Plants used to be "sour ingredients" to food [edible plants]

Beside lemon or limes, what do you use to add sour taste to your food?

Here in Cambodia, I found numerous types of plants that are used in the kitchen to add sour taste to the food! We use them interchange in the daily food. I think we use those plants based on availability, season, and what suits it best to specific dishes.

Some are best with specific dishes such as it is best to use lemon/lime in the ញាំ/ភ្លា salad but some leaves from the wild for ម្ជូរគ្រឿង “Creamy Sour Soup” What have you known before and what you don’t know about these plants?

  1. ក្រូចឆ្មា Lemon/lime, very common - the fresh ones are used to add sour taste to ready food or types of salad. Fermented limes are used in the soup named “Ngam ngov soup”
  2. អំពិលទុំ អំពិលខ្ចី ត្រួយអំពិល ក្តឹបអំពិល Tamarinds: green and ripe tamarind, its young leaves… all used in the soups to add sour taste. Ripe tamarind is used in the dip-sauce a lot. They are not just sour, they have some sweet taste which is very good for dip-sauce.
  3. ស្វាយខ្ចី Mango: green mango also used to add sour taste to food,
  4. ក្រសាំង Java Cola: they can be used in the soup or add sour taste to the dip-sauce
  5. ស្លឹកថ្នឹង​​ river leaf/ Aganonerion polymorphum: used in the soups. They are from the jungle
  6. ស្លឹកទ្រមូង ផ្លែទ្រមូង​ Garcinia oliveri: both leaves and fruits are used in the soup for its sour taste. They are from the jungle.
  7. ស្លឹកម្កាក់ Hog plum leaves: they are used in the soups
  8. ថ្ងាន់ spider tree: used in the soup
  9. សណ្តាន់ Fresh garcinia madan: fruits/dry fruits are used in the soup
  10. ផ្លែម្ជូរព្រឹក្ស​ ឬ ម្ជូរល្មម Roselle: used in the soup
  11. ស្លឹកក្រឡាញ់​​ Velvet Tamarind /[Dialium cochinchinense]: used in the soup
  12. ក្រូចសើច Kaffir lime: pickle and used as dip-sauce
  13. សត្វអង្ក្រង Red ant: used in the salad …

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Thanks for this nice topic @Sophia_Cambodia . I see you have a lot of variation to add sour taste/flavor to food. Most of them are common in Bangladesh also. We use green tomato, green mango, olive, tamarind and some other things instead of lime/lemon to add sour taste to our food. Thanks for the nice photos and descriptions. Regards.

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I see @MukulR tomato, pineapple and few other vegetables are also considered sour but it is vegetables to us. It is sour but not to extent that it can be used solely and the soup sour without adding these plants. These plants I mentioned are ingredients for sour taste and are sour taste givers. They can replace vegetables at some points that in the soup you don’t need vegetables anymore, just put these.

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Hi @Sophia_Cambodia

This is a real foodie post. I like it. Very detailed and mouth watering dish. Thanks for sharing it with us on connect

Cheers

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Thank you dear @SholaIB it is such an honor to have your beautiful comment. Yes, it is a brief of everything and I had previously posted about “how to preserve food” please read them when you have time!

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Hello @Sophia_Cambodia

Interesting query as well as information.

In addition to lime, we use the following ingredients to add a sour taste

Tamrind.

Raw mango.

Garcinia Indica commonly called as Kokum. That’s an indispensable ingredient in a Curry.

Curds and buttermilk.

Aamla or Phyllanthus Emblica to prepare pickle etc.

Use of Vinegar is not that prevalent. However, many restaurants serve that along with chilly cuttings.

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Interesting list of stuff to use there dear @C_T I see many similarities here.

We use vinegar too but only restaurants as they do it in big amount.

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia Thanks for sharing with us how to add sour taste to a food . I must say it is very useful post. For example I dont know Mango leave can be use to add sour taste to food. I only know of lemon and bitter leaf.

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Oh, I see but mango leaves are not used to add sour taste, yes people eat them but it is young and green mango I am talking about here @Emmik20

The last photo show the shred green mango used in the dip-sauce to go with grilled fish!

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