Jan 23,2020
Pickled vegetables — as side dishes, as palate cleansers, as drink snacks — are essential fermented foods that have long graced Japanese dining tables. In recent years, however, because of a more Westernized diet and the alarming tread of excess salt intake, people have been moving away from pickled vegetables, especially younger people.
Yanagisawa Hiroyuki, who worked at a pickle wholesaler in Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji Market for 20 years, is one person who was worried about the decline of the pickle culture. He opened Yanagi ni Sakura, a specialty pickle store in Sendagi, Tokyo, out of a desire to share delicious pickled vegetables with more people.
In this article, Yanagisawa gives us his recommended choice winter pickles from all over Japan.
Yanagisawa Hiroyuki, owner of Yanagi ni Sakura
Pickles arose in antiquity as a method of salting and pickling vegetables harvested in spring and summer and fish caught in the sea for long-term preservation. As the deliciousness of aged and fermented pickles became widely known, they became more than just mere preserves and even began to appear at Imperial court functions during the Heian period (794 to 1185). The book Engishiki [Procedures of the Engi Era], compiled during this period, details the types of vegetables used for pickles and the amount of salt required.
Later, during the Edo period (1603 to 1868), pickles became popular among the common people under the moniker kou no mono [fragrant foods]. And with the development of pickles across the country that took advantage of local specialties and climates, the variety of pickles soared. Since then, pickles have been an integral part of the daily lives of ordinary people and have sustained Japanese food culture for centuries.
Pickles disappearing from family dining tables is a recent phenomenon, as dietary habits and health consciousness began to change. Yanagisawa Hiroyuki, who worked at a pickle wholesaler in Tsukiji Market for 20 years, is one person who felt a looming crisis for pickles. The customers who came to the wholesaler where he worked were restricted to professional chefs, so he had almost no opportunities to convey the deliciousness of pickles to the general public.
“Professional chefs are cost conscious when shopping, so I couldn’t always recommend the pickles I wanted to push. There are so many delicious pickles across the country, but I felt conflicted in not being able to convey their deliciousness and flavors more broadly.”
Determined, Yanagisawa opened Yanagi ni Sakura in Sendagi in 2011. He decided to stock only those pickles he truly wants to eat and continue eating. Because of the store’s eclectic pickle selection, it began attracting a diverse group of customers of all ages. There was even a young kid who discovered the taste of pickles and came back, pulling his mother to the store.
“Pickles are meant to be a part of daily life. I hope to help revive pickle culture through my store.”
The store, at any given time, has more than 50 varieties of pickles from around the country on hand
Yanagi ni Sakura stocks delicious regional pickles from all over Japan, each with its own original twist. The secret to choosing delicious pickles, like other foods, is to select seasonal items.
Yanagisawa, who claims to have eaten over a thousand varieties of pickles in the last 30 years, shares his top five pickles for winter eating.
Kiso sunki was invented as a way to make effective use of fallen leaves, previously discarded, when shipping red turnips. Made without salt, kiso sunki is distinctive for its slightly sour flavor that results from the lacto-fermenting of the red turnip leaves.
“When eaten unseasoned, it has a very refreshing taste. Since no salt is used, I recommend adding bonito flakes and a little soy sauce for seasoning. In Nagano, kiso sunki is sometimes added to miso soup or to dipping sauces for soba noodles.”
In Akita, where winter arrives early and the snowfalls are heavy, iburi-gakko arose as a way to preserve daikon radishes that didn’t rely on drying them in the sun. While iburi-gakko is generally made with daikon, the word iburi means smoking something over a hearth and gakko refers to pickled food, so pickles made with carrots or other vegetables are also called iburi-gakko. What sets them apart is the smoky aroma that hits your nostrils as soon as you put a piece in your mouth.
Yamamurasaki are soy sauce-flavored pickles made by adding cucumbers, eggplants, perilla leaves, myoga ginger, sesame seeds, and other ingredients to red turnips, which are a specialty of the Hida region.
“These pickles are commonly known by the name meshi dorobo [rice thief]. The yamamurasaki pickles we offer are pickled in traditional cedar barrels and contain no additives. The unadorned flavor is so addictive that you can’t stop eating them.”
Because they are produced in small quantities, only people in the know have heard of shakushina-zuke [bok choy pickles]. They feature a texture somewhat like but different from Chinese cabbage or nozawana turnip greens along with an attractive flavor. The pickles have traditionally been made in the Chichibu region, where the soil conditions are well-suited for their cultivation.
“This is an old pickle variety made using a similar pickling process to shiba-zuke [vegetables pickled in salt and red shiso leaves]. It is fermented with lactic acid, resulting in a slightly sweet and tangy soy sauce-based pickle. Shakushina is a type of Chinese cabbage, but since the vegetable is rather rare, the pickle is not widely known.”
Bettara-zuke has a refined sweetness, as it is pickled in sugar and koji malt, as well as an attractive crunchy texture. It used to be mainly produced in Tokyo, but that production has waned over the years. Now most bettara-zuke on the market is produced in Saitama or elsewhere. The bettara-zuke product Yanagisawa carries is made in Saitama.
“Every October, near the Takarada Ebisu Shrine in the Odenma area of Nihonbashi, Tokyo, you can experience the remnants of the past at the Nihonbashi Bettara Market, where stalls selling bettara-zuke line the streets. Some are sold with the skin removed and others with the skin left on. I definitely recommend the ones with the skin on, as they have a more robust radish flavor.”
Winter is a time when the year’s fatigue can build up and the cold weather means it’s easier to fall ill. The lactic acid bacteria produced during fermentation of pickled vegetables not only contribute to beauty and gut health but also have powerful immune-boosting benefits.
In particular, pickled daikon dishes like iburi-gakko and bettara-zuke contain lots of moisture and act to aid digestion. During the winter, when people tend to drink more alcohol, adding pickles as a snack may help reduce hangovers and allow you to better enjoy drinking occasions without feeling sick the next day.
Try incorporating more pickles into your diet particularly for the cold season and enjoy a healthier winter.
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