yaochiyo

A local mom & pop vegetable and fruit shop in Azabujuban.
Go here for best in the town «tsukemono» (Japanese pickles). «Town» meaning Azabu area; not all of Tokyo. It is one of those neighborhood shops for the locals, so there is no need to come here from far away just to buy their pickles. However, if you happened to be in Azabujuban, it is definitely worth a visit.
Their «tsukemono» his hidden. Unless you are a local, you won’t notice the buckets under the shelves. Buckets looks like it is filled with sand. Don’t let your kids make sand castles in these. Inside is «nuka». What is nuka? I don’t know and many Japanese people don’t know. All I know is that it is fermented material that is considered a «living» organism. You need to mix it everyday and often maintained for decades. Mixture differs from household to household, so everyone has their own favorite «nuka». You add fresh vegetables like carrot, daikon reddish, egg plant, cucumber, etc., let it age inside the nuka. This stuff is super healthy!!! I am not a doctor, so look it up yourself. They key is to eat fresh tsukemono instead of ones sold at super markets. Ones sold at place like Yaochiyo has fresh living culture of organisms, while ones sold at big supermarkets are dead. The key is to intake these single celled organisms alive. Whatever you do, don’t stir fry tsukemono! You will kill all the good.
How to eat Nuka-​zuke: Nuka is not harmful to eat, but you do NOT eat the nuka. You wash it away with water. Don’t use soap! After nuka is off the veggies, cut it up and eat it. Keep the nuka on these veggies until minutes before you actually eat them.
Price of nukazuke:
120 Yen for one cucumber (Q-​ri)
100 Yen for daikon raddish (Die-​kong)
50 Yen for carrot (Nin-​Gin)
120 Yen for egg plant (Na-​su)
Pretty cheap!
English: Store owner will likely have a heart attack when a non-​Japanese speaking customer asks for «nuka-​zuke.» I wrote down the Japanese pronunciation for these veggies, so ask for those.
Are you ready for some cultural adventure by purchasing nuka-​zuke at Yaochiyo?