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    Home » Recipes » Japanese (Traditional)

    Updated: Apr 24, 2023 by Marc Matsumoto · 16 Comments

    Japanese Pickles 3-Ways (Tsukemono)

    Japanese Pickles or Tsukemono (漬物) are a delicious way to preserve vegetables. Serve them along with a bowl of rice and miso soup for a traditional Japanese breakfast. This Asazuke (浅漬け) is an easy fresh pickle made with napa cabbage, carrots, scallions, and ginger that's ready to eat in a matter of hours.
    Recipe Video Pin
    Pickling is a great way to preserve fresh vegetables, and this tutorial includes three easy ways to make traditional Japanese Pickles.

    Tsukemono (漬物)

    Tsukemono literally translates to "pickled thing," and it's the Japanese umbrella term for pickles. Unlike many Western pickles, Tsukemono are pickled in some combination of salt, soy sauce, miso, sake lees, or rice bran and don't include any vinegar. Any tartness in the pickle is a result of lacto-fermentation, which converts the sugars in the vegetables into lactic acid, giving them a sour taste. These are known collectively as Furuzuke (古漬け), or "old pickles." 

    Japanese pickles are inherently salty as the process is not only intended to preserve the vegetables, Tsukemono are eaten as a condiment for plain rice. 

    Given the long tradition of pickling vegetables as a method of preservation, there are hundreds of varieties of pickles in Japan with styles and ingredients specific to unique regions of Japan. Needless to say, there are enough varieties of Tsukemono to fill up a series of books, but in this post, I want to show you how to make three of the most common types of homemade pickles. 

    Making Tsukemono or Japanese Pickles is a great way to preserve fresh veggies. In this recipe, we cover Asazuke (fresh pickles), Shiozuke (salt pickles), and Shoyuzuke (soy sauce pickles).

    Asazuke (浅漬け)

    Referring to the time, rather than the ingredients used to make this pickle, Asazuke literally means "lightly pickled." Although the name is usually used for pickles made with salt, the label could be used for any pickle that hasn't started to ferment. 

    Shiozuke (塩漬け)

    Shiozuke just means "salt pickle," and it's used to refer to any pickle that's made using either salt or a brine made with salt. 

    Shoyuzuke (醤油漬け)

    Shoyuzuke means "soy sauce pickle," and it's used to describe food that has been pickled in soy sauce. This usually includes root vegetables such as carrots, burdock, and garlic, but it can also include other foods like salmon roe or mushrooms. 

    Why these Japanese Pickle recipes work

    • Pickling preserves vegetables in two stages. In the first stage, salt is introduced, which kills bacteria that can cause food to spoil. In the second stage, salt-tolerant microbes like some strains of lactic acid bacteria, start feeding off of the sugars in the vegetables and create lactic acid, which lowers the pH of the food being pickled. This creates an even more inhospitable for the microbes that are responsible for spoilage. 
    • Many commercially produced pickles in Japan include MSG and other umami additives, but konbu (kelp) is an ingredient that's loaded with naturally occurring glutamates, and it's a great way to increase the amount of umami in your pickles. 
    • The salinity of these recipes have been calibrated for the vegetables being pickled. If you substitute in other vegetables, be sure to consider the density and water content of the vegetable and adjust the salinity accordingly. The more dense and less water a vegetable contains, the more salt you will want to add. The less-dense and more water a vegetable contains, the less salt you will want to add. For example, root vegetables such as burdock and carrots are quite dense and don't contain a lot of moisture, so you can use a brine with a concentration of salt as much as 10%. For a less dense and more moisture-rich vegetable like cucumbers or leafy greens, you'll want to use a milder brine in the 3-4% range. 
    • Preparing the pickles in bags allows you to prepare a small quantity of vegetables without making a ton of brine as the bags can have the air pressed out of them to fully submerge the food. 
    A plate of Japanese Pickles, or Tsukemono with salt pickles (shiozuke), soy sauce pickles (shoyuzuke), and fresh pickles (asazuke).

