The beginning of Nara-zuke

Nara-zuke is made by pickling salted vegetables and fruits in sake lees. This pickle has a strong impact with its tortoiseshell-colored visual and strong alcoholic flavor when you taste it. It is said to have originated more than 1,300 years ago when vegetables were pickled in doburoku, the prototype of sake, as a preserved food. At that time, sake made from rice was a luxury item, and there are documents that show that it was consumed by aristocrats in the Heijo-kyo Capital, making it a traditional Nara food. Later, in the Muromachi period (1333-1573), when the method of making sake was established in Nara, the process was changed to marinating in “sakekasu” (sake lees), and by the end of the Edo period (1603-1868), it was being sold as a commodity. At that time, Nara’s reputation for good sake attracted tourists, and it is said that the product became popular as a souvenir when they visited Nara and became “Nara-zuke,” named after the place where it was made. Mori Narazuke Shop, founded in 1869, is one of the inheritors of the Nara pickle making tradition that began with Nara’s sake culture. The store is located in front of the Nandaimon gate of Todaiji Temple and still receives enthusiastic support from tourists as a souvenir and from lovers and locals alike.

As with most pickles, the vegetables are first pickled with salt alone to remove the water from the vegetables. Once the water is sufficiently removed, the vegetables are next pickled in sake-kasu (sake lees). When the vegetables are soaked in sake-kasu, the salt is removed and the flavor of the sake-kasu soaks into the vegetables. The process of changing the sake lees is repeated two or more times. Incidentally, if this process is done only once, it is classified as “pickling with sakekasu. The color and flavor of the sakekasu is deepened and the taste is deepened by changing the blend of the sakekasu each time it is pickled and aged. The number of times the sake lees is changed differs from store to store, and the process of stepping in and the timing of changing the sake lees is all based on the longtime intuition of the artisan, who carefully carries out each step by hand, which is probably how Nara pickles with deep flavor are made. Sakekasu contains alcohol, and the alcohol content remaining after pickling is about 8%. One of the characteristics of Nara pickles is that the unique flavor and aroma of sakekasu can be enjoyed. If you feel the flavor of sakekasu is too strong, let it sit in the refrigerator for half a day after cutting, and the alcohol will dissipate and the original sweetness of sakekasu will increase, making it easier to eat.

How to make Nara-zuke

Furthermore, Mori Narazuke is characterized by the use of nothing but salt and sakekasu (sake lees). The sake lees is changed about five times, depending on the material to be pickled. The salt content is lower than that of ordinary pickles. The sweet aftertaste comes from the rice malt and is a completely natural fermented food. Therefore, it is a little spicy and goes well with rice and sake. There are 13 kinds of vegetables to be pickled. All of them are selected from contracted farmers. They have tried their hand at Nara-zuke, a traditional vegetable from Yamato called “Yamato Sanjaku Cucumber,” or pickling in an old-fashioned jar, and they never stop trying new things while keeping the traditional methods handed down from generation to generation.

Spreading Nara-zuke to the world

Mariko Mori, the fifth president of the company, is working on how to brand this traditional food and promote it, especially to young people who do not eat Nara pickles, from her unique female perspective.
　She is already working on an initiative to introduce new recipes using Nara pickles. She has already introduced new recipes using Nara pickles, such as “Narazuke Toast with Melted Cheese,” “Carpaccio with Narazuke Sake Kasu Dressing,” and “Basque Cheese Cake with Additive-Free Nara Pickles,” on her website and through social networking services. In addition to these efforts, she also uses the media to promote Nara-zuke and its beauty benefits.

It may not be long before the new generation of Nara pickles that Mr. Mori is promoting will be noticed around the world.

The post Completely additive-free fermented food “Mori Narazuke Shop” established in 1869 first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Iburi gakko” was born out of nostalgia for iburi pickles.

Yuzawa City is surrounded on all sides by mountains and is known for its heavy snowfall.Winter comes early and lasts long.It is said that this has given birth to a unique culture of making pickles.The raw material for Iburi Gako is white-necked local daikon radish harvested in the fall.It is not suitable for raw consumption because it is long, pure white, tight, and spicy with little water content, but it is the best material for iburigakko.The Yuzawa area in the southern inland region of Akita Prefecture has an early snowfall and very few hours of sunlight due to its mountainous location.When trying to make takuan pickles, a common winter preservation food, it was necessary to hang the daikon radishes from beams inside the house to dry them, as drying them in the sun was not enough to remove the water content.A sunken hearth was located below, and the fire and smoke took the place of the sun.The strong acid from the smoke sterilized the surface of the daikon and improved its preservation.The strong acid from the smoke sterilized the surface of the daikon and enhanced its preservation.Yoshinobu Kimura, the representative of Kimuraya in Ogatsuno, says with a smile, “Iburi pickles may be the product of such a coincidence.

