Suguki (すぐき, Kyoto fermented turnip)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Kitchen scale
• •Pickle press (tsukemono-ki), or a nonreactive crock with a plate that fits inside
• •Solid weights, 3 to 5 kg total for this batch, or clean stones sealed in food-safe bags
• •Fermentation weight for the final jar

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose winter sugukina

   Use sugukina, the Kyoto turnip grown for this pickle, if you can find it. It should feel firm and heavy, with lively greens and no sour smell before the ferment begins. Small Japanese turnips with greens can teach the method if sugukina is out of reach, but say what they are. The Kyoto pickle in the strict sense begins with sugukina.

   Sourcing comes first here. Salt and pressure preserve a good winter turnip; they don't rescue a tired one.
2. 2

   Weigh and trim

   Trim ragged rootlets and torn leaf tips, then scrub the roots and stems gently. Don't peel deeply unless the skin is damaged, because the skin helps the root hold its shape. Leave small roots whole and halve only roots larger than a clenched fist. Weigh the vegetables after trimming and calculate salt at 3 percent: 30 g salt for every 1 kg vegetable.

   The salt percentage matters more than any spoon measure. Enough salt draws brine and gives lactic bacteria the right field to work in; too little invites softness, too much slows the souring you want.
3. 3

   Salt for arazuke

   Sprinkle about two-thirds of the salt over the roots and leaves. Rub it into the root shoulders, stems, and folded greens so every surface feels lightly gritty. Pack the vegetables tightly into a clean pickle press or crock, folding the leaves around the roots as you go. This first salting, arazuke, starts pulling water from the turnip and seasons the thick parts before the final pack.

4. 4

   Press under weight

   Set a plate or press lid directly on the vegetables and add 3 to 5 kg of weight for this batch. Leave at cool room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. By the next day, brine should climb around the vegetables. The pressure is not ceremony. It squeezes air from the stack and makes the turnip cover itself with its own salted water, which is the clean beginning of the ferment.

   If the vegetables are still not covered after 24 hours, add only enough 3% rescue brine to cover them. The turnip's own brine tastes better, so use the stand-in sparingly.
5. 5

   Pack for honzuke

   Lift the vegetables out, keeping every drop of brine. Do not rinse. Rinsing throws away the measured salt and the first acidity you've begun to build. Rub the remaining salt over the roots and leaves, then repack them tightly in a clean crock or wide jar. Put roots below, leaves above as a cap, pour the reserved brine back in, and set a fermentation weight on top so everything stays submerged. This final salting is honzuke.

6. 6

   Ferment under brine

   Cover the vessel loosely to keep dust out and ferment at 18 to 22°C for 6 to 8 days. If you use a sealed jar, burp it daily. Keep every piece below the brine, pressing the leaves down with a clean spoon if they rise. The brine may turn cloudy, tiny bubbles may appear, and the smell should move from raw turnip to cleanly sour. That cloudiness is not failure. It's the lactic work you wanted.

   Kyoto makers traditionally use a warm room called a muro after the heavy press. At home, use a controlled 26 to 28°C fermenting box only if you can hold it steady; expect 4 to 6 days there. A sunny window or hot cupboard gives uneven fermentation and tired greens.
7. 7

   Taste and chill

   Begin tasting from day 5, using clean tongs each time. The root should still crunch but bend slightly, and the flavor should be salty first, then cleanly sour, never harsh with vinegar because there is none. When the sourness pleases you, move the vessel to the refrigerator. Cold slows the ferment and lets the sharp edge settle.

   A clean sour smell, cloudiness, and small bubbles are normal. Fuzzy mold, pink or orange growth, slime, or a rotten smell means discard the batch. No pickle is worth arguing with.
8. 8

   Slice to serve

   Lift out only what you need. Slice the root into 3 to 5 mm pieces and cut the leaves into short lengths, serving both together in a small dish. The cut face should glisten with its own brine. If one serving tastes too salty, dip just that serving briefly in cold water and drain well. Don't sweeten it and don't dress it. Suguki is plain on purpose.

Chef Tips

• •True suguki starts with sugukina in winter. If you use small Japanese turnips, you've made a useful home ferment in the suguki manner, but the named Kyoto pickle belongs to that vegetable.
• •Use a scale for the salt. Spoons are too vague for fermentation, and 3 percent by weight is the quiet number that gives you brine, crunch, and clean sourness.
• •The first day's weight should feel heavy. A gentle press gives you damp turnips; a hard press gives you brine. That brine is your protection.
• •Don't add vinegar to hurry the sourness. Vinegar makes a pickle, yes, but not this pickle. Suguki's character comes from lactic fermentation.
• •The leaves are not scrap. They season the brine, protect the roots in the jar, and give the finished dish its green, chewy counterpoint.

Advance Preparation

• •Plan 1 day for the first salting and pressing, then 6 to 8 days for fermentation at steady room temperature.
• •The finished pickle is better after 1 or 2 days in the refrigerator, when the salt and sourness settle into each other.
• •Keep suguki refrigerated under its brine for 3 to 4 weeks, using clean tongs or chopsticks each time.
• •Slice only what you need for the meal. Whole pieces hold their crunch better in the jar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)