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Vegetables from Yokote and southern Akita, Japan

Nasu no hanazushi (eggplant flower sushi)なすの花ずし

Round Arakotokoro eggplants are dusted with alum, halved and layered in a tub with sweetened glutinous rice, yellow chrysanthemum petals and red chilli, under bamboo-grass leaves. It is called sushi because it uses rice, and it is ready in three or four days. The old keeping version was salted at harvest and pickled in late autumn for New Year.

DocumentedVegetables3 days – 4 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAn easy-to-make batch, from the book あきた郷味風土記 (Akita Rural Life Research Group Council) on MAFF's regional cuisine site. This is the quick modern version; the old version was salted much harder.
Eggplants1 kg[maff-hanazushi]
Salt60 gMixed into the cooked rice with the sugar[maff-hanazushi]
Alum1 teaspoon[maff-hanazushi]
Edible chrysanthemum100 g[maff-hanazushi]
Red chillies, sliced into rings4–5[maff-hanazushi]
Glutinous rice150 g (1 gō)[maff-hanazushi]
Sugar150–200 g[maff-hanazushi]
Sake50 cc[maff-hanazushi]
Bamboo-grass (sasa) leavesAs needed[maff-hanazushi]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 4 days

Start
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What changes: Glutinous rice soaks for half an hour and is cooked

Step 1 of 4
Cook the glutinous rice
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
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

Round Arakotokoro eggplants are dusted with alum, halved and layered in a tub with sweetened glutinous rice, yellow chrysanthemum petals and red chilli, under bamboo-grass leaves. It is called sushi because it uses rice, and it is ready in three or four days. The old keeping version was salted at harvest and pickled in late autumn for New Year. Made in 4 steps over 3 days – 4 days. The longest step, layer with rice, chrysanthemum and chilli under sasa leaves, takes 3–4 days (MAFF うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines) 2026). Salt is 6 % (MAFF うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines) 2026). No source read names the microbes; the sweet rice gives the pickle a koji-like sweetness does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–4 daysReported[maff-hanazushi]Layer with rice, chrysanthemum and chilli under sasa leaves
Salt6 %Reported[maff-hanazushi]Season the rice with sugar, salt and sake

What makes this one different

Unlike Akita's koji-zuke of eggplant, which is kept for the winter, hanazushi is layered with sweetened glutinous rice and chrysanthemum and is now usually eaten within days.

Related ferments

Variants

  • One-month keeping version (Tarumi-nai, Yokote)The Akita prefecture survey (2024) records eggplants pickled in salt, okara and alum, then topped with cooked glutinous rice and chrysanthemum and left for 1 month.

History and sources

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

Arakotokoro eggplants have been grown in Yokote since the end of the Taishō era. They were salted at harvest, pickled in late autumn when chrysanthemums bloom, and eaten at New Year. Quick versions are now more common than the old salty keeping version.

  1. [maff-hanazushi] MAFF うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines), なすの花ずし (Akita), recipe from あきた郷味風土記 (秋田県農山漁村生活研究グループ協議会), read 2026-10gov
  2. [akita-kyodoshoku] 秋田県教育委員会 (Akita Prefectural Board of Education), 秋田県の郷土食 (Akita's regional foods), 秋田県文化財調査報告書第540集, March 2024, 郷土食等一覧表 (survey table)gov