Iburi pickles are said to have originated as far back as the Muromachi period (1333-1573).The method of pickling varied, and each household had its own taste, which was passed down from generation to generation.However, with the spread of wood-burning stoves in the Showa period (1926-1989), the hearths in many homes decreased and iburi-zuke disappeared.In 1963, Kimuraya established a pickles shop in Yuzawa, taking advantage of the climate and ingredients suitable for making pickles.At first, Kimuraya made pickles of wild vegetables and kasuzuke (pickles with sake lees), but then Kimuraya began to receive calls from people who longed for the tsukemono pickles that had disappeared.Kimuraya began the challenge of recreating and commercializing the family tradition of iburi-zuke.From there, he went through many days of trial and error in order to recreate the fire in the sunken hearth.He discovered that by burning carefully selected hardwoods and drying them over an open fire, he could create a sweet smoky aroma that reminded him of the nostalgic hearth fire, which is unique to Iburi pickles.The smoked daikon is then quickly dipped in rice bran, salt, and pomelo sugar.The Iburi pickles, which are a Kimuraya family tradition, are named “Iburi Gakko” because pickles are called “Gakko” in Akita, and have become a favorite of many people.

Western-style arrangement using “Iburi Goko

The use of coarse sugar for pickles is also a method unique to this area.Yuzawa City once had the “Innai Ginzan” (silver mine), which was said to be the largest silver mine in the East, and the area was prosperous in its own right, so it was easy to obtain sugar, which was a luxury item at that time.This situation helped the use of sugar in pickles, and it became a standard method of production in Akita.The same logic applies to both sugar and salt: osmotic pressure pushes water out of the daikon radish.The difference is whether the flavor is sweet or salty.Kimura says that the reason why people say that iburigakko is easier to eat than ordinary pickles is because the use of sugar gives it a mellower taste.
After pickling, the fish is matured for more than 60 days.When the lactic acid fermentation begins in the barrel, the sound of “kopopop, kopopop” begins to be heard.Finally, the Iburi Gako is ready.
Iburi gakko is now known throughout Japan as a representative flavor of Akita.Iburi gakko has its origins in the “simple taste.There are many delicious foods in the world.I would be happy if people could try something simple like iburigakko once in a while and feel nostalgia,” says Kimura.
Recently, many people have been trying various ways to eat iburigakko, such as with cheese, in risotto, and in ochazuke (rice with green tea).People who like Iburi gakko tell me, “It was delicious when I ate it this way,” he says.
Iburi gakko is a product of the unique environment of Akita’s inland region of heavy snowfall.This winter, too, it has been maturing in the cold snowy country, quietly waiting for its perfection.

The post Smoke and pickle “Iburi Guko” grown by heavy snowfall “Ogatsuno Kimuraya” / Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Located in Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, a prosperous castle town, is Yamagataya Shoten, a small soy sauce and miso brewery that has been in business for about 150 years. Founded in 1863, the company has been in business under the name “Yamabun. The fifth-generation owner, Kazuo Watanabe, is the man behind this long-established business, which has been loved under the name “Yamabun. In the six years since he became the owner, he has won the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Award, the highest award at the National Soy Sauce Competition, which has been held since 1973, four times. The name is spreading throughout the country.

Nationally Recognized Soy Sauce from the Fukushima Method

The wooden house has a time-honored charm. The storefront boasts an array of products, including shoyu, miso, koji (malted rice), amazake (sweet sake), and sagohachi (koji pickles). Hidetoshi Nakata turned his gaze toward the back of the store, following the aroma of the miso.
You also sell miso by weight,” Nakata said.
Kazuo Watanabe, the owner of the store, nodded smilingly and offered him a sample. We start with a taste of their signature product, Yamabun Honjozo Tokusen Soy Sauce. The deep, mellow umami and appetizingly savory flavor spreads in the mouth.

The process of making shoyu begins with the preparation of koji (malted rice) from soybeans and wheat. The malted rice is then used to brew the moromi, which is aged for six months and pressed to make kiage, or raw soy sauce, a labor-intensive and costly process.
In an effort to ease the burden on breweries, Fukushima Prefecture has decided to establish an integrated production system at its kiage factory. The Fukushima method of centralizing the production of namaage, pioneered in Japan, has spread to other parts of the country. Today, half of all shoyu sold on the market is made using this method.
There are various types of namaage, such as round soybeans and dark soybeans, and Fukushima Prefecture offers several types of namaage for each type. By combining them, it is possible to create a brewery’s own unique flavor.

