Fermented & preserved ── Tsukemono (pickles)
Moriguchi-zuke
Moriguchi-zuke — a meter-long daikon pickled whole in sake lees, a Nagoya specialty
A slender daikon over a meter long, pickled whole in sake lees — a Nagoya specialty. Like kasuzuke made from the local kaimori melon, it is said to have grown out of the sake-lees culture of the nearby Chita peninsula.
- Origin: Aichi Fuso
- About 260 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Moriguchi daikon is a slender radish over a meter long, pickled whole in sake lees. Alongside kasuzuke made from the local kaimori melon, it's known as a way of putting brewery lees to use, and the two are sometimes pickled together, both grown around Fuso in Aichi's Niwa district; moriguchi-zuke and kaimori kasuzuke are named together as Nagoya specialties.
How it's made
The long, slender daikon is salted whole, then packed in sake lees to mature. Some methods use mirin lees as well, the same as for kaimori kasuzuke, and the process shares with other kasuzuke pickles a long, slow steeping meant to work the lees' flavor deep into the radish. Pickling it whole, rather than in pieces, is said to make it more labor-intensive than most other kasuzuke.
Why it took this shape
The Chita Peninsula, south of the Nobi Plain, was once a brewing center with over 200 sake breweries at its peak, and a kasuzuke culture is said to have grown up around using the large volumes of lees the breweries produced. With daikon-growing land nearby, moriguchi-zuke — a whole slender daikon packed in lees — is said to have settled in as a Nagoya specialty, the pairing of brewing and farming land said to have shaped this particular combination.
Before you go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Enjoying a bussanten (regional products fair)A guide to what's sold at a bussanten (regional products fair), how to find one, when it gets crowded, shelf life and taking food home, and how to fit one around a trip.
Dishes in the same style
- Bettara-zukeDaikon salted first, then pickled sweet in rice malt and sugar — said to descend from a lightly pickled daikon once sold at Edo's ebisu-kō market. The rice malt gives it a natural sweetness, and it still headlines Nihonbashi's autumn "Bettara Market."
- Fukujin-zukeSeven kinds of vegetables — daikon, eggplant, lotus root among them — diced and steeped in a soy-based marinade. Said to have originated in Tokyo, it's best known today as curry rice's standard side.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Aichi
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
- Gohei MochiFreshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
- Aichi HakozushiVinegared rice is packed into a wooden frame, topped with shrimp, eel, shiitake, and egg arranged diagonally, and pressed. Placing toppings on the diagonal so everyone gets a fair share of each is said to be a feature of the Owari and western Mikawa style, made for celebrations.
- Hebo MeshiAdult and larval giant hornets are simmered sweet and savory, then folded into freshly cooked rice. Said to have served as a prized protein source across the mountains from Shinshu to Okumikawa, it's now more often served as a treat for guests.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.