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Soidon

Soidon, fermented bamboo shoot tips

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Fermented tender bamboo-shoot tips from Manipur, started with the sour liquid of an earlier batch and eaten in chutneys and curries.

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Photograph of Soidon.

Overview

Soidon is a Manipuri fermented food made from the tender tips of bamboo shoots. The 2020 survey separates it from Soibum, which is made from thin slices of juvenile shoots. Soidon is also distinct from Soijim, the sour liquid that forms during its fermentation.

Its sour character comes from lactic fermentation. Cooks use it in chutneys and curries, and in the 2009 account it is also sold in markets.

Sources for this section

Method and variants

The 2009 account describes whole tips held in an earthen pot with diluted soijim from an earlier batch, for three to seven days at room temperature. It notes that Garcinia leaves may be added.

The 2020 survey describes cut tips in a plastic tub with the previous batch's sour liquid and Garcinia pedunculata leaves, held five to seven days with regular stirring. The two accounts differ in vessel, cut and starter. Neither gives input quantities.

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Starter and microbiology

The traditional starter is the sour liquid of an earlier batch. A 2010 study of soidon mahi reports mixed bacteria in starter samples from Manipur and records high Bacillus cereus counts in 87 per cent of the samples. A 2014 study characterised lactic acid bacteria from three Soidon products from Manipur.

These are results for the sampled material. They do not define a standard starter, and they do not show that any batch is safe.

Sources for this section

History

The 2009 account names Meitei women as the main producers, with men supporting, and records curry and pickle uses and market sale. The 2020 survey documents Soidon in surveyed markets and lists it in cooked Eronba chutney. The sources do not establish an origin or date.

Ingredients

Scaling: source batch only

Bamboo shoot tipsApical tips, either whole or cut across and lengthwise into 4 to 5 cm pieces in the survey's account.
Amount not stated
No weight or count is given.
Soijim, sour liquid from an earlier batchDiluted 1:1 with water in the 2009 whole-tip account.
Amount not stated
The 2020 survey gives no ratio.
Garcinia pedunculata leaves (optional)Added as the survey describes.
Amount not stated
Optional in the 2009 account.

Method

Risks and precautions · Elevated risk
Bacillus cereus in reused starter liquid

A 2010 study of soidon mahi, the traditional liquid starter, reports Bacillus cereus at 10 to the 6th to 10 to the 7th cfu/ml in 87 per cent of the starter samples it studied, and the authors raise a biosafety concern. The finding is sample-specific, but reuse of a sour liquid carries the risk.

Hazard source
Undefined endpoint

The sources describe sourness and stirring, but give no measured acidity or pH limit for Soidon.

Hazard source

Do not treat a Soidon batch as safe because it is sour, smells normal or has been held for the stated days.

Control source

The 2010 starter study found high Bacillus cereus counts in traditional starter samples. Reusing sour liquid carries that risk. No source validates a household starter.

No validated household safety limit, endpoint or storage time is given for Soidon. Do not use smell, taste or appearance as proof of safety.

  1. Cut tender bamboo-shoot tips, either whole in the 2009 account or cut across and lengthwise into 4 to 5 cm pieces in the 2020 survey.
  2. Put the tips into a vessel with sour liquid from an earlier batch (soijim). In the 2009 account the earlier liquid is diluted 1:1 with water and the shoots are kept in an earthen pot at room temperature for three to seven days.
  3. The 2020 survey describes a plastic tub with water and the previous batch's sour liquid, with Garcinia pedunculata leaves, held five to seven days with regular stirring.
  4. Keep the batch covered and stir it as the survey describes until it is sour.
  5. Use the sour product in cooked Eronba chutney and in curries, and keep part of the liquid to start the next batch.

Conditions

Fermentation3–7 days

Places

Manipur, India

Traditional preparation · Region evidence

State-level association. The 2020 survey links the popular Naat form to Bishnupur; this is not an origin claim.

See Manipur, Indiaon the mapLocation source 1 → · Location source 2 →

Related

Made from

  • Soijim

    The sour liquid that forms during Manipuri Soidon fermentation, kept to start the next batch and used to sour curries.

More from Manipur

  • Soibum

    Thin slices of juvenile bamboo shoots fermented for six to twelve months in Manipur, eaten as a sour side dish with rice.

  • Hawaijar

    A sticky fermented soybean food of Manipur, made by packing cooked soybeans in leaf-lined bamboo baskets and keeping them warm, related to but distinct from Bekang and Akhone.

  • Hentak

    Manipuri fermented fish-and-aroid paste, formed into balls or kept in an earthen pot, used to season Manipuri dishes. Its method is documented in outline only.

  • Leirou

    Leirou is fish smoked in a prepared kiln or room by processors around Loktak Lake in Manipur, India, a method the local survey keeps apart from open-flame ngaphak.

  • Ngaphak

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  • Ngari

    Ngari is a Manipuri fermented fish condiment made from small sun-dried fish, usually Puntius sophore, packed for fermentation. A biochemical study describes a salt-free method; it works as a condiment and ingredient rather than as a filtered sauce.

Related in the family

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  • Ekung

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  • Eup

    Pit-fermented bamboo shoots from Arunachal Pradesh, cut smaller and sun-dried for five to ten days, used in curries.

  • Goyang

    Goyang is a Sherpa fermented wild leafy food of the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim. Rainy-season magane-saag leaves are packed in a bamboo basket, held at room temperature for about a month, then eaten fresh or dried and used in soup.

  • Hirring

    Upper tender bamboo-shoot tips, split or flattened, pit-fermented one to three months in Arunachal Pradesh and eaten in curries.

  • Hogweed barszcz

    The original Polish barszcz: young hogweed leaves soured in warm water for a few days, then boiled into soup with egg, butter, cream or millet. Recorded from 1595, with warnings about the sap and lookalikes.

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Sources