Polished secret techniques enhance the flavor.

After the soy sauce is cooked, each brewery performs a fire-working process, which is said to be the most important step in bringing out the best of the shoyu. Mr. Watanabe takes us on a tour of the factory, explaining the ingenuity of each brewery.
The secret of adding “kaeshi” has been passed down from generation to generation at Yamagataya. The mirin (sweet sake) is boiled down, sugar and shoyu are added, and the mixture is left to simmer for 10 days before adding the kaeshi, which is added just before the temperature reaches 80°C. “Some of the brewers I know also use kaeshi,” says Watanabe. This is a unique technique that even the brewers I know have never heard of, but it adds depth of flavor and aroma to the finished product,” he says.
The process of heating the soy sauce over a period of time and then raising the temperature allows the higa, or aromatic flavor, to become more pronounced and to persist.
What kind of dishes does this shoyu go well with?
Mr. Watanabe thinks for a moment before answering, “Since it’s a shoyu from the sea, it goes well with fish,” he says. He recommends it for boiled fish such as flounder.
The color, shine, and taste are so good, and it doesn’t fall apart easily, that some professionals, including inns and Japanese restaurants, say they can’t use any other soy sauce,” he says.
In recent years, orders from all over Japan have been increasing due to the good results of the product at the competition. Mr. Watanabe’s smile is as happy as ever that the local people are so pleased with his product.
In the old days, every castle town had a brewery. In the old days, every castle town had its own brewery, and Soma used to be lined with many of them, but now it is the only one. I would like to pass on the castle town of Soma to the next generation through the taste of my hometown and its food culture of shoyu and miso.

The post Yamagataya Shoten, a soy sauce and miso warehouse that has been in business for about 150 years / Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Precious sugarcane called “bamboo sugar

With its elegant sweetness and gentle melting in the mouth, wasanbon is often used not only in Japanese confectionaries but also in Western confectionaries in recent years. Unlike ordinary sugar, wasanbon has a soft flavor of its own.
This wasanbon is made from a native variety of sugarcane called “bamboo sugar. Unlike ordinary sugarcane, which is thick and tall, bamboo sugar, as its name suggests, looks like thin, frail bamboo. It is said that the sugar cane is exceptionally tasty even when chewed raw and tasted with its juice. Currently, this “bamboo sugar” is grown only in Tokushima and parts of Kagawa. Therefore, wasanbon is a very rare sugar produced only in those areas.

Handcrafting Wasanbon

The process of making wasanbon is quite interesting because it reminds us of how hard people in the past tried to obtain white sugar. At Okada Sugar Refinery, where wasanbon is still made by hand today, one can catch a glimpse of the painstaking efforts of our forefathers.
For example, the “oshibune” process utilizes the sake brewery’s kasubiru (sake lees) squeezing method of the time, and the “mizuken-gi” process is a uniquely Japanese method that is unprecedented in the world. Oshibune” is the process of squeezing molasses by placing a stone weight on top of the sugar that has been boiled and stirred. The “mizuken” is the process of kneading the squeezed molasses by pouring water over it. Since molasses does not turn white when just squeezed, more water is added, the mixture is kneaded and squeezed again, and this process is repeated several times to produce white sugar. In the old days, this process was repeated three times, hence the name “Sanbon Sugar.

A taste that is not only sweet but also savory

It takes one day to grind the sugar once, and the amount of water and grinding time must be changed according to the temperature, humidity, and nature of the sugar. It also takes skill to knead the sugar uniformly and skillfully. It is a difficult world in which the artisan’s sense of touch is all-important. Today, only a limited number of sugar refineries still follow this ancient method. Ordinary sugar is reduced to only sucrose after refining, but wasanbon retains much of its original sugarcane content. Although this is an imperfect sugar refining technique, it is what gives wasanbon its rich flavor.
The wasanbon produced in this way is so flavorful and melt-in-your-mouth that it can be made into dried confections that are solidified from the wasanbon itself. This is truly a product of the wisdom of the Japanese people.

Read more

Soul food of Tokushima made by a specialty fish paste store that has been in business for 60 year… What is the bamboo Chikuwa that Minamoto no Yoshitsune praised so highly? Tani Chikuwa Shoten, located in Komatsushima City, Tokushima Prefecture, has specia…

The post Okada Sugar Refinery, which produces traditional wasanbon (Japanese sugar) / Kami-ita Town, Tokushima Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.