🍱 Zeitaku-ni

“Zeitaku-ni” is a local dish in which pickles "takuan" are soaked in water, the salt is removed, and then boiled. It is also a dish which can be found throughout the prefecture. There is a theory that the name comes from the time-consuming and labor-intensive process of making pickles into a stewed dish, or from the luxury of using a lot of Salt when pickling, then removing the salt from the "Takuan" and cooking it again with more Salt. “Zeitaku-ni” is one of the standard dishes essential for Buddhist ceremonies in the “Kohoku” region. It is sometimes called "Takuan-Daki". In addition to “Takuan”, other dishes including "Takatsuki-na no nukazuke no taitan" were always prepared in every household in case of a sudden condolence. In addition to Zeitaku-ni, boiled salted Eggplant was also an indispensable dish for Buddhist ceremonies, and every household kept salted eggplants on hand.