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Cereals and bread from Akita Prefecture, Japan

Akazuke / akazushi (keitomama)赤漬け

Cooked glutinous rice is mixed with sweet vinegar and red shiso leaves rubbed with salt, packed in a tub under a light weight and left to ferment lightly for a few days. The rice turns a mottled red and sweet-sour, and it is offered on lotus leaves at Obon and then shared.

Fully documentedCereals and bread2 days – 7 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe MAFF recipe from Noshiro City, for 25 servings. Families used to cook 1 shō (10 gō) of glutinous rice at a time and pickle it in a large tub; the prefecture's survey recipe from Mitane uses 5 gō with 50 cc vinegar and 1 tablespoon sugar.
Glutinous rice5 gōSoaked about 30 minutes in an equal volume of water, then cooked[maff-akazuke]
Red shiso1 bunchLeaves only, rubbed hard with salt, rinsed, then rubbed with a little salt again to draw the colour[maff-akazuke]
Vinegar, for the sweet vinegar1 gō[maff-akazuke]
Sugar, for the sweet vinegar150 cc[maff-akazuke]
Saltto taste[maff-akazuke]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 7 days

Start
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What changes: Glutinous rice soaks, then steams soft in the cooker

Step 1 of 4
Soak and cook the glutinous rice
Time
at least 30 min
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: cooked glutinous rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Cooked glutinous rice is mixed with sweet vinegar and red shiso leaves rubbed with salt, packed in a tub under a light weight and left to ferment lightly for a few days. The rice turns a mottled red and sweet-sour, and it is offered on lotus leaves at Obon and then shared. Made in 4 steps over 2 days – 7 days. The longest step, pack in a tub under a light weight and leave to ferment lightly, takes 2–7 days (Ministry of Agriculture).

Key numbers
Main step2–7 daysReported[maff-akazuke][akita-kyodoshoku]Pack in a tub under a light weight and leave to ferment lightly

What makes this one different

Akazuke ferments sweetened, vinegared glutinous rice itself, with no fish, so it is a rice pickle rather than a narezushi. The colour comes from red shiso, ume vinegar or wild fruits such as yamabudō and natsuhaze berries, depending on the area.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Daisen akazukeUme pickle juice or ume vinegar with myōga leaves, sliced pickled cucumber, red shiso and salt, layered with the glutinous rice.
  • Fruit-coloured akazukeColoured with yamabudō (wild grape) or natsuhaze (kohaze) berries instead of shiso.

Safety

Sweet vinegar is mixed into the rice before it ferments. Before refrigerators, families added vinegar, sugar and salt, weighted it and kept it in a cool place, eating it after about a week; today it is usually fermented in the refrigerator.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

It was already eaten in the early Shōwa period before the war. Families began making it in early August, since the Obon heat was said to suit the fermentation best. The other name keitomama compares its red to cockscomb (keitō) flowers; mama means cooked rice.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [maff-akazuke] Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Uchi no kyōdo ryōri (Our regional cuisines), 赤漬け/赤ずし (Akita), recipe from Noshiro Citygov
  2. [akita-kyodoshoku] Akita Prefecture, survey of local foods, chapter 3 特色ある郷土食 (distinctive local foods), 赤漬け/赤ずし section, pp. 37–39gov
  3. [akita-genkimura-akazushi] Akita Prefecture, Akita Genki Mura website, 赤ずし (akazushi, Noshiro, Kamimachi area), posted August 2021gov
  4. [akita-genkimura-akazuke] Akita Prefecture, Akita Genki Mura website, 赤漬け (akazuke, Nakano area, Odate), posted April 2011gov