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Best Bosou in New York

“Fermented with pangi fruit, bosou brings salty-tangy depth to rice, noodles, and slow-cooked meats.”

Bosou

What the real thing tastes like

Bosou (or also known as nonsom, noonsom, tonsom or tinamba in various Dusunic dialects) is a traditional fermented condiment among the indigenous Kadazan-Dusun in Sabah of East Malaysia. It is produced through the process of preserving either vegetables, freshwater fish, or meat mixed with salt, white rice, and pangi fruit (Pangium edule) as the main preservative. Bosou has a distinctive salty and tangy flavour where it is usually eaten raw as condiment or served with white rice and even fried noodles or bee hoon, but is more typically cooked with other meats and vegetables. Its counterpart in West Malaysia is the pekasam with noticeable differences especially in the terms of materials used to prepare the bosou, which uses the pangi fruit. It is always kept in an airtight container after being produced due to its strong odour.

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Bosou is a fermented condiment that carries centuries of Kadazan-Dusun tradition in Sabah, built on the alchemy of salt, white rice, and pangi fruit working together to preserve vegetables, freshwater fish, or meat. The result tastes salty and tangy—sharp enough to demand an airtight container, alive enough to transform a bowl of white rice or noodles into something memorably pungent. You can eat it raw as a condiment, but bosou truly comes alive when cooked into other dishes, where its fermented edges soften into depth.

Order it here when it has

  • distinctive salty-tangy flavor
  • versatile condiment and cooking ingredient
  • strong aromatic presence

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