How to pickle white radish

How to pickle white radish? I believe many friends will ask this question, let me tell you below.

White radish pickles

The first time I ate this pickled vegetable was when my neighbor sent it to me because I had so much rice. I had seen it in the supermarket but never thought of reaching out for it. Now that it was sent to me, it would have been a pity to throw it away, so I had to eat it. If I hadn't had this opportunity, I'm afraid I would never be able to taste it. I ate the first bite and couldn't stop.

The lady next door has a food preparation license and works as a nutritionist in an elementary school in Japan. After we moved, when we went to say hello (in Japan, when you move to a new place, you have to bring a little gift to say hello to the old residents. Fortunately, we were the first new residents to move in in this area. People who moved later than us had to knock on more than a dozen doors). We had a good chat. They had a very lovable dog and our yards were connected. The dog met the request of my children who wanted to have a pet after moving, and became our pet. Her yard is big, and the dog is raised in the yard. I don't worry about planting crops at all, but I can't do that for movable ones.

We get along very well. Sometimes I send something to her when I make something, and she also often sends something to me. We visit each other frequently.

I often hear people from China ask why the Japanese grow so many white radishes in winter. If you look at the vegetable fields, you will know that they are really planted in large areas. It feels like they grow more than cabbage. If you know how Japanese people eat white radishes, you will understand why. They are cooked with seafood such as mullet. Even our family may not have enough to eat if we don’t use a long and heavy radish. The Japanese drink miso soup three times a day, and radish is often the main ingredient. They can be pickled or dried. Another way to eat it is to grind it into small pieces and use it as a side dish for fish or meat. The enzymes contained in radishes are conducive to the digestion of protein. You can try it next time and pour some soy sauce on the rubbed radishes for seasoning.

The white radish in this season is the most delicious in the year, juicy and sweet, which really fits the Chinese saying of "eat radishes in winter and ginger in summer", so I have been eating more of it recently.

How to pickle white radish

White radish One pickled radish salt is appropriate

100g dry koji 140g 60 degree warm water for dissolving koji 100g sugar 3 tablespoons mirin 1 teaspoon salt

15cm dried kelp 3 dried chilies

I didn't make it using the domestic method of making mash glutinous rice, but the general Japanese method. You can use mash glutinous rice with less soup to skip the fermentation process. The first picture shows the raw material, koji, which is the koji we use when making mash glutinous rice. It is mixed with steamed grains and fermented. This koji can be used to make fermented foods such as soy sauce/sake/mirin/miso. This pickled radish uses koji fermented from rice as the raw material. The koji sold on the market is low-temperature dried koji, so it should be mixed with warm water and placed in a warm place for fermentation, which is the same as making mash glutinous rice. If the temperature is suitable, there will be a sweet wine aroma in about a day. After the wine aroma comes out, add sugar, cut into 1cm wide dry kelp segments, remove the seeds and cut into segments of dry chili and mix well, and the soaking material is ready.

Cut the radish, then cut it into pieces (to your own size) and marinate it with salt for half a day. Wipe off the salt water, apply a layer of soaking material on the bottom of the container, put the radish on it, and then apply the soaking material. Repeat this process, apply the soaking material on the top layer, cover the lid tightly, and leave it at room temperature for two or three days. When eating, cut it together with the fermented glutinous rice.

Kind tips:

Because of the fermentation process, the container must be clean, preferably disinfected with alcohol.

If you can’t finish the pickled radishes, put them in the refrigerator. Of course, in winter, it’s best to put them in a natural refrigerator, because the taste of pickled radishes is still a bit different, but eating them is another matter.