🍱 Sagohachi Zuke

In the area around Nihonmatsu City, where there are many fields and fresh vegetables are abundant, a local cuisine using vegetables has taken root. "Sagohachi Zuke" is a pickle in which vegetables are pickled in "San Go Hachi" (=three, five, eight), a mixture of rice, Rice koji(=malted rice), and salt. It is a type of koji food that has been popular since the Edo period (1603-1868), and has long been loved for its health benefits and ability to use up all of the vegetables. It is said that the name comes from the ratio of three parts salt, five parts koji, and eight parts rice, but some say that the actual ratio was 01時01分:1. Because it can be preserved well, it was valued as a side dish during the busy rice-planting season. In recent years, an increasing number of people enjoy pickling not only vegetables, but also meat and seafood.