    Ingredients for Japanese Pickles

    Vegetables 

    Depending on the region and season, pickles are made for a large variety of vegetables in Japan. The list below is far from exhaustive, but hopefully, it gives you some ideas on how to use vegetables you might have on hand. 

    • Cucumbers - an obvious choice for pickles, cucumbers are relatively low density and have a high moisture content, so you want to use a relatively low amount of salt to pickle these; otherwise they can end up being too salty. In Japan, other members of the cucumber and melon family are also pickled. For some styles of pickles, the cucumbers are partially sun-dried first, which turns the texture of the cucumbers from crisp to crunchy.
    • Eggplant - Small eggplants are often pickled in brine in Japan. I'm not a huge fan of pickling eggplant due to its texture, but some people like it. 
    • Burdock - The taproot of a common weed found around the world, burdock, which is known as "gobo" in Japan, is delicious when pickled. The trick is to pick the burdock young before it gets a chance to become too woody or fibrous.
    • Kabocha - Pickling pumpkins is not common, but it's an example of how pickles can be made from almost anything. 
    • Daikon & Turnips - Both daikon radishes and turnips are widely used in Japan for pickling. They can be pickled fresh, but they are most often partially sun-dried first before being pickled. This gives them a hardy crunchy texture that's like an explosion of crunch when you bite into them. 
    • Cabbage - Both standard cabbage and napa cabbage are commonly used to make fresh pickles like Asazuke. 
    • Mustard Greens - Leafy greens in the mustard family, such as takana, nozawana, and nanohana are often pickled with salt in Japan. More fibrous leaves like takana are usually lacto-fermented, which makes them lose their vibrant color, but makes them significantly more flavorful. 

    Salt

    • Salt - Salt is the best choice for vegetables that have a mild flavor that you don't want to cover up. If you are using salt for your pickles, it is best to use a natural salt that has not been iodized, as iodized salt can turn pickles dark. 
    • Soy Sauce - Soy sauce on its own has a salinity ranging from 15-20%, so it's important to dilute the soy sauce with water before you use it for pickling; otherwise, your pickles will end up too salty.
    • Miso - Miso can be used to pickle vegetables by directly applying the paste to the surface of the vegetables you want to pickle. 

    Flavor

    • Sake - Sake, which is made from rice, contains a high concentration of umami-producing amino acids. When added in a small quantity to pickling brine, it can make your pickles more flavorful without making them alcoholic. There is also a class of pickle called Kasuzuke, which is made using the rice lees that are filtered out of sake during production.
    • Konbu -  Konbu, or kelp, is a sea vegetable that's loaded with naturally occurring glutamate. This imparts the taste of umami to foods it's added to and is a great way to amp up the savory flavor of Japanese Pickles. 
    • Ginger - Young ginger is used to make many different kinds of pickles in Japan, including gari and benishoga, but it can also be added to other types of pickles to add flavor while helping to preserve the vegetables (ginger contains antimicrobial enzymes.)
    • Citrus - Citrus zest, such as yuzu and Meyer lemon can be added to add a nice fragrance to your pickles. My mother often adds whole slices of Meyer lemon to her Asazuke, which not only adds a nice fragrance, it also adds mild acidity. 
    • Chili Pepper - the Japanese chili pepper or togarashi is a small red chili pepper that's very spicy. It is similar in taste and spiciness to Chile de Árbol, which makes for a good substitute. Japanese pickles aren't typically spicy, so the chilies are added whole, to add a mild accent that's akin to sprinkling black pepper on food. 

    How to make Tsukemono

    Most tsukemono are made by either creating a brine or directly applying a source of salt to the vegetables that are being pickled. Here are three recipes with the salinity calibrated for the vegetables being pickled. 

    Cabbage Asazuke

    printable recipe

    A plate of Japanese Asazuke pickles.

    While it's possible to make Asazuke with a variety of vegetables, I like to make mine with either cabbage or napa cabbage along with a variety of other cut vegetables to add texture, color, and flavor. To ensure the vegetables pickle quickly, I julienne harder ingredients like carrots and mince the ginger. The cabbage itself gets cut into bite-sized pieces.

    Pickle ingredients on a scale.

