Bettarazuke ✦

Bettarazuke

What it is

The Bettara market has run beside the Ebisu shrine at Nihonbashi on 19 and 20 October since the middle of the Edo period, and betabeta is simply the sound of something sticky — the kōji paste clinging to the daikon and, went the street joke, to a passing kimono sleeve. Kōji rather than bran is why it stays white and sweet where takuan turns yellow and pungent.

In the kitchen

It is a fresh pickle with live kōji in it — eat it within a week and keep it cold, or the enzymes keep working and it goes slack and alcoholic. Rinse nothing off; wipe the paste back and slice thick, about 8 mm, so the crunch survives.

Goes with

Rice koji Daikon Rice Junmai sake Cucumber Salt

Same species

Black radish Cai pu Daikon Dongchimi Fukujinzuke Iburigakko

In season alongside

Cévennes sweet onion Chioggia beetroot Prickly pear Hakurei turnip Jicama Kohlrabi

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