5 Most Strange Fermentation Foods

Fermented foods add to the breadth and depth of our food choices. Not only can they stand on their own, they also provide the hassle of other food paired to create new joys for the palate.

If you've experimented with miso, wine, cheese, fish sauce, and even shrimp sauce in your diet, this article will open up new possibilities for you. Sit tight when we invite the world to bring some unusual fermented foods and drinks that you might never do.

1. Tapai

TapaiTapai is a popular snack made from glutinous rice or fermented cassava consumed in East and Southeast Asia. Sweet, tart and a little alcoholic, tapai eaten alone, or used as home-cooked ingredients and baked by locals. In a place that is usually eaten like Indonesia and Malaysia, tapai starter called yeast can be purchased from the store immediately. To make sticky rice tapai, the rice is cooked first and allowed to cool. Yeast powder is then mixed into the rice with sugar, wrapped in banana leaves and left to ferment for about two days.

2. Hákarl

HákarlHákarl, or more accurately, kæstur hákarl, is the name of an Icelandic dish made of shredded healing meat. The fermentation process involves the burial of Greenland shark meat or basking in sand and gravel and pressed with stones for up to twelve weeks. The wrinkled meat is then cut and left to dry for another four to five months. Long processing is needed to reduce the amount of toxins found in shark meat if not poisonous when fresh. Even so, hákarl is not for the weak. Having strong ammonia and the taste and smell of fishy, ​​those who just know him often feel disgusted.

3. Fermentation Bean Curd

Fermented Bean Curd The East replied to cheese, fermented curd, aka su fu or dou fu ru (豆腐乳), is a Chinese special spice found in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and other parts of Asia. It is made by culturing small dry tofu stones with bacteria and fungi, followed by curing them in salt solution, soy paste, rice wine and spices. Different materials used to cure bean curd produce many varieties of su fu. The fermented coconut tastes very different from the fresh and not fermented tofu. The texture is reminiscent of soft, salty cheese, and depending on the variety you buy, it can also be very spicy. Su fu is eaten in small quantities with porridge, and is also used to substitute salt in cooking to give a distinctive taste of food. You can get fermented beans from most Asian markets as well as some online stores like Amazon.com.

4. Lahpet

Born, fermented tea leaves In Myanmar (aka Burma), tea leaves are not only for brewing tea, they are also eaten as food. Lahpet is a unique fermented tea leaf for the country made by pressing young soft tea leaves and then fermenting it in clay pots. Born is often served with baked beans, sesame seeds, garlic and peas, and drizzling with fish sauce, sesame oil, and lime juice to create a delightful salad called Lahpet thohk. Lahpet has a special place in Burmese society. While Western civilizations associate doves and olive branches peacefully, in the past, fighting with the Burmese kingdom preferred to exchange the Lahpet to end the conflict. Currently, no ceremony or important event is considered complete without Lahpet. The Burmese also believe that their favorite Lahpet helps them to remain vigilant, relieve fatigue and feed the digestive system.

8. Shio Koji

Shio KojiKoji refers to a cultural starter made from fermented rice and / or soybeans used to produce familiar Japanese fermented products such as miso, sake and mirin. When koji is mixed with soy and salt, we have miso. When added to the mixture of rice, water and yeast, we get sake (rice wine). In the case of zodi koji (塩 麹), the starter is added to the salt (zodiac). And the result is a fermentation salt that permeates natural umami without the addition of any MSG. Resembling a thick rice slurry, zodiac koji is used as a salt substitute and hence, it can be used in various ways. You can use it as a spice to add tenacity to your dish or mix the raw meat with it so that koji can do their fermentation magic. Some cooks recommend replacing 2 teaspoons of zodiac koji for 1 teaspoon of salt. Or, 10 grams of zodiac koji to every 100 grams of ingredients. Koji Shio is available in the Japanese market as well as online at Amazon.com.