Tapai

For other uses, see Tapai (disambiguation).

Tapai

Different types of tapai in Southeast Asia. By clockwise: Tapai ketan, fermented glutinous rice wrapped in leaf, Kuningan, West Java, Indonesia, a jar and bowls of baya (tapuy) in a harvest ritual by an Ifugao mumbaki (shaman) in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines, jars for the making of the traditional rice wine of tapai among the Kadazan-Dusun in Sabah, Malaysia, and tapai pulut which is traditionally consumed in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore
Alternative names	peuyeum, etc.
Type	Rice wine, alcoholic paste
Region or state	Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia
Main ingredients	Usually white rice, glutinous rice
Cookbook: Tapai   Media: Tapai

Tapai (also tapay or tape) is a traditional fermented preparation of rice or other starchy foods, and is found throughout much of Southeast Asia, especially in Austronesian cultures, and parts of East Asia. It refers to both the alcoholic paste and the alcoholic beverage derived from it. It has a sweet or sour taste and can be eaten as is, as ingredients for traditional recipes, or fermented further to make rice wine (which in some cultures is also called tapai). Tapai is traditionally made with white rice or glutinous rice, but can also be made from a variety of carbohydrate sources, including cassava and potatoes. Fermentation is performed by a variety of moulds including Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oryzae, Amylomyces rouxii or Mucor species, and yeasts including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Saccharomycopsis fibuliger, Endomycopsis burtonii and others, along with bacteria.

Etymology

Tapai is derived from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tapay ("fermented [food]"), which in turn is derived from Proto-Austronesian *tapaJ ("fermented [food]"). Derived cognates has come to refer to a wide variety of fermented food throughout Austronesia, including yeasted bread and rice wine. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tapay-an also refers to large earthen jars originally used for this fermentation process. Cognates in modern Austronesian languages include tapayan (Tagalog), tapayan (Maguindanaon), tepayan (Iban), and tempayan (Javanese and Malay).

Starter culture

Tapai is made by inoculating a carbohydrate source with the required microorganisms in a starter culture. This culture has different names in different regions, shown in the table below. The culture can be naturally captured from the wild, by mixing rice flour with ground spices (include garlic, pepper, chilli, cinnamon), cane sugar or coconut water, slices of ginger or ginger extract, and water to make a dough. The dough is pressed into round cakes, about 3 cm across and 1 cm thick, and left to incubate on trays with banana leaves under and over them for two to three days. They are then dried and stored, ready for their next use.

Region	China	Indonesia/Malaysia	Korea	Philippines	Thailand
Name	peh-chu, jiuyao (simplified Chinese: 酒药; traditional Chinese: 酒藥; pinyin: jiǔyào; Jyutping: zau2joek1)	ragi tapai	nuruk	bubod, bubur, bubud, budbud, budbod, tapay	look-paeng

Preparation

Dried alcoholic fermented cassava or peuyeum at Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Traditional

Traditionally, cooked white rice or glutinous rice are fermented in tapayan jars. Depending on the length of time and various processes, tapai will result in a large number of end products. These include slightly fermented dough used for rice cakes (Filipino galapong); dried fermented cakes (Indonesian brem cakes); fermented cooked rice (Filipino buro, tapay, inuruban, binubudan, binuboran; Indonesian/Malaysian tapai or tape); fermented rice with shrimp (Filipino buro, balaobalao, balobalo, tag-ilo); fermented rice with fish (Filipino buro); or various rice wines (Filipino tapuy, tapey, bubod, basi, pangasi; Indonesian brem wine).

Modern

Fermented rice gruel/paste

Packaged tapai paste made from cassava in Indonesia

In modern times, in addition to rice, different types of carbohydrates such as cassava or sweet potatoes can also be used. The general process is to wash and cook the target food, cool to about 30 °C (86 °F), mix in some powdered starter culture, and rest in covered jars for one to two days. With cassava and sweet potato, the tubers are washed and peeled before cooking, then layered in baskets with starter culture sprinkled over each layer. The finished gruel will taste sweet with a hint of alcohol, and can be consumed as is, or left for several days more to become more sour.

