ABSTRACT
Canned or frozen foods are too expensive or not easily available for the majority of people living in underdeveloped and developing countries, where acid fermentation combined with salting remains one of the most practical methods of preserving and often enhancing the organoleptic and nutritional quality of fresh vegetables (Steinkraus 1996). The knowledge of the art of pickling vegetables (fermentation), a process of preservation of foods, is lost in antiquity (Battock and Azam-Ali 1998). It may have been developed in Asia as suggested by Pederson (1979) or in the Mediterranean (Hulse 2004), but until more evidence is available its origin will remain obscure (Steinkraus 1996). In any event, this method of food preservation has been used for many centuries and is one of the important methods of food preservation still in use for vegetables and fruits where production by canning, drying, or freezing is not the method of choice (Vaughn 1985). Biopreservation refers to extended storage life and enhanced safety of foods using the natural micro•ora and their antibacterial products (Stiles 1996, Tamang and Tamang 2009a). The women communities of different ethnic groups of the Himalayas have been practicing the lactic fermentation process to preserve perishable and seasonal vegetables in the absence of refrigeration and freezing (Tamang 2010). The preserved fermented vegetables are consumed during the long monsoon season when fresh leafy vegetables may not be available in plenty in the mountainous regions. Young bamboo shoots are consumed by people across the world besides their use as nonfood products such as house materials, handicrafts, etc. Young, edible tender bamboo shoots are traditionally fermented into food products in many Asian countries. Some fermented vegetable foods are sauerkraut, kimchi, gundruk, sinki, khalpi, etc., and some traditional fermented bamboo shoot products are mesu, soibum, soidon, ekung, eup, hiring, naw-mai-dong, etc. The fermented
5.4.3Soidon ................................................................................................ 179 5.4.3.1Preparation and Culinary ................................................... 179 5.4.3.2Microbiology ...................................................................... 180
5.4.4Soijim ................................................................................................. 180 5.4.4.1 Preparation and Culinary ................................................... 180 5.4.4.2 Microbiology ...................................................................... 180
5.4.5 Ekung ................................................................................................. 180 5.4.5.1 Preparation and Culinary ................................................... 180 5.4.5.2 Microbiology ...................................................................... 180
5.4.6 Eup ..................................................................................................... 180 5.4.6.1 Preparation and Culinary ................................................... 181 5.4.6.2Microbiology ...................................................................... 181
5.4.7Hirring ............................................................................................... 181 5.4.7.1Preparation and Culinary ................................................... 181 5.4.7.2Microbiology ...................................................................... 181
5.4.8 Naw-Mai-Dong ................................................................................. 181 5.4.8.1 Microbiology ...................................................................... 181
5.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 182 References ................................................................................................................ 182
vegetable products are categorized into three major groups: traditional fermented vegetables, pickled vegetables, and fermented bamboo shoot products.
