【Reading】つけものずし

【English Name】Tsukemono-sushi

The group of sushi that incorporates pickles as a sushi ingredient is called tsukemono-zushi (pickle sushi). It can be broadly divided into two forms: the method of wrapping the rice in a leaf pickle, and the method of placing the pickle itself on the rice as a topping.

The most renowned is probably meharizushi. A regional food handed down from the Kumano region of Wakayama and Mie Prefectures to the Yoshino region of Nara Prefecture, it wraps an entire portion of rice in spread-out lightly pickled takana (mustard greens). Originally a boxed lunch for people working in the mountains, formed from large balls of barley rice, it is gradually switching to white rice or vinegared rice in modern times.

In the Kyushu area, takana-maki, which wraps rice in Aso takana or Miike takana, is cherished as a home-style dish rooted in daily life. Shinko-maki, rolled with pickled daikon (takuan) as its core, is an item that spread throughout Japan as a sushi-restaurant standard. There are also shops scattered in various regions that serve nigiri made with pickled eggplant as the topping.

Sushi and pickles are, in the first place, deeply connected through the technique of lactic acid fermentation. Narezushi is a food preserved for a long time by inducing lactic acid fermentation from rice and fish, sharing the same fundamental fermentation mechanism that pickles utilize.