Nukamiso

[kchowder]

Does anyone know where to get nukamiso in San Francisco?

[Yukari]

Make a few phone calls, first to the supermarkets in Japantown, or, call out to Mitsuwa, they should have it. We are making nuka pickles everyday and love it. I thought I saw it at the Mitsuwa in Fort Lee, NJ, they should have it out west too.

[essvee]

Will you share with us how you do it, Yukari? I tried many years ago but the nuka got moldy and I havent tried since.

[Yukari]

First of all, I think you can get it online. Call ahead and ask, but it looks like this is "ready to use".

http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-781-ma...

We started with a similar mix as pictured in the link above. The trick is that you do need to play with it everyday (turn it so it doesn't get moldy). Also, while my teacher keeps hers out of the fridge, at room temperature, we keep ours in the fridge, it seems a bit easier to manage.

Other than that, we pickle about every other day. Usually cucumbers, but also carrots, daikon, turnips, and cabbage.

And, very interesting, the aroma from the pickle pot at my sensei's (teacher's) home was very different from ours. She said that some of the nuka dated back over 100 years and she put some in a ziplock bag for us. We brought it home, added it to our pot, and it totally changed ours, much more funkier, richer pickles.

You can e-mail me directly too if you have more questions.
[e-mail]

Here is some of our pickles:
tokyostation-yukari.blogspot.com/2009/05/nukazuke-pickles.html

Cheers and good luck!

[mycophage]

This isn't exactly the answer to your question, but: You can make your own; there's a great recipe (under "rice bran pickles") in the excellent book "The Joy of Pickling".