The Pickle Shop Reusing Sake Lees from Local Breweries

The area called "Oyama" in Tsuruoka City was once home to Oura Castle (Ourajo), and because of that influence, there were more than twenty sake breweries after the war. There are still four large sake breweries to this day. In the Meiji period, there was a pickle shop that opened here. This store is called “Tsukemonojo Honcho.”

Kioke (Wooden Bucket) of KasuzukeTSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

The founder, Mr. Chouemon Honma, was originally striving to become a master sake brewer. After going to the town of Nada to become a sake brewery apprentice, he discovered “Narazuke” (Nara pickles) that’s made by repeatedly pickling salted pickling melons in sake lees. He then realized that an ample amount of sake lees and local vegetables are available in Tsuruoka, and decided to switch from becoming a brew master to a Nara pickle maker. Due to the prevalence of sake breweries, they were naturally able to easily obtain the sake lees. The birth of Nara pickles that combine sake lees, a byproduct of sake brewing, with local Tsuruoka vegetables must have been a sensational discovery for the region.

Mr. Honma as Chairman of HonchoTSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

 “Tsukemonodokoro Honcho” still uses the same original method from its inception to make their Nara pickles. It takes about 2 years for the pickling melon to become edible after being sufficiently pickled. Chairman Mitsuhiro Honma says that the reason of implementing sufficient pickling duration is to ensure that the umami of sake lees get thoroughly transferred to the melon, and that the sake lees used in making the Nara pickles is a form of seasoning. 

Kasuzuke (Preserved Food in Sake Cake)TSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

“Nara pickles are made by pickling salted-pickling melons in sake lees that are highly salty. The melons are gradually transferred to sake lees that have less sodium content. Through this process, the melon’s water content becomes removed due to the salt content, and the melon absorbs the umami flavors from the sake lees. Since reduced sodium food has become popular over the years, we’ve increased the number of times the melons are transferred over, while maintaining the original preparation method. We are actually making more time and effort than the previous generations in making our products. Brewing fine sake involves thoroughly milling the rice, which produces refreshing and delicious sake lees without any bitterness, but the sake lees of a second-grade sake that uses more unrefined rice retains more of its umami flavors, which is better suited for making Nara pickles.”

Sake leesTSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Kasuzuke (Preserved Food in Sake Cake)TSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Sake lees are a byproduct of brewing a sake. At Shonai, a byproduct of soy sauce called “Shoyunomi” (soy sauce pellets) is a seasoning that’s used daily in cooking. The spirit of not wasting anything (even a byproduct) and maximizing usage may be rooted in these regions. The vintage wooden containers used at Honcho to make the Nara pickles were actually handed down from another sake brewer, which had been used to make sake in the past, and are still being used since their inception. The spirit of not taking anything for granted is deeply rooted here.

TsukemonoTSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

The never-ending life of seeds

 In Tsuruoka City, there are about 60 traditional crops that still remain today. Honcho also makes pickles using other traditional crops including Atsumi kabu (Atsumi turnip), Fujisawa kabu (Fujisawa turnip) and Minden nasu (Minden eggplant). Mr. Honma says that among them, the Fujisawa turnip is especially nostalgic.

Amazu-ZukeTSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

“It was around 1990 when I first discovered the Fujisawa turnip. At the time, the only person making Fujisawa turnip was some lady in the neighborhood. She cultivated them on a small-scale in a small field with a size of about 3 to 4 tatamis, and kept picking its seeds every year. I got interested in them after learning from a local newspaper column that Fujisawa turnip was about to become extinct. I contacted the author of that news column right away to get introduced to a producer of Fujisawa turnip, and visited their field. After taking my first bite, I noticed how delicious it was, and how its skin is thin, which differ from a regular round turnip. I thought that we shouldn’t’t let such delicious crop go extinct, so I said that I would buy all of them so that they can continue to sow the seeds.”

Mr. Honma as Chairman of HonchoTSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

It then took about 10 years for the cultivation of Fujisawa turnips to become viable. Thereafter, traditional crops in the region gradually started getting attention. They are still being cultivated and their seeds had been succeeded by farmers who own some burnt fields, and are even being used by famous restaurants in Yamagata.

 

But the reason why the nearly-extinct Fujisawa turnips became revitalized and are still being enjoyed today is because a single grandmother diligently protected the seeds from extinction. She continued the cultivating not for a business purpose but simply to retain the seeds for the future generation because she probably knew the preciousness of the seeds.

Heirloom Crop : Minden Eggplant (2019)TSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Heirloom Crop : Fujisawa Turnip cultivated by slash-and-burn (2019)TSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

While the F1 vegetables, which cannot retain its seeds through the modern market, are becoming prevalent, many traditional crops such as the Dadacha beans, Atsumi turnips, Moso bamboo shoots and Shonai persimmons are still being produced using ancient methods in Tsuruoka, where the importance of preserving seeds through the teachings of Dewa Sanzan has been retained, and its concepts are deeply rooted in the region. The culture of Dewa Sanzan, which prays for the abundance of food, still lives within people’s livelihood to this day.

Heirloom Crop : Tonojima Cucumber (2019)TSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Heirloom Crop : Dadacha Beans (2019)TSURUOKA, UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Credits: Story

Cooperation with:
Honcho Co., Ltd.




Photos: Misa Nakagaki
Tsuruoka City

Text: Orika Uchiumi
Edit: Saori Hayashida
Production: Skyrocket Corporation

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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