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Vegetables from Kyoto, Japan

Senmaizuke千枚漬け

Senmaizuke is the large Shogoin turnip sliced about 2–3 mm thick, salted, then layered with kombu in a seasoning for a few days. Most is now made with rice vinegar and does not ferment, but the original fermented type, made without vinegar, is still produced in small amounts and sours with Leuconostoc and then Lactobacillus.

Fully documentedVegetables2 days – 6 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe MAFF household recipe for 4 servings (vinegar type), from a Kyoto prefectural life-research group. The factory fermented type uses salt and sugar with kombu and no vinegar; no amounts are published for it.
Shogoin turnip (10–15 cm across), peeled thickly and sliced about 2 mm1 kg[maff-senmai]
Salt20 g[maff-senmai]
Kombu, finely cut45 g[maff-senmai]
Dried red chilli, seeds removedTo taste[maff-senmai]
Vinegar (MAFF says only "vinegar"; Iguchi names rice vinegar for the vinegar type)200 ccBrought to a boil with the sugar and mirin, then cooled[maff-senmai][iguchi2021]
Sugar90 g[maff-senmai]
Mirin40 cc[maff-senmai]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 6 days

Start
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What changes: The big Shogoin turnip is peeled and cut into thin slices

Step 1 of 4
Slice the turnip thin
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Leuconostoc
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

Senmaizuke is the large Shogoin turnip sliced about 2–3 mm thick, salted, then layered with kombu in a seasoning for a few days. Most is now made with rice vinegar and does not ferment, but the original fermented type, made without vinegar, is still produced in small amounts and sours with Leuconostoc and then Lactobacillus. Made in 4 steps over 2 days – 6 days. The longest step, preliminary salting under a weight, takes 24 h – 3 days (Iguchi H. 2021). Leuconostoc (L. mesenteroides, L. citreum, L. gelidum), dominant at day 3 and still at day 20 in the vinegar-type product followed over time and Lactobacillus (Lb. sakei, Lb. plantarum), dominant by day 20 in the fermented type do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 3 daysReported[iguchi2021][maff-senmai]Preliminary salting under a weight
Temperature4 °CReported[iguchi2021]Pack in its juice and ripen cold
AciditypH 4–6Measured[iguchi2021]Pack in its juice and ripen cold

What makes this one different

Senmaizuke is pickled for days, not months, and today it is mostly a vinegar pickle with no lactic fermentation. Only the older fermented type, made without vinegar, goes through a full Leuconostoc-to-Lactobacillus succession, and it stays near pH 6.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fermented typeThe original salted, lactic-fermented form, now made by factories in limited quantities; no vinegar, full lactic succession, about pH 6.
  • Vinegar typeThe usual modern Kyoto form. MAFF describes it as a vinegar and kombu pickle with no lactic fermentation; the vinegar holds the lactic bacteria back after the first salting.

Safety

The fermented type stays near pH 6, so keep it cold (the study stored it at 4 °C) and eat it soon.

Hazards the sources name: Vibrio, found among the cold-loving bacteria in both types.

History and sources

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

MAFF's Traditional Foods in Japan page credits Daikokuya Tozaburo, a cook at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, with the first senmai-zuke, made in the Edo period after he retired. Kyoto Prefecture has designated senmai-zuke one of the Traditional Foods Made in Kyoto.

  1. [iguchi2021] Iguchi H. 2021, Microbial characterization of the Japanese traditional pickle senmaizuke produced by two different manufacturing processes, Food Science & Nutrition 9(8):4452–4460paper
  2. [maff-senmai] MAFF, うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines), 千枚漬け (Kyoto), recipe from 京都府生活研究グループ連絡協議会; read 2026-10gov
  3. [maff-kyotsuke] MAFF, Traditional Foods in Japan, Kyo Tsukemono (Kyoto); read 2026-10-31gov