Rice Fermentation Starters in Cambodia: Cultural Importance and Traditional Methods of Production

Abstract

This paper focuses on the processes of producing fermentation starters in Cambodia, in order to explore the dispersal routes of starters in Southeast Asia. Spices, herbs, and a sweet ingredient are widely used to make starters in Cambodia, and many people put new starters on rice husks or straw. These widely distributed techniques may have originated in one place and later dispersed throughout Southeast Asia. Two different production processes are used in Cambodia: one based on a “rice wine culture”—characterized by not using rice liquor, not using old starters, using leaves and branches to cover the starters, and not drying the starters; and the other based on a “rice liquor culture”—characterized by the use of rice liquor (blown over the starters), old starters (scattered over new starters and/or mixed with rice powder), and the addition of sugar without using plant materials. “Rice wine culture” seems to be the older type of process in Cambodia, and new techniques related to the “rice liquor culture” probably infiltrated the region later. The use of plants and the rituals related to starter production are very important in understanding the dispersal routes of starters in Southeast Asia.