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Non-salted - Nagano, Japan

Sunki

The only backslopped ferment on this site: last year's sunki, dried, is what starts this year's. No salt, a wild apple in the pot, and a Nagano winter for a temperature control.

2 steps, every one quoted from FAO Bulletin 134 6.3.4. The step labels are this site's; the sentences under them are not.

Salt

None added

Sunki is a non-salted and fermented vegetable product prepared from the leaves of "Otaki-turnip" in Kiso district, Nagano prefecture, Japan.

FAO Bulletin 134 6.3.4

Not a gap in the record. The source states the figure and the figure is none, which is the whole point of this preparation: the acid still arrives, on time, with nothing added to hold the spoilage organisms back on the way. Compare it with sauerkraut, which is the same process with salt in it.

Every number the source states

Salt
None added

Sunki is a non-salted and fermented vegetable product prepared from the leaves of "Otaki-turnip" in Kiso district, Nagano prefecture, Japan.

FAO Bulletin 134 6.3.4

Temperature
Low, produced in the winter season

Sunki is produced under low temperature (in winter season).

FAO Bulletin 134 6.3.4

Fermentation time
one to two months

The Otaki-turnip is boiled, inoculated with "Zumi" (a wild small apple) dried Sunki from the previous year and allowed to ferment for one to two months.

FAO Bulletin 134 6.3.4

Organisms named
Lactobacillus plantarum, L. brevis, Bacillus coagulans, Pediococcus pentosaceus

Micro-organisms involved include Lactobacillus plantarum, L. Brevis, Bacillus coagulans and Pediococcus pentosaceus (Makayama,1957).

FAO Bulletin 134 6.3.4

Substrate

Region

Method

Numbered for your place in the list. Every sentence below is the source's own, verified against the page it came from when this table was last built from the sources.

  1. Boil the turnip

    The Otaki-turnip is boiled, inoculated with "Zumi" (a wild small apple) dried Sunki from the previous year and allowed to ferment for one to two months.

  2. Ferment cold

    Sunki is produced under low temperature (in winter season).

What else the source says

The organisms
Micro-organisms involved include Lactobacillus plantarum, L. Brevis, Bacillus coagulans and Pediococcus pentosaceus (Makayama,1957).

What is doing the work

Before you make this

This site is a reference and not a food safety authority. It reports what named sources published and does not certify that any preparation is safe. The safety page sets out what the sources themselves say about acidity, about surface growth and about when to throw something away, and equipment lists the instruments the numbers above cannot be checked without.

The full record for this pickle, including every source consulted and the ones that disagree, is on its tradition page.

Other non-salted recipes

Method and asides from FAO 134 Battcock, M. and Azam-Ali, S. (1998) Fermented fruits and vegetables: A global perspective. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 134. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Numbers from the same source, extracted separately and listed on methodology.