Bag Knots EN | ไทย
NaN and Beer behind a shop counter. NaN holds giant gold ribbon scissors; a puffed curry bag stands between them with a red bow on its neck; an onsen egg, a box of pad krapow and a string of sauce baggies are in the way.

NaN & Beer · grand opening

Bag Knots มัดถุง

Every way a Thai shop ties a bag shut, drawn step by step, and how to get each one open: by hand, or with scissors, cut in the right place.

NaN Today we cut the ribbon on… the bag knot!

Beer Every knot. Every band. Every last little sauce bag.

NaN Scissors ready!

Beer NaN, those are ribbon scissors.

NaN Exactly!

หนังยาง · nang yang

Rubber band

A rubber band goes on a bag a dozen ways. These are the ones you meet most, each drawn from the open bag to the last turn, then undone by hand, then cut. Tap a step to jump to it.

Balloon, locked over the tip

Curry, soup, anything wet: the rice-and-curry shop bag.

Make

  1. Fill it about two-thirds. The mouth stays empty.
  2. Gather the mouth in both hands, pull it taut, and close it over a pocket of air.
  3. Twist the neck a few turns. The twist holds the air in.
  4. Hook one end of the rubber band on a finger and stretch it round the neck.
  5. Three or four turns, each one above the last. Some sellers walk the band round the neck; some hold the band and turn the bag.
  6. Last turn: stretch the band up over the tip and let it close on the neck. It locks the turns under it.

By hand

  1. Find the turn that runs over the tip. Roll it up and off the tip.
  2. The rest unwind. Turn the bag back the other way, or walk the band off turn by turn.
  3. Untwist the neck. Keep it upright: it is full of hot curry.

Scissors

  1. Scissors: stand the bag in the bowl first.
  2. Kitchen scissors, blades open, about 1 cm below the lowest turn of band, across the twisted neck.
  3. One snip, straight across. Hold the neck below the cut so the bag stays standing.
  4. Tip, twist and band come off in one piece. Pour.

Beer The puff is air, trapped on purpose. It keeps the food from getting squashed.

ไข่ออนเซ็น · a detour

Onsen egg

Beer Wait. Is that an onsen egg?

NaN On krapow?!

Beer We were cutting a ribbon.

An onsen egg is cooked slowly in water at about 65 to 68 °C, hot enough to set the yolk and too cool to set the white, so the white stays soft as custard. Its sauce usually comes in a little heat-sealed sachet: the Heat seal tie below shows how that one opens.

Folded mouth, little-finger knot

Curry and soup, the way Krua Khun Toi teaches it.

Make

  1. One bag, one rubber band.
  2. Grip both sides of the mouth and pull it tight.
  3. Fold the mouth down, twice.
  4. Fold the left and right sides in to the middle. The folds trap the air, and the bag puffs.
  5. Hook the band on your little finger and take it once round the folded mouth.
  6. Loop it over the little finger again: that makes the knot.
  7. Three more turns round the mouth.
  8. Tuck the end in at the top edge.

By hand

  1. Pull the band's end. The knot lets go.
  2. The turns slacken; slide them off.

Scissors

  1. Scissors: bag in the bowl.
  2. Below the band, across the folded neck.
  3. Snip.
  4. The folded mouth comes away with the band.

NaN The tuck! The tucked end is the handle you pull to open it!

Tip folded under: one tug

Any banded bag, for a seller who wants you to get in fast.

Make

  1. Gather, trap the air, twist, as for the balloon.
  2. Two turns round the neck.
  3. Fold the tip down beside the neck.
  4. The last turns take the neck and the folded tip together.

By hand

  1. Tug the tip up, once, hard. It slides out from under the turns, and they spring loose.
  2. Untwist and open.

Scissors

  1. Scissors, keeping the bag whole: cut the band, not the plastic.
  2. Slide one blade flat under all the turns, along the neck, point toward the tip. The plastic stays outside the blades.
  3. Snip. Every turn is cut at once.
  4. The band falls away and the bag is still sealed by its twist. Untwist over the bowl.

NaN One tug! The whole band jumps off!

Sauce bag riding along

Soup with its chili, noodles with their vinegar: one band holds both bags.

Make

  1. Big bag gathered and twisted.
  2. Two turns on its neck.
  3. Lay the little sauce bag's twisted neck against the big one's.
  4. Keep wrapping: the next turns take both necks.
  5. Lock over the big bag's tip.

By hand

  1. Roll the lock off the tip.
  2. Unwind. The sauce bag comes free: catch it.

Scissors

  1. Scissors: if you cut below the band, both bags open at once. Cut the band instead.
  2. One blade under the turns, along the necks, point to the tip.
  3. Snip.
  4. Band off, both bags still twisted shut. Open each over its own dish.

