakhon Pathom, in central Thailand. The study shows an elder’s account that the local practice had passed through her mother’s generation, estimated at about 80–90 years; this is family transmission testimony, not a date for the food’s origin.

Different local methods

JIRCAS describes young tips or flowers trimmed and washed, wilted in sunlight, mixed with salt and cooked rice, packed beneath their expressed liquid with a weight, then left in shade. The same entry lists a 2–3 day fermentation period. Its method diagram says to mix salt with sugar, while the written method names cooked rice; the discrepancy is unresolved, and the two accounts should not be combined.

The Huai Duan study records three separate Lao Khrang variants. They share a preparation with washed, drained shoots and describe removing older stem peel where needed. The study then describes variants using cooked rice and brine, cooked rice with a brief sunlight placement, or rice-wash water or roasted rice. Its detailed text describes the sunlight version as one day; the English abstract reports 12 hours for a sunlight process. The paper does not reconcile these durations or map the abstract’s process numbering to the detailed recipes, so both reports remain distinct. The study also describes “parts” of plant and salt without saying whether they are measured by weight or volume.

JIRCAS describes the finished pickle as solid, sour and salty, served with nam-prik. In the Huai Duan account, it is eaten with nam-prik and also used in curry. These are uses documented in those sources, not a claim that one serving custom applies everywhere.

Evidence and limits

JIRCAS lists salt and cooked rice with the plant and attributes a list of microorganisms to *The Traditional Fermented Foods of Thailand* (1995), which was not directly inspected. The Huai Duan paper reports lactic-acid-bacteria counts from its sampled processes. It does not establish a transferable starter culture or show that every household batch has the same microbial community.

The paper shows that specified pathogens were not detected in its tested samples. That result applies to those samples and tests; it does not establish a general safety endpoint. JIRCAS gives a 15-day storage figure without stating storage conditions. Neither source supplies a validated home endpoint or storage guidance, so these accounts describe documented practices rather than provide a recipe.

Open questions in the sources

The JIRCAS record summarizes a 1995 reference that was not directly retrieved; its organism list and method summary have not been checked against that book.

The e-Flora of Thailand URL exposed only a dynamic page shell during the earlier review; indexed text was excluded, so no native-range or additional taxonomy claim is made.

JIRCAS’s diagram says sugar while its written method says cooked rice; this difference remains unresolved.

The NPRU abstract’s 12-hour sunlight duration differs from the detailed one-day account; the paper does not reconcile them.

The Huai Duan study does not define the measurement basis for its plant-to-salt 'parts' or clarify how that salt relates to its brine percentage.

No household-safe endpoint, validated storage condition, harvest season or general origin was established. The 15-day storage claim lacks stated conditions.