【Reading】かすず

【English Name】Sake lees vinegar

Kasuzu is a type of vinegar made by acetic acid fermentation of sake lees (sake kasu); because it takes on a reddish hue through long aging, it is also called akazu (red vinegar). In the Edo period, rice vinegar was expensive and beyond the reach of common people. In the first year of the Bunka era (1804), Nakano Matazaemon of Handa Village in Owari Province (present-day Handa City, Aichi Prefecture) began brewing an inexpensive vinegar using sake lees. The spread of this affordable kasuzu helped nigiri sushi spread among the townspeople of Edo. Around the second year of the Koka era (1845), a high-quality product called Yamabuki, made from sake lees aged three years, appeared. Edo-style sushi of that time combined kasuzu with only salt and added no sugar. Under JAS standards it is classified as a grain vinegar; its distribution plummeted after World War II, and it is now rarely seen in households. (261 characters)