In Thailand, khao mak (Thai: ข้าวหมาก, pronounced [kʰâw màːk]), also known as "Thai fermented sweet rice dessert", is fermented for several days, resulting in an alcohol content of just over one per cent. It has a noticeable alcohol flavour with a sweet taste and is often packaged in banana leaves. Look pang is the traditional fermentation starter used to make khao mak. Look pang is a starch ball which contains mold (Aspergillus species, Rhizopus species, and Mucor species) and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida species) inoculum in rice flour mixed with herbs such as pepper, garlic and galangal as an antibacterial agent. Its shape is a semicircular with 3–4 cm diameter. In the Khuan Don District, Satun Province it is called tapai.

Region	Brunei	Cambodia	China	India	Indonesia	Korea	Malaysia	Philippines	Singapore	Thailand
white rice	tapai	chao, tapai	lao-chao (Chinese: 醪糟; pinyin: láozāo; Jyutping: lou4 zou1), Jiuniang		tapai beras	nuruk	tapai nasi	tapay, buro, balaobalao, balobalo, galapong bigas	tapai nasi	khao-mak
glutinous rice	pulut	tapai		Bhattejaanr	tapai ketan		tapai pulut	tapay, binuburang basi, tapay basi, inuruban, binubudan, binuboran, galapong, galapong malagkit, galapong pilit, galapong salaket
cassava					tapai ketela, tapai ubi kayu (Minangkabau), tape singkong, tape telo, peuyeum (Sundanese)		tapai ubi kayu	binuburang kamoteng kahoy, binuburang balanghoy, tapay panggi, tapay a banggala

Rice wine

Within Borneo Island, tapai are specifically known as the local rice wine among the indigenous Dayak, Iban, Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, Paitan, and Rungus. It is considered an integral part of the indigenous communal gatherings and festivals, especially during Gawai Dayak and Kaamatan. In Sabah, tapai is considered a local drink speciality together with lihing and montoku.

Uses in cuisine

Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore

Tapai pulut wrapped in leaves served during a reception in Sabah, Malaysia

Within the three countries, tapai is commonly associated with the tapai pulut dessert, a type of local kuih commonly found at local street hawkers, the tamu (weekend market) and during local ceremonies and wedding receptions, where it is a local type of fermented food which holds significant cultural and culinary importance. Within Malaysia, there are three common types of tapai dessert known as tapai pulut, tapai nasi, and tapai ubi, wherein in the past there were also taboos followed by the elderly when making the dessert for it to taste good, such as the glutinous rice should be kept away from oil and making sure the pot for fermenting the tapai is dry and not oily; the person wrapping it also should not be chewing betel nut or go near any red objects since this will cause the contents of the tapai to turn red and not taste good to eat. Another taboo is when wrapping the tapai, one should also not eat things that taste sour since it will directly cause the tapai to turn sour.

Aside from the traditional dessert, tapai in the form of an alcoholic beverage is widely consumed by the indigenous communities of Sabah and Sarawak. It is made by cooking rice (either brown rice or single polished rice, an old rice from the langkau rice storage of the Dusun people) or cassava, mixing it with a traditional yeast starter called sasad or ragi, and leaving it to ferment in jars. In Brunei, tapai rice wine is also consumed by the indigenous Brunei Dusun as well as to some Bruneian Malay despite living under a conservative, majority-Muslim sultanate where it is enjoyed in a low-alcohol form at home since the public sale of alcoholic drink is not permitted.

Indonesia

Peuyeum (cassava tapai) as part of es doger sweet iced concoction dessert

Tapai and its variants are usually consumed as it is; as sweet mildly-alcoholic snacks, to accompany tea in the afternoon. The sweet fermented tapai however, are often used as the ingredient in a recipe of certain dishes. Sundanese cassava peuyeum is the main ingredient for colenak; a roasted fermented cassava tapai served with kinca a sweet syrup made of grated coconut and liquid palm sugar. Colenak is Sundanese portmanteau of dicocol enak which translates to "tasty dip". Tapai uli is a roasted block of bland-tasted ketan or pulut (glutinous rice) served with sweet tapai ketan or tapai pulut. The peuyeum goreng or tapai goreng, or known in Javanese as rondho royal is another example of Indonesian gorengan (assorted fritters), which is deep fried battered cassava tapai. Lemang tapai is another specialty among the local Minangkabau, which consists of both lemang and tapai that are used in various traditional ceremonies of the ethnic. Another is the tapai singkong (fermented steamed cassava).

