Nuka

[ray goud]

I recently purchased a book, “Easy Japanese Pickling”, by Seiko Ogawa. It was written, translated into English, and printed in Japan. One of the ingredients which figures prominently in at least seventeen recipes is “nuka”. It is a bed of rice bran, which is typically made at home in a time-consuming process. After being established, one buries the vegetables to be pickled into the nuka bed, where they are pickled and become nukazuke. The book mentions an “instant” nuka (greatly shortening the time to get the nuka ready for pickling), called “nuka-doko”, or “nukazuke no moto”. Apparently these may be brands of the instant nuka available in Japan. Unfortunately the book gives no sources of supply in the USA. Googling the nuka was fruitless for me. I learned a lot about the home-made nuka bed, but no sources of where to get the instant product. Does anyone know of a reliable source? Has anyone done business with a specialty Japanese market called Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ ?

Thanks,

Ray

[Joe Blowe]

By all means, check out Mitsuwa -- if they don't have instant nuka, probably no one will in your area. It'll be a fun trip to Edgewater anyway. Ahh, good memories...

And here is one source for what appears to be non-instant nuka. I would think the prices for nukazuke no moto shouldn't be too different.

[ray goud]

By all means, check out Mitsuwa -- if they don't have instant nuka, probably no one will in your area.  It'll be a fun trip to Edgewater anyway.  Ahh, good memories...

And here is one source for what appears to be non-instant nuka.  I would think the prices for nukazuke no moto shouldn't be too different.

←

Thanks, Joe.

Alas, no luck with Mitsuwa; they weren't familiar with instant nuka, though they have the regular, as does that link you included.

Ray

[helenjp]

Can't help with the nuka, but friends of mine in New Zealand used to use well-dried breadcrusts, torn up, and wetted with cooled brine. The pickles tasted slightly different, but it worked.