# Kanzuke ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Kanzuke

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Ashikita and Minamata area

## Main Ingredients Used
Daikon (Japanese Radish)

## History, Origin, and Related Events
“Kanzuke” is a pickle made by exposing radishes to the cold winter wind twice. It is a traditional specialty of the Ashikita and Minamata regions. Raw radishes are dried, then pickled in salt when they become wrinkled, and further dried for 1-2 months. Once dried to an amber color, they are thinly sliced and soaked in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and vinegar. After 1-2 days, when the flavor has seeped in, the pickles are ready. The crunch and unique flavor make them a perfect accompaniment to rice, so much so that you can eat several bowls. It also works well as a snack with tea or to accompany alcohol. Other flavorings such as ginger, kelp, and yuzu pepper are added to the seasoning liquid, and each household has its own special twist. When the radishes are dried, they are pierced with a bamboo skewer, threaded with string, and hung on a bamboo pole under the eaves. This sight is considered a part of the winter tradition in the Ashikita and Minamata areas.Nowadays, fewer people dry radishes at home, but dried radishes are sold so that you can season them to your taste at home. They are popular at roadside stations and supermarkets as reminders of hometown flavors.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
The sight of drying radishes can be seen from late November to around March. As the name suggests, it is a pickle that is made and eaten in the cold season, but it can be preserved and eaten all year round.

## How to Eat
When served in a bowl, a sprinkling of sesame seeds adds a savory aroma and enhances the flavor. It goes well with freshly cooked white rice and as a side dish in bento boxes. It is also great as a snack with tea or as a treat with sake or shochu.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
In a junior high school in Ashikita District, efforts are underway to pass on the traditional local foods like Kanzuke. Beginning with the harvest of radishes in January, the radishes are dried at the school, and the pickling process begins in February. The students came up with adding yuzu pepper to the pickling liquid and sell the final product in shops near the school. This way, they can experience the whole pickling process and learn about the local food culture.

## Ingredients
- Dried radish: 1kg
- Vinegar: 1 cup
- Sesame seeds: a little
- [Seasoning A] Sugar: 400g
- [Seasoning A] Soy sauce: 3 cups
- [Seasoning A] Mirin: 1 cup
- [Seasoning A] Dashi kombu: 20g

## Recipe
1. 1. [Dried Radish - Step 1]Harvest radishes that are 70-80cm long.
2. 2. [Dried Radish - Step 2]Dry until they take on a crooked shape (like the hiragana character "he"), which takes about two weeks.
3. 3. [Dried Radish - Step 3]After washing the radishes in water, weigh them and pickle them in salt that weighs 5-6% of the total weight of the radishes. (Use a weight stone of the same weight)
4. 4. [Dried Radish - Step 4]Take the radishes out and dry them again for 1-2 months.
5. 5. [Kanzuke - Step 1]Chop the dried radish, soak it in water to remove the salt, and drain it well.
6. 6. [Kanzuke - Step 2]Put Seasoning A and kombu in a pot and bring it to a boil.
7. 7. [Kanzuke - Step 3]Remove the kombu and chop it.
8. 8. [Kanzuke - Step 4]Finally, add vinegar and submerge the ingredients from [Kanzuke - Step 1] and the chopped kombu.
9. 9. [Kanzuke - Step 5]Finally, sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
10. 10. [Kanzuke - Step 6]It is ready to eat about 2-3 days after marinating.

## Provider Information
provider : "Kumamoto no furusato no shoku reshipi-shu. Gekan (Kumamoto's Hometown Food Recipe Collection. Volume 2)" (Kumamoto Prefecture)

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