Leishan Fermented Fish Chili Paste 雷山鱼酱酸

How it is made

According to the Leishan County government, the paste is made each year from August to October. Fresh small fish and erjingtiao chilli are chopped together, salt and other seasonings are added, and the mixture ferments for three months. In the processing plants of Yongle (永乐) town, harvested chillies are washed, shaken dry and pounded into a paste, then moved into dedicated fermentation jars whose mouths are sealed for the traditional ferment.

Guizhou Daily's Tianyan News (天眼新闻) describes how the method has changed. A Leishan producer told the paper that a good jar used to depend entirely on a master's experience: how much salt to add, how long to ferment and when to turn the jars were judged by touch, sight and smell, and a change in temperature would throw the flavour off. The traditional Miao method has since been broken into measured steps, with a time limit for washing the chillies after picking, a set coarseness for chopping, a controlled ratio of salt to chilli, and fixed ranges for fermentation temperature and time. The paper reports that this cut fermentation from four or five months to two or three.

Flavour and texture

The Leishan County government gives the flavour as sour, sweet, salty and hot at once. A provincial agricultural researcher who worked with producers told Guizhou Daily that the standardised process keeps the traditional sour aroma while making the flavour steadier and the sour aroma richer.

Where it comes from

Making the paste follows the chilli harvest. Yongle town grows chilli under contracts between companies, cooperatives and farming households, and the Tianyan News report says the production season runs from chilli picking until the last jar is sealed in October. Leishan producers have extended the range beyond the plain paste into sour-soup bases (酸汤底料) and zao chilli (糟辣椒), and the paper says pouch packs sell especially well.