    Once you have all of the vegetables prepared, weight them to calculate how much salt you need to add. In my case, I had 685 grams of vegetables, and I wanted to add 3% of the weight of the veggies in salt, so I added about 20 grams of salt. 

    Ingredients for Japanese cabbage pickles in a bowl.

    Now you can add any flavorings you want, such as konbu and chili peppers, and then mix everything together. 

    Japanese cabbage pickles in a zipper bag on a tray.

    Then I like to press the mixture with weights to speed the process up. The easiest way to do this is to pack the Asazuke into a zipper bag, and then sandwich the bag between two trays that are weighted down with cans. 

    Using cans as weights to press Japanese Tsukemono Pickles.

    The pickles are ready to eat when the vegetables have wilted and the cabbage has gone from opaque to translucent. 

    Cucumber Shiozuke

    printable recipe

    A plate of cucumber tsukemono, or Japanese pickles made by soaking whole cucumbers in a salt brine.

    For my Shiozuke, I like to use a brine made from salt, sugar, water, and just a bit of sake. These ingredients get added to a zipper bag, along with a piece of konbu, and swished around to dissolve the salt. 

    Making a salt brine to pickle Japanese cucumbers.

    I used baby cucumbers, so I didn't cut them, but if you are using large cucumbers with big seeds, you may want to splice them in half lengthwise to remove the seeds and cut the halves into lengths that will fit in your bag. 

    Once you've added your cucumbers to the brine, it's important to press out as much air from the bag as you can to ensure the cucumbers are fully submerged in the liquid. 

    Sealing the cucumbers in the brine to make Cucumber Tsukemono.

    Then you can let them pickle in the refrigerator. During the first week, they will retain their color and taste like salty fresh cucumbers. As they ferment, lactic acid bacteria will make the pickles increasingly sour, which will make them lose their color. As long as they are not slimy and don't smell bad, they are safe to eat.

    Carrot Shoyuzuke

    printable recipe

    A plate of carrot shoyuzuke, a Japanese pickle brined with soy sauce.

    For the Shoyuzuke, you need to dilute the soy sauce with water in order to create a brine that's not too salty. For dryer denser vegetables like carrots, I usually dilute the soy sauce down to about 10% salt, but for less dense vegetables like celery or cucumbers, you will want to bring the salinity down to 4-5%. I also add some sugar and konbu to the brine to balance out the saltiness while adding umami. 

    Making a soy sauce brine for making Japanese Tsukemono Pickles.

    Soy sauce tends to stain the skin of carrots a dark color, which is why I like to peel the carrots before adding them to the brine. If you're using smaller carrots, you can pickle them whole, but if they are thicker, you may want to halve or quarter them, so they pickle faster. 

    Submerging carrots in a soy sauce brine to make Shoyuzuke Pickles.

    Add the brine and carrots to a zipper bag, and press out as much air as you can, and then seal the bag and let the carrots pickle for at least a few days. 

    Japanese Breakfast Recipes

    • 3-styles of Miso Soup
    • Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette)
    • Salmon Misozuke (Miso Salmon)
    • Hiyashijiru (Cold Cucumber Soup)
    • Salmon Shiozuke (Japanese Salted Salmon)

    📖 Recipe

    Making Tsukemono or Japanese Pickles is a great way to preserve fresh veggies. In this recipe, we cover Asazuke (fresh pickles), Shiozuke (salt pickles), and Shoyuzuke (soy sauce pickles).

    Cabbage Asazuke (Quick Pickles)

    By: Marc Matsumoto
    4.75 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Discuss
    Prep Time 5 minutes mins
    Total Time 5 minutes mins
    Yield 10 servings

    Units

    Ingredients 

    • 560 grams napa cabbage (about ¼ head, cut into 2-inch pieces)
    • 90 grams carrots (julienned)
    • 30 grams scallions (chopped)
    • 5 grams ginger (minced)
    • 20 grams salt (~1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon)
    • 2-3 chili peppers
    • 5 grams konbu (cut into thin strips)

    Instructions

    • If you are using a different quantity of vegetables, weigh them, and then multiply that number by .03. This will give you the amount of salt to add. For example, in this recipe, we're using a total of 685 grams of vegetables, and 3% of 685 is about 20 grams of salt.
    • Toss all of the ingredients together and pack them into a large zipper bag.
    • Press out any excess air from the bag and seal it. Put the bag in a tray and cover with another smaller tray that's weighted down with cans.
    • The asazuke is ready to eat when the cabbage has released a lot of liquid and has become translucent.
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    Nutrition

    Calories 15kcalCarbohydrates 3gProtein 1gFat 1gSaturated Fat 1gSodium 788mgPotassium 170mgFiber 1gSugar 1gVitamin A 1738IUVitamin C 16mgCalcium 48mgIron 1mg

    📖 Recipe

    A plate of cucumber tsukemono, or Japanese pickles made by soaking whole cucumbers in a salt brine.

    Cucumber Shiozuke (Salt Pickles)

    By: Marc Matsumoto
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Pin Discuss
    Prep Time 3 minutes mins
    Total Time 3 minutes mins
    Yield 10 servings

    Units

    Ingredients 

    • 450 grams cucumbers (or other vegetable)
    • 2 cups water
    • 2 tablespoons sake
    • 15 grams salt (scant tablespoon of table salt)
    • 8 grams evaporated cane sugar (~2 teaspoons)
    • 3 grams konbu (1.5x4 inches piece)

    Instructions

    • Add the water, sake, salt, sugar, and konbu to a zipper bag and swish the mixture around to dissolve the salt and sugar.
    • Add the cucumbers and seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible so that the cucumbers are fully submerged in the liquid.
    • Let the cucumbers pickle in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 days.
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    Nutrition

    Calories 13kcalCarbohydrates 2gProtein 1gFat 1gSaturated Fat 1gSodium 585mgPotassium 61mgFiber 1gSugar 1gVitamin A 32IUVitamin C 1mgCalcium 8mgIron 1mg

    📖 Recipe

    A plate of carrot shoyuzuke, a Japanese pickle brined with soy sauce.

    Carrot Shoyuzuke (Soy Sauce Pickles)

    By: Marc Matsumoto
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Discuss
    Prep Time 3 minutes mins
    Yield 10 portions

    Units

    Ingredients 

    • 260 grams carrots (peeled and trimmed)
    • ½ cup soy sauce
    • ¼ cup water
    • 15 grams evaporated cane sugar (~1 mounded tablespoon)
    • 2 dried chili peppers
    • 2 grams konbu (1.5x2-inch piece)

    Instructions

    • If your carrots are very thick, halve or quarter them lengthwise so that they are about ¾ of an inch in diameter.
    • Add the soy sauce, water, sugar, chili peppers, and konbu to a plastic zipper bag and swish the mixture around to dissolve the sugar.
    • Add the carrots to the bag, and press out as much air as possible before sealing the bag.
    • Let the carrots pickle in the fridge for 2-3 days before eating.
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    Nutrition

    Calories 24kcalCarbohydrates 5gProtein 1gFat 1gSaturated Fat 1gSodium 667mgPotassium 108mgFiber 1gSugar 3gVitamin A 4370IUVitamin C 2mgCalcium 11mgIron 1mg

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    Reader Interactions

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Lin says

      November 09, 2023 at 9:03 am

      Greetings,

      I saw the following method (in a YouTube video)...

      https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-japanese-preserved-cucumbers-cucumber-kyuri-salt-vinegar-form-tsukemono-appertizing-pickles-image53345541

      and was curious what ingredients are used.

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        November 12, 2023 at 12:59 pm

        Hi Lin, this is called Nukazuke. "Nuka" means rice bran (the brown stuff surrounding a kernel of rice). This is usually combined with a lot of salt and enough water to create a paste which is then used to pickle and ferment vegetables. It requires some maintenance (like turning the nuka over every day to maintain even aeration), but it makes tasty pickles especially as the nukadoko matures and you get some lacto-fermentation going on.

        Reply
        • Lin says

          November 13, 2023 at 4:58 am

          Thanks Marc,

          Knowing the name Nukazuke makes the search so much easier. 🙂
          Found some really good links. One even uses sake lees too ?!?!?

          Reply
          • Marc Matsumoto says

            November 14, 2023 at 8:48 am

            Great to hear it! Vegetables pickled in sake lees (sake kasu) are called kasuzuke.

            Reply
    2. Jen Brulé says

      August 25, 2023 at 10:56 pm

      These are WONDERFULLY presented recipes-- thank you! I learned a lot and am inspired to make all three types of tsukemono 🙂

      Reply
      • Marc says

        August 26, 2023 at 8:06 am

        I'm so happy to hear this was helpful Jen, I hope you enjoy these!

        Reply
    3. marta edwards says

      January 09, 2023 at 4:45 am

      Hello and thank you for the helpful information. I am a beginner at this. The main question I have is - once the pickling process in complete, do you throw away the pickling liquid and transfer the vegetables to a container of your choice, or do you keep the liquid with the vegetables for as long as the vegetables remain in the refrigerator? I have yet to find any information that answers my question about what to do with the pickling liquid, so thank you in advance for clarifying this.

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        January 09, 2023 at 1:59 pm

        Hi Marta, for this recipe you can leave the pickles in the brine until you use the pickles. This is typical of store-bought Japanese pickles as well. Whole pickled veggies are usually packed in brine, whereas sliced pickles do not include brine and have a shorter shelf life.

        Reply
    4. Emilie Tissier says

      September 11, 2021 at 12:10 pm

      Hi,
      I would like to know how long you can keep the pickles in the fridge once they’re ready?

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        September 11, 2021 at 11:17 pm

        Hi Emilie, these pickles are best enjoyed fresh (within 3-4 days) after that they'll start to lactose-ferment which will make them sour. If they turn slimy, smell bad, or get mold on them, throw them out.

        Reply
    5. Katie says

      November 13, 2020 at 6:22 pm

      Hi Nami,
      Thank you for this post, it’s been very helpful! We are wondering about mushrooms. How would you make mushroom pickles? Would you use the shoyu brining method? Could you put them in the same bag as the carrots? Also, is it ok to do cucumbers, carrots, and cabbage all in the same bag? What method would you use? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        November 14, 2020 at 1:13 am

        Hi Katie, I think you have the wrong website (Nami is over at Just One Cookbook) 😉. To answer your question, Mushrooms aren't usually pickled in Japan. Instead mushrooms are usually simmered using soy sauce, mirin and konbu to make a sweet and salty condiment called Tsukudani. If you really want to make pickles with them, I'd recommend diluting the brine quite a bit as mushrooms absorb liquids like a sponge and will mostly likely end up too salty if you use the brine as is.

        Reply
    6. Janelle Rhodeback says

      October 26, 2020 at 6:26 pm

      This came up for me while googling kabocha shiozuke. The past 2 autumns I've been able to find these delicious pickles at a stall in a local depachika. It's my last autumn in Japan, so I'd like to figure out how to make them. I don't KNOW that they are salt pickles, but I guess that they are. This year I bought the pickle as an entire half kabocha. Do you have any ideas on how much salt and how long to pickle something like that? It may not be common, but it should be!

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        October 26, 2020 at 8:39 pm

        Hi Janelle, yes you can pickle kabocha in brine. Just use the recipe for the cucumbers. A lot of pickles in Japan have MSG added, so if you want that extra umami kick like the store-bought ones, you might need to add a little to get there. Personally I like the more natural taste of sake and kombucha (which both contain naturally occurring glutamate). You'll also want to use a smaller kobocha. I usually like to use young kabocha when making pickles, but fully mature ones will work as long as they are not too big (the big ones have very tough skin).

        Reply
    7. Fabio says

      April 14, 2020 at 5:22 pm

      Thank you so much! I was hoping for a while that you would gives us your take on japanese fermentation / pickles (you have of course done that before, but it's nice to have more information 🙂 ) . I really like that you also spent some time on which vegetables work and which you specifically enjoy.

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        April 14, 2020 at 5:27 pm

        You're welcome Fabio, I'm so glad to hear you found this useful! Thank you for taking the time to stop by and let me know!

        Reply

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