🍚 Aka-zuke/Aka-zushi (Red Shiso sushi)

"Aka-zuke/Aka-zushi" is a fermented dish made by marinating cooked glutinous rice in salt-rubbed Red Shiso and vinegar. "Aka-zuke" is also called "Keitomama," in which the red color is reminiscent of the red flower of Keitou (chicken head), and "Mama" indicates rice. In the northern part of the prefecture, it is an indispensable Bon Festival dish that is served to guests after being placed on lotus leaves and offered to the spirit shelf and graves during the Bon Festival. Ingredients used for coloring the lotus leaves include Ume vinegar, Red Shiso leaves, Yamagrape berries, and Natsuhaze berries called "Kohaze", which varies from region to region. Every year, each household would cook 1.5kg of glutinous rice and prepare it in a large barrel. The bright natural red color is very beautiful. It is an all-purpose fermented food that relieves fatigue and promotes digestion, and was essential for surviving the mid-summer season. Its refreshing and crisp flavor makes it easy to eat even in summer when appetite is low. In Daisen City and the surrounding area, the traditional method of pickling is still the mainstream, using Umezuke soup or Umezu, adding Myoga leaves, round cucumber pickles, Red Shiso leaves, sprinkled with salt, and then piling it with Glutinous rice.