# Akadozuke ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Akadozuke

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Aso region

## Main Ingredients Used
Red potato (taro) stems, salt

## History, Origin, and Related Events
A traditional pickle that has been passed down through the ages in Aso (in some areas, such as the former Ichinomiya town) along with Takanazuke pickles. It’s also called “Aso horse sashimi” or “field horse sashimi” because of its color, shape, and how it’s eaten. Akadoimo, a type of taro cultivated in this area, is a name unique to the Aso region and has been passed down along with regular seed potatoes. The stems have low bitterness and take on a beautiful red color, so they’ve been used for pickles since ancient times.As for how they’re pickled, a small amount of salt is rubbed in these stems and a weight is placed on them so the water rises overnight as it soaks. Once the stems become soft, they’re sprinkled with vinegar. Black liquid rises to the surface, so this is removed. After leaving it for a while, the color changes to red. When they turn a beautiful bright red, they’re ready to eat. Peel the skin, cut them into appropriate lengths, and eat them with soy sauce or ginger soy sauce. There were no refrigerators in the past, so these were pickled from mid-September until around the first frost and eaten during this period. It’s said that the ones harvested around the mid-autumn harvest moon have a particularly vibrant color, and even a slight variation in the pickling method can affect the color. It seems the women of the house worked very carefully when pickling the “akadozuke.” Vinegar is used to make these pickles, but when the temperature drops lactic acid fermentation is used instead of vinegar. It’s indispensable as a lunch box item for the farm work of autumn such as cutting hay. It’s a pickle that feels like the arrival of autumn for the people of Aso.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
Refrigerators were not available in the past, so this pickle was a traditional autumn food that people would pickle and eat from the mid-autumn harvest moon until the first frost. It was a staple side dish in daily meals and an essential item for lunch boxes during the hay-cutting work on Gairinyama, which typically started around late September.

## How to Eat
“Akadozuke” is cut into bite-sized pieces and mainly eaten with ginger soy sauce to make it even more delicious. Soy sauce with green chili peppers was also used in the past. When this is put in the refrigerator it keeps its red color, but when it’s left at room temperature it turns black.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)A “Master of Kumamoto Hometown Food,” who passes down the local cuisine of the region, teaches how to make this through hands-on classes and YouTube. It’s also provided for use in local school lunches.

## Ingredients
- red potato stems: 10kg
- salt: 300–400g
- vinegar: 1 cup

## Recipe
1. 1. Cut off the leaves from the stems of the red potatoes and wash them thoroughly with water.
2. 2. Spread plastic wrap on a shallow tray, place the red potato stems on it, and sprinkle the specified amount of salt over them. Rub the salt into the stems.
3. 3. Wrap them in plastic wrap, put a board on top, put a weight on the board and leave overnight.
4. 4. When the stems become flexible, soak them in a barrel, sprinkle vinegar all over them, press a lid on them and put a weight on top. Black juice will come up, so remove the juice. After about 10 days when the juice turns red, peel the skin and cut them into 3–4cm pieces to eat. They’re delicious when eaten with ginger soy sauce.
5. 5. Note: When the whole stem is dyed red, store them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. (If you leave them at room temperature, they turn black.)
6. 6. Note: Since the salt content is low (3-4%), vinegar is used until around the equinox week. Since the temperature drops after that, you can achieve the red color through lactic acid fermentation without using vinegar. The redder the potato skin, the more vivid the red color will be.

## Provider Information
provider : “Kumamoto Hometown Food Master” (Kumamoto Prefecture Local Production for Local Consumption Website)

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