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Vegetables from Chichibu and Fukaya, Saitama, Japan

Shakushina-zuke (Chichibu ladle-greens pickle)しゃくし菜漬

Shakushina-zuke is a Chichibu pickle of shakushina, a white-stemmed Brassica rapa green. The plants are sun-dried for a day or two, then layered in a tub with salt under a weight, and repacked twice over about three weeks with the brine thrown away each time. A lactic fermentation makes them pleasantly sour, and Saitama's certification standard caps the salt at 8 %.

Fully documentedVegetables22 days – 23 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHousehold recipe for one tub, from the Saitama prefecture recipe page.
Shakushina20 kgSun-dried 1–2 days before pickling[saitama-recipe]
Salt1,200 g100 g, 300 g and 600 g over three layers, and about 200 g more on top later if needed[saitama-recipe]
Pressing weights10 kg, then 6 kg[saitama-recipe]

Total time across the recorded steps: 22 days – 23 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: The harvested plants dry in the sun for a day or two

Step 1 of 5
Dry the harvested plants
Time
24 h – 2 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Shakushina-zuke is a Chichibu pickle of shakushina, a white-stemmed Brassica rapa green. The plants are sun-dried for a day or two, then layered in a tub with salt under a weight, and repacked twice over about three weeks with the brine thrown away each time. A lactic fermentation makes them pleasantly sour, and Saitama's certification standard caps the salt at 8 %. Made in 5 steps over 22 days – 23 days. The longest step, second repacking and lactic souring, takes 14 days (Saitama Prefecture 2023). Salt is up to 8 % (Saitama Prefecture 1993).

Key numbers
Main step14 daysReported[saitama-recipe]Second repacking and lactic souring
Saltup to 8 %Set[saitama-std]Finished pickle

What makes this one different

Unlike nozawana-zuke, shakushina-zuke is less salty and its brine is thrown away at each repacking. Saitama certifies two kinds, a salt pickle and a soy-sauce pickle, both from greens grown in the prefecture [saitama-std].

Related ferments

Variants

  • Shakushina shōyu-zukePickled in soy sauce or amino-acid liquid with seasonings, a separate class in the Saitama standard [saitama-std].
  • Rice-bran main pickleRice bran in the main pickle gives a mellower taste [jawiki].
  • Low-salt, low-temperature pickle (Fukaya)A Fukaya maker ripens Fukaya-grown shakushina slowly at low salt and low temperature as a lactic pickle [saitama-products].

Safety

Saitama's certification standard for shakushina pickles caps salt at 8 % and bans chemically synthesised preservatives, sweeteners, colourings and bleaches. It also tells makers to follow the Food Sanitation Act and the national pickle hygiene code of 1981 [saitama-std].

History and sources

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

Shakushina came from China in the early Meiji era. It led Japanese pickling-greens production until heading Chinese cabbage spread, and survives in Chichibu, where the cold winters suit it and the clay, stony soil made long radish hard to grow. In the Shōwa 30s (1955–1964) it was pickled with salt only [jawiki].

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [saitama-std] Saitama Prefecture, 埼玉県ふるさと認証食品 しゃくし菜の漬物の認証基準 (certification standard for shakushina pickles), first applied 1993-01-25, latest revision applied 2017-04-01spec
  2. [saitama-recipe] Saitama Prefecture, SAITAMA Wasshoi! recipe page しゃくし菜漬け (page 187587), posted 2023-07-11gov
  3. [saitama-products] Saitama Prefecture, SAITAMA Wasshoi! ふるさと認証食品 しゃくし菜の漬物 (certified makers and products, page 267752), posted 2025-05-12gov
  4. [jawiki] Japanese Wikipedia, しゃくし菜 (しゃくし菜漬け section), read 2026-10-16wiki