What Are Tsukemono (Japanese Pickles)? (漬物)
Vegetables (and some fruit) preserved and flavoured by salt, bran, miso, kasu or vinegar - served in small amounts with rice.
| Role at the meal | A small side that resets the palate; a traditional set meal pairs rice, soup and pickles (ichiju-issai with tsukemono) |
|---|---|
| Main methods | Salt (shiozuke), rice bran (nukazuke), miso (misozuke), sake lees (kasuzuke), vinegar (suzuke), and quick overnight pickling (asazuke) |
| Fermented or not | Nukazuke and long salt pickles ferment; asazuke and most suzuke are pickles without fermentation - this guide labels each method honestly |
Tsukemono is a method family, not a single food. What unites the pages in this section is the verb tsukeru - to steep or pickle - and the place at the table: a small, sharp, crunchy counterpoint to rice.
For the overseas reader the key distinction is fermentation. A nukadoko bran bed is a living culture that ferments vegetables in a day or two; a vinegar pickle keeps by acid added directly. Both are tsukemono, and confusing them leads to wrong expectations about flavour, storage and making. Each method page states which it is.
See also
NukazukeRelated page in this guide.Asazuke
Related page in this guide.
Sources: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), 'Traditional Foods in Japan'; JAS soy sauce standards; Umami Information Center; Kikkoman official information; Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Checked 6 November 2026.