🍱 Akakabura-no-suzuke (Pickled red turnips)

The famous red turnip in Fukui Prefecture is a traditional vegetable known as "Kochi Akakabura," cultivated vigorously in the Kohi community of the Miyama area in Fukui City for over 800 years. Surrounded by mountains and benefiting from heavy snowfall and significant temperature variations, the cultivation of red turnips is well-suited in Fukui Prefecture. Additionally, the use of the traditional slash-and-burn farming method, the only one remaining in the prefecture, contributes to the development of flavorful red turnips, rich with the forces of nature. Legend has it that during the Heian period, fugitives of the Heike clan, defeated in battle, settled in this village and passed down red turnip seeds and cultivation techniques to the villagers in order to leave the symbolic “red” turnips of the Heike clan to future generations. It is also said that because the village is located deep in the mountains, the original variety may have remained without interbreeding. The outside is round and bright red, and some even have red marbling deep inside even when cut. It has a unique flavor, with a sweet, tangy and pungent taste, and is somewhat hard and bittersweet, but it is popular when pickled in salt or in senmaizuke (pickled in a salted soy sauce) to bring out its delicious flavor. Among them, "pickled red turnips" is a typical local dish of red turnips because the color of the skin reacts with the vinegar and turns bright red inside, which looks beautiful and improves the taste and texture, and can be preserved.