Beer Open the big one by hand, and catch the little one when it drops.

ผัดกะเพรา · another detour

Pad krapow

NaN Pad krapow. Onsen egg on top.

Beer And the prik nam pla in its own tiny bag. Tied, of course.

Holy basil (กะเพรา) stir-fried hard with garlic, chilies and minced pork or chicken, over rice, usually with a fried egg. To take away it comes in a box or a bag, and the prik nam pla rides along in a baggie the size of a thumb, banded or knotted. That one opens best over the rice: snip a corner.

Drink bag: straw and string

Iced tea, iced coffee, sugar-cane juice, carried on one finger.

Make

  1. Ice, then the drink, up to the shoulder.
  2. Gather the mouth round a straw.
  3. Wind the band round mouth and straw together.
  4. A loop of raffia string, tied on under the band, makes the handle.

By hand

  1. To drink: leave it tied, and sip.
  2. To pour it into a glass: slip the string off and unwind the band.
  3. Pull the straw out, open the mouth, pour.

Scissors

  1. Scissors: hold it over a bowl or a jug.
  2. Cut across the neck below the band. The straw gets cut too; that's fine.
  3. Snip.
  4. Top off. Pour.

NaN The one-finger rule! Everything gets a loop so it hangs off a finger!

Rolled down, one band round

Dry food: sticky rice, fried snacks, roasted peanuts, khanom.

Make

  1. A flat bag of something dry.
  2. Roll the top down tight against the food.
  3. Stretch one band round the whole bag to hold the roll.

By hand

  1. Slide the band down and off the bottom.
  2. Unroll.

Scissors

  1. Scissors, if the band is too tight to slide:
  2. Slide one blade under the band at the bag's side edge, where it leaves the food.
  3. Snip.
  4. Band off. Unroll.

Beer No air, no twist. Flat, so it stacks in a basket.

Sauce baggie, many turns

A spoon of prik nam pla, nam jim, chili vinegar.

Make

  1. A spoon of sauce in a small bag.
  2. Gather, puff, twist. The neck ends up thin as a straw.
  3. So the band goes round many times: five, six, seven.
  4. Lock over the tip.

By hand

  1. Thin neck: pinch the stack of turns and push it up the neck and off the tip, all at once.
  2. Untwist over the food.

Scissors

  1. Scissors: hold it over the plate.
  2. Snip a bottom corner: 2 to 3 mm for runny sauce like prik nam pla, 5 mm or more for thick sweet chili.
  3. Snip.
  4. Squeeze it out like icing. The band never has to come off.

NaN Six turns on a neck as thin as a straw!

ถุงน้ำจิ้ม · the parade

Sauce baggies

NaN Sauce baggies!

Beer NaN. The ribbon.

NaN Seven sauce baggies!

Each one tied the same way: a spoonful, a puff of air, a twist, five or six turns of band. Each one opens the same way: a corner snipped over the food.

Prik nam pla น้ำปลาพริกFish sauce, sliced bird's-eye chilies, lime, sometimes garlic. Goes on krapow, fried rice, everything.
Prik nam som พริกน้ำส้มChilies in vinegar, for noodle soup.
Nam jim kai น้ำจิ้มไก่Sweet chili sauce, for grilled chicken.
Jaew น้ำจิ้มแจ่วDried chili, fish sauce, lime or tamarind, toasted rice powder. For grilled pork.
Nam jim seafood น้ำจิ้มซีฟู้ดGreen chilies, garlic, lime, fish sauce. For anything from the sea.
Nam jim suki น้ำจิ้มสุกี้Chili, fermented bean curd, sesame. For suki.
Sriracha ซอสพริกศรีราชาChili sauce from Si Racha, for omelettes and fried things.

Knots, handles, heat, staples

No band

Some bags skip the band: the plastic is knotted on itself, the handles are tied, the mouth is melted shut, or a label is stapled over it.

Knot in the bag itself

Fruit, vegetables, ice, small sauce bags: no band at all.

Make

  1. Gather the mouth and twist it into a tail.
  2. Bend the tail round into a loop.
  3. Push the tip through the loop.
  4. Pull the tip. The knot closes down onto the bag.

By hand

  1. Pinch the knot and push the tail back into it. It loosens.
  2. Work the tip back out through the loop.
  3. Straighten the tail and open.

Scissors

  1. Scissors: bag upright.
  2. Across the neck, just below the knot.
  3. Snip.
  4. Knot off, bag open.

Beer Too tight? Twist the knot and the tail against each other, then wiggle.

