A family of pickled foods
Tsukemono commonly use vegetables and accompany rice, tea or drinks. Salt, vinegar, soy sauce, miso, sake lees and rice bran provide different pickling media. One vegetable can be prepared in several ways.
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Tsukemono: different ways to pickle
漬物（つけもの）
Tsukemono are Japanese pickled foods, commonly vegetables treated with salt, seasoned liquids or pickling beds. Some ferment; others take up flavour over a short time. Bran pickles, smoked daikon and salt-free sunki follow different processes.
- Medium
- Salt, vinegar, bran and more
- Duration
- Short to long pickling
- Process
- Not always fermented
Medium, time and fermentation
Pickling and fermenting differ
Some pickles develop flavour through microbial activity; others take up a seasoned liquid over a short period. Adding an acidic ingredient such as vinegar is different from fermenting the vegetable itself.
Vegetables in a bran bed
Nuka is the bran removed when rice is polished. It can form a pickling bed around vegetables, with fermentation adding flavour. Dried daikon placed in a bran bed is one way of making takuan.
A short pickle or a long one
Asazuke are short pickles, while furuzuke are aged longer. Some methods involve repeated pickling or changes of bed. Duration, medium and fermentation describe different features of a method.
Two regional combinations
Akita: smoke-drying before pickling
Early snow and limited sunshine in inland southern Akita made outdoor drying difficult. Daikon was hung indoors to dry over hearth heat and smoke. Iburigakko follows this sequence: smoke-dry the radish, then pickle it with rice bran, salt and sugar for winter fermentation.
A product name has its own date
MAFF dates the commercial name iburigakko to 1967 and its geographical-indication registration to 2019. The household preservation method predates that product name. Alongside servings with rice, newer dishes pair the smoked pickle with cream cheese.
Kiso: sour fermentation without added salt
Sunki from Kiso in Nagano ferments the stems and leaves of local red turnips without adding salt. Blanched greens are layered with a starter, kept warm initially, then matured in cool conditions. Lactic fermentation produces the sourness.
Carrying a culture into the next batch
Traditionally, dried sunki from the previous year supplied the starter. Frozen previous batches and prepared starter liquids are now used too. Local cooperative sales began in 1972, widening commercial production. Sunki can be eaten as a side dish or added to miso soup and hot soba.
Records and printed instructions
Written traces before the modern product
MAFF cites salted melon on Tenpyō-period wooden tablets, followed by vinegar, hishio and lees preparations in the Engishiki. Edo businesses sold pickles and printed books explained methods. These records show particular preparations and their circulation, rather than one origin for every regional pickle.
An 1836 pickling book
Tokyo Gakugei University holds Shiki tsukemono shiokagen, written by Odawaraya Shujin and published by Izumiya Ichibei in 1836. Its seasonal methods show pickling knowledge circulating in print. The image is the cover of this library copy.
Check your understanding
Are all tsukemono fermented?
No. Some ferment through microbial activity; others are briefly seasoned in a pickling liquid.
Where does the bran in a nuka bed come from?
It is a by-product of polishing rice.
Why was daikon smoke-dried in inland Akita?
Early snow and limited sunshine hindered outdoor drying, encouraging the use of indoor hearth heat and smoke.
How does sunki challenge an all-salted definition?
It lactic-ferments local turnip greens without added salt.
How is a sunki starter carried forward?
Dried or frozen sunki from an earlier batch can supply a starter; prepared starter liquids are also used.
What does the 1836 book image show?
The cover of Tokyo Gakugei University’s copy of Shiki tsukemono shiokagen, an example of printed pickling knowledge.