Takuan, Japanese pickles

Takuan is one of the Japanese pickles.
It is made from well-dried Japanese white radish.
It is dried usually more than 2 weeks, then soaked in a mixture of rice bran, salt, sugar, chili peppers, fruit peels, crushed gardenia seeds, etc. for several weeks.
The crushed gardenia seeds dye them yellow.
While soaking, place a stone on it and apply pressure.

Takuan is not the main dish, but it is often put in lunch boxes.
It may also come with a set meal at a Japanese restaurant.

Package

I bought Takuan the other day at a local supermarket.
It is usually sold with packed in a vinyl package.
Many of them are longer than the one in this picture.
It is too much for me, so I bought much shorter one.

Flavor expiration date was about one month by stored in a refrigerator.

How to eat

Take out the takuan from the package.
Then cut into slices.
I haven’t measured it accurately, but if you look at the takuan that is served various places, I think that it is often cut into a thickness of about 5 to 7 mm.

How many slices to eat?
I would say that takuan is not main dish, so a couple of slices per meal.
For example, lunch boxes include two or three pieces.

The colour of takuan

When Japanese white radish is pickled in salt, it gradually turns yellowish.
The image of Takuan is yellow.
To make it look more delicious, the crashed gardenia seeds are pickled together to make it a beautiful yellow color.
I hear that when the gardenia seeds is dissolved in water, it is dyed in yellow.

Where to eat

If you travel in Japan, you can find it at the breakfast in a hotel.
If you look at the Japanese food section, you will probably find it.

Takuan, Japanese traditional pickles, goes with white rice, so I recommend you to try it.
Takuan is a food that makes me feel like I am eating Japanese dishes.

【Cat’s Notes】

rice bran	米ぬか（こめぬか）
Japanese white radish	大根（だいこん）
chilli pepper	唐辛子（とうがらし）
gardenia seeds	くちなしの実（くちなしのみ）
set meal	定食（ていしょく）
flavor expiration date	賞味期限（しょうみぎけん）