Carrier bag, double knot

The market bag of fruit or groceries.

Make

  1. A carrier bag (ถุงหูหิ้ว), full.
  2. Cross the handles.
  3. Tie them once.
  4. Tie again on top. A double knot.

By hand

  1. Push both handles in toward the knot to give it slack.
  2. Pick the top knot open, then the bottom one.
  3. Handles apart.

Scissors

  1. Scissors:
  2. Snip one handle, just beside the knot.
  3. Snip.
  4. The knot comes off with one handle; the bag opens.

NaN Mangoes! We stopped for mangoes!

Carrier bag, bow

Same bag, for someone who will open it again soon.

Make

  1. Carrier bag, full.
  2. Cross the handles.
  3. Tie once.
  4. Second tie with a loop folded into one handle: a bow, one end left loose.

By hand

  1. Pull the loose end. The bow undoes in one pull.
  2. Undo the first tie.

Beer Pull the loose end, the bow's gone. No scissors needed.

Heat seal

Sauce sachets, an onsen egg's sauce, drinks sealed in a cup.

Make

  1. Sauce in a flat bag, mouth open.
  2. The sealer's hot bars close on the mouth.
  3. The plastic melts together in a ribbed strip.

By hand

  1. Tear at the notch, if it has one. Hold it upright.

Scissors

  1. No notch:
  2. Scissors straight across, just under the seal.
  3. Snip.
  4. Open.

NaN The onsen egg's sauce! Tear at the little notch!

Folded and stapled

Pork crackling, crisps, dried fruit, with a paper label on top.

Make

  1. A bag of pork crackling (แคบหมู).
  2. Fold the top over twice.
  3. A folded paper label goes over the top.
  4. One or two staples through all of it.

By hand

  1. Tear the plastic just below the label. Staples stay put; no prising.

Scissors

  1. Scissors:
  2. Straight across, just under the label.
  3. Snip.
  4. Label, staples and folds come off together.

Beer Leave the staple. Tear below it.

กรรไกร · where to cut

Scissors

Beer Back to the ribbon.

NaN The ribbon IS the neck of the bag.

Beer Then kitchen scissors, NaN.

  1. Kitchen scissors. The ribbon pair is for ribbons.
  2. Bowl first. Stand a soup or curry bag in its bowl before cutting anything, and hold it by the neck, under the band.
  3. Below the band. A cut above the band takes off the tip and the bag stays shut.
  4. About 1 cm below the lowest turn, one snip straight across the twisted neck. Tip, twist and band come off in one piece.
  5. To keep the bag whole, cut the band instead: slide one blade flat under the turns, along the neck, point toward the tip, and snip. Every turn parts at once. Keep the point off the plastic under the band.
  6. Sauce baggies: over the food, snip a bottom corner, 2 to 3 mm for runny sauce, 5 mm or more for thick. The band stays on.
  7. Carrier bags: snip one handle beside the knot.
  8. Heat seals and staples: straight across, just under the seal or the label.
  9. Hot bags puff out steam when they open. Face back, and the blades pointing away from the hand that holds the bag.
TieBy handScissors
Balloon, locked over the tipRoll the lock off the tip, then unwind.Below the band, bag in the bowl.
Folded mouth, little-finger knotPull the band's tucked end; the knot lets go.Below the band, bag in the bowl.
Tip folded under: one tugTug the tip once.Cut the band only: one blade under the turns.
Sauce bag riding alongRoll the lock off, unwind, catch the sauce bag.Band only, so neither bag opens by surprise.
Drink bag: straw and stringLeft tied, you sip. To pour, unwind and pull the straw.Below the band, over a jug.
Rolled down, one band roundSlide the band off the bottom, unroll.Snip the band at the side, clear of the bag.
Sauce baggie, many turnsPush the whole stack up and off the tip.Snip a bottom corner over the food.
Knot in the bag itselfPush the tail back into the knot, then work the tip out.Across the neck, below the knot.
Carrier bag, double knotPush both handles in toward the knot, then pick it apart.Snip one handle beside the knot.
Carrier bag, bowPull the loose end.Not needed.
Heat sealTear at the notch.Straight across, just under the seal.
Folded and stapledTear the plastic below the label.Straight across, under the label.

NaN Grand opening!

Beer Lunch is open.

Sources

The drawings are diagrams of the steps, not traces of anyone's hands. The folded-mouth knot follows Krua Khun Toi step by step; the tip tug follows a Thai news headline about a seller's trick. The drink bag, roll-and-band, carrier-bag knots, heat seal and staple are drawn from everyday shop practice rather than one written source.