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Fish and seafood from Japan

Momiji-zuke紅葉漬

Momiji-zuke is raw salmon pickled with salt and rice koji, a traditional food of Fukushima also made in Iwate homes. A study of the Fukushima product found about 6 % salt and a water activity near 0.94.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Momiji-zuke itself.

Short entryFish and seafood

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo source gives amounts.
Raw salmon[wiki-momiji]
Salt[wiki-momiji]
Rice koji[wiki-momiji]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter: rice koji
Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Raw salmon is cut into pieces

Step 1 of 3
Cut the raw salmon
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: salmon pieces.

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

Momiji-zuke is raw salmon pickled with salt and rice koji, a traditional food of Fukushima also made in Iwate homes. A study of the Fukushima product found about 6 % salt and a water activity near 0.94. Salt is 6.1 % (Endo E 2000).

Key numbers
Salt6.1 %Measured[endo2000]Pickle with rice koji and mature

What makes this one different

Momiji-zuke cures salmon fillets with rice koji and salt. Hokkaido izushi also adds firm cooked rice and vegetables to the fish.

Related ferments

Safety

Momiji-zuke is raw salmon that is not cooked. The samples in the study averaged 6.1 % salt and water activity 0.936, but no source we read gives a process that reliably reaches those figures, so the steps here are not a tested home method. Japan's MAFF names home-made izushi and similar fermented fish among the foods most exposed to botulism. For fish eaten without thorough cooking, one parasite control in the FDA's guidance to processors is freezing at −20 °C or below for 7 days in total.

Hazards the sources name: Klebsiella pneumoniae and Serratia marcescens (Enterobacteriaceae) in the samples studied.

History and sources

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

Japanese Wikipedia says momiji-zuke has been handed down in Fukushima since the Edo period. It says the stretch of the Abukuma River from Marumori in Miyagi to Yanagawa in Date was a good salmon fishing ground, and that the dish began as a way to keep that salmon. The name is said to come from salmon caught in the autumn-leaf season and from the leaf-like colour of the finished salmon and koji. The Iwate record is a 2012 to 2014 interview survey of women about home cooking of the Shōwa 30s and 40s (about 1955 to 1974), in which "salmon momiji-zuke" was named as a dish.

  1. [wiki-momiji] Japanese Wikipedia, 紅葉漬 (fetched 2026-11-05)wiki
  2. [endo2000] Endo E., Kageyama S., Sumino T., Yamada K. 2000, 紅葉漬の諸成分および微生物について (Various components and bacteria of Koyozuke), Journal for the Integrated Study of Dietary Habits 11(3):296–301, doi:10.2740/jisdh.11.296 (abstract)paper
  3. [takahashi2018] Takahashi H. et al. 2018, Iwate-ken no katei ryōri, shusai no tokuchō, sakana ryōri (fish main dishes of Iwate home cooking), Japan Society of Cookery Science annual meeting abstracts 30:208, doi:10.11402/ajscs.30.0_208 (abstract)paper
  4. [maff-boto] MAFF Japan, hazard profile, Clostridium botulinum (food poisoning cases and control measures)gov
  5. [fda-guide] US FDA, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, Chapter 5, Parasitesgov