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Vegetables from northwest Tsugaru, Aomori, Japan

Sushiko (Tsugaru fermented rice pickle)すしこ

Sushiko is a pickle of rice from the northwest of Tsugaru. Cooked glutinous rice is mixed with salt-rubbed red shiso and red cabbage, vinegar and chopped cucumbers salted for about 10 days, then weighted in a tub. Within a few days lactic fermentation makes it sour and thick, and it is eaten as a side dish with rice.

Fully documentedVegetables11 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceRecipe for one 18 L pickle tub from the MAFF regional-cuisine page (from Aomori prefecture's food-culture guidebook).
Glutinous rice1.5 kg (1 shō)Cooked on the firm side and cooled[maff]
Cucumbers5 kg[maff]
Salt, for the cucumbers250 g[maff]
Red shiso leaves300 g[maff]
Red cabbage1.5 kg[maff]
Red chilli, finely chopped1[maff]
Salt, for rubbing the shiso and cabbage100 g[maff]
Five-times vinegar (concentrated vinegar)100 ml[maff]
White sugarA little[maff]
Starterspontaneous. The MAFF recipe adds no culture; rice, salt-rubbed shiso and red cabbage and long-salted cucumbers are mixed and weighted, and lactic fermentation follows (MAFF). Horie and Nanashima 2023 isolated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Latilactobacillus sakei from the finished pickle.

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 days

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a grainSalt 5 %

What changes: Cucumbers are salted at about 5 % for about 10 days

Step 1 of 6
Salt the cucumbers
Time
10 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
5 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. plantarum
Latilactobacillus sakei
Lactic acid bacteria
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

Sushiko is a pickle of rice from the northwest of Tsugaru. Cooked glutinous rice is mixed with salt-rubbed red shiso and red cabbage, vinegar and chopped cucumbers salted for about 10 days, then weighted in a tub. Within a few days lactic fermentation makes it sour and thick, and it is eaten as a side dish with rice. Made in 6 steps over 11 days. The longest step, salt the cucumbers, takes 10 days (MAFF 2026). Salt is 5 % (MAFF 2026). Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, 92–95 % of the bacterial flora of sushiko made in August and Latilactobacillus sakei, also isolated from sushiko do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10 daysReported[maff]Salt the cucumbers
Salt5 %Reported[maff]Salt the cucumbers
AciditypH 3.4–4.3Measured[honda2019]Lactic fermentation

What makes this one different

Unlike narezushi or iizushi, which ferment fish with rice, sushiko has no fish or other animal protein; it is rice and vegetables only [honda2019, maff]. Older makers fermented it warm until it went slimy, while some now ferment it cold [honda2019].

Related ferments

Safety

Market samples were acidic, pH 3.38–4.29 [honda2019].

History and sources

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

In northwest Tsugaru, a rice-growing area opened up in the Edo period, every household packed a 1-to (18 L) tub for winter and took sushiko to the fields as a work food [maff].

  1. [maff] MAFF, Uchi no kyōdo ryōri, すしこ (Aomori); recipe from 食の文化伝承ガイドブック (Aomori Prefecture), read 2026-10-23gov
  2. [honda2019] Honda H. 2019, Detection of lactic acid bacteria in traditional fermented pickles "sushiko" in the Tsugaru region (津軽地域に伝わる発酵食品「すしこ」からの乳酸菌の検出), Bulletin of Hachinohe Institute of Technology 38:117–120paper
  3. [horie2023] Horie M. and Nanashima N. 2023, Microorganisms involved in the preparation of "Sushiko," a fermented food produced in Tsugaru, Aomori, Japan, Journal of the Japanese Society of Taste Technology (美味技術学会誌) 22(1):6-13 (abstract)paper