The Serumpun Codex · Ferments, grains and starches
Tapai
Rice or cassava fermented with ragi, the starter cake, and the base for tuak.
The entry
- Name
- Tapai
- Other names
- Tapai pulut (glutinous rice), tapai ubi kayu (cassava); the ragi is called chiping by the Iban
- Scientific name
- Not applicable: a fermentation
- What it is
- Rice or cassava fermented with ragi, the starter cake, and the base for tuak.
- Knowledge from
- The Iban, who make tapai pulut and tapai ubi kayu as the base for tuak.
- How it is used
- Cooked glutinous rice or cassava mixed with ragi of rice flour, ginger, galangal and sugar. In Sabah, tapai means the rice wine itself.
- In the French Borneo kitchen
- The palate cleanser at the Kuching Finale.
- Conservation status
- Not applicable
- Codex Alimentarius
- No Codex standard
- Medicinal knowledge
- Held privately by the community
- Consent
- Given, recorded by CHASS, 30 October 2026
Still to be confirmed: who shared it with Serumpun and season and place.
Sources
Added to the Codex on 1 November 2026. Sources last checked on 30 October 2026.
Anyone may cook with this knowledge, commercially too, provided the community it comes from is credited by name. To correct or withdraw this entry, write to the Custodian at connect@chefjameswon.com.
How to cite this entry
Serumpun Sarawak (2026) ‘Tapai’, The Serumpun Codex, ed. James Won. Available at: https://www.chefjameswon.com/serumpun/codex/tapai/ (sources checked 30 October 2026).
Quote any entry with this citation, and name the community whose knowledge it is.