Nukazuke is a traditional Japanese method of making pickles by preserving vegetables in a fermented rice bran bed called nukadoko.
Though a bit different ingredients from mine, this article explains and shows the process of making nukadoko pretty well.
To keep the good bacterias/enzymes alive in the pickling bed, you need to stir the bed at least once a day. When I got pregnant, I couldn't stand the smell of it and naturally, it rotted without being taken care of.
After almost 7 years, I am starting my pickling life again - in my somewhat hardcore way.
I start with milling organic brown rice myself and save all the bran in the freezer till I have enough to start off a nukadoko, then roast them myself. Roasted rice bran for making nukazuke is sold at Japanese grocery stores, so most people don't do this process themselves.
The rest is similar to the article above, but I don't boil my water. I started mine with rice bran, sea salt, water, whole hot chili peppers, and a chunk of dried bonito. I've added some spoonfuls of yogurt before, and I know some use beer or bread crumbs to accelerate fermentation, but since it's warm now I didn't add anything. For the first two weeks, I'll leave it in room temperature, stir it well twice a day to nurture fermentation, pickle scrap veggies and discard them every 2-3 days. After that, it will be ready!
It's day 3 and I can already smell the difference - mmm, mmm, the good ol' nukazuke smell! Which, some might think is quite smelly...
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| Mixing the bran, salt, and water. |
Hope you all are having a good summer!