In beverages, tapai, both cassava or glutinous rice, might be added into sweet iced concoction desserts, such as es campur and es doger.

Philippines

Tapuy, a traditional Ifugao rice wine prepared with tapay in the Cordillera highlands of Luzon, Philippines

In the Philippines, there are various tapay-derived dishes and drinks. They were originally referred to by the term tinapay (literally "done through tapay), as recorded by Antonio Pigafetta. But the term tinapay is now restricted to "bread" in modern Filipino languages. The most common use of fermented rice is in galapong, a traditional Filipino viscous rice dough made by soaking (and usually fermenting) uncooked glutinous rice overnight and then grinding it into a paste. It is used as a base for various kakanin rice cakes (notably puto and bibingka).

Fermented gruel-type tapay are also common, with various ethnic groups having their own versions like Tagalog and Kapampangan buro, the Ifugao binuburan, and the Maranao and Maguindanao tapay. These are usually traditionally fermented with or paired with fish or shrimp (similar to Japanese narezushi), as in burong isda, balao-balao, or tinapayan. Rice wines derived from tapay include the basi of Ilocos and the tapuy of Banaue and Mountain Province. Tapuy is itself the end product of binuburan allowed to ferment fully.

See also

• List of alcoholic drinks
• List of fermented foods
• List of rice dishes
• Amazake – Japanese drink made from fermented rice
• Cơm rượu – Vietnamese dessert made from glutinous rice
• Jiuniang – Chinese rice pudding dish
• Rượu nếp – Rice-based pudding or drink from Vietnam
• Kvass – Fermented low-alcoholic beverage
• Sake – Alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin
• Tapayan – Earthenware or stoneware jars
• Tapuy – Fermented rice wine from the Luzon highlands in the Philippines

References

Bibliography

• Steinkraus, Keith (26 March 2004). Industrialization of Indigenous Fermented Foods, Revised and Expanded. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8247-4784-8.
• Sanchez, Priscilla C. (2008). Philippine Fermented Foods: Principles and Technology. UP Press. ISBN 978-971-542-554-4.
• Mongkontanawat, N; Lertnimitmongkol, W (2015). "Product Development of Sweet Fermented Rice (Khao-Mak) from Germinated Native Black Glutinous Rice" (PDF). International Journal of Agricultural Technology. 11 (2): 501–515.
• Fitrisia, Dohra; Widayati, Dwi (2018). "Changes in basic meanings from Proto-Austronesian to Acehnese". Studies in English Language and Education. 5 (1): 114–125. doi:10.24815/siele.v5i1.9431.
• Yovani, Tania (2019). "Lamang tapai: the ancient Malay food in Minangkabau tradition". Journal of Ethnic Foods. 6 (22). doi:10.1186/s42779-019-0029-z – via Springer Nature. Text is licensed by Journal of Ethnic Foods under CC BY 4.0
• Maqsood ul-Haque, Siti Noor Suzila; Mueedin, Nurul Syazwani (2020). Fermentation of Tapai and Alcohol Content Released From Tapai. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1053/1/012050 – via IOP Publishing. Text is licensed by IOP Publishing under CC BY 3.0
• Tharmabalan, Rachel Thomas; Rusli, Siti Atikah; Lo, Rita; Saidin, Nur Fadillah; Basar, Zulkifli (2025). "From tradition to table: An introduction to the culture and nutritional significance of Malaysian fermented foods products". Journal of Ethnic Foods. 12 (8). doi:10.1186/s42779-025-00278-2 – via Springer Nature. Text is licensed by Journal of Ethnic Foods under CC BY 4.0
• Sulastri, Sri; Prihartini S, Atika; Irhamni, Aisha Nurul; Fadilah, Siti Nur; Nailah, Fahriyah Akifah; Putri, Nasyalina Harniazhi; Salsabila, Rifa Putri; Yofa, Ikhana San; Canata, Puput Aditya (2026). "Implementasi Teknik Fermentasi Tape Singkong dengan Ragi Saccharomycescerevisiae" [Implementation of Cassava Tapai Fermentation Technique with Saccharomycescerevisiae Yeast]. Jurnal Analis (in Indonesian). 5 (1): 58–69. Archived from the original on 12 May 2026.

External links

• Dominic Anfiteatro's page on Asian cultured foods Archived 4 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine