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Vegetables from Mie, Japan

Mie regional salt pickles (Matsusaka akana, Asama kona, Kumano takana)松阪赤菜

Mie has many local vegetable pickles, and the basic method is salting the vegetable. They include Matsusaka akana, a red-purple turnip revived in 2001, Asama kona greens grown soft by frost on Mount Asama, and Kumano red-shiso takana salted with salt alone.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Mie regional salt pickles itself.

Short entryVegetables

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHousehold and commercial practice; the MAFF page gives no amounts for these pickles.
A local vegetable, such as Matsusaka akana, Asama kona or Kumano takana[maff-mie]
SaltKumano takana uses salt alone[maff-mie]
Start
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What changes: Starting material: local greens or red turnip, picked in their cold or summer season

Step 1 of 3
Harvest the local greens or turnip
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Matsusaka akana is in season in June–July and December–February (MAFF Tokai).

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

Mie has many local vegetable pickles, and the basic method is salting the vegetable. They include Matsusaka akana, a red-purple turnip revived in 2001, Asama kona greens grown soft by frost on Mount Asama, and Kumano red-shiso takana salted with salt alone.

What makes this one different

These are single-vegetable salt pickles tied to one district each, rather than one recipe.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Matsusaka akana (松阪赤菜)Red-purple turnip-type greens said to have been brought from Ōmi by Gamō Ujisato about 300 years ago; Motoori Norinaga liked it as a kō-no-mono; lost, then revived in 2001 from seed held by the prefectural science centre.
  • Asama kona (朝熊小菜)A native small green of the foot of Mount Asama, said to have come with the Akita family of Hitachi; grown soft by cold and frost and salt-pickled.
  • Kumano takana (熊野の高菜漬け)Hot red-shiso takana of the Kumano hills, salted with salt only; rinsed and wrapped round rice as mehari-zushi.
  • Hinona-zukePickled in the Suzuka foothills and further south; see hinona-zuke.
  • Ise takuan and Iga shirouri teppō-zukeMie's pickle of Misono daikon and its miso-tamari stuffed white-melon pickle; separate methods.

History and sources

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

  1. [maff-mie] MAFF, うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines), 野菜の漬物 (Mie); read 2026-10gov
  2. [maff-tokai] MAFF Tokai Regional Agricultural Administration Office, Matsusaka-shi product sheet (tokmie-18), 松阪赤菜; read 2026-10gov