1. What is Tsukemono-dokoro Honcho?

Tsukemono Dokoro Honcho is located in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, which has been designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

Honcho’s origins lie in the kasuzuke (a variation of narazuke) that its founder, Choemon Honma, discovered.

・A famous sake-pickled from the sake-producing region of Oyama

Oyama in Tsuruoka City is one of the leading sake-brewing district in Yamagata, the “Ginjo Kingdom.”

Honcho is now famous for its tsukemono, but it was a sake brewery over 130 years ago.

The history of Honcho dates back to 1897.

While working as an apprentice in sake brewing in Nada, Hyogo Prefecture, one of the three most famous sake-producing areas in Japan, our founder, Choemon Honma, encountered narazuke, a pickled dish made with sake lees.

Falling in love with its deliciousness, Honma Choemon returned to Oyama and began pickling local vegetables in sake lees, thus starting the production of Honcho’s kasuzuke in 1908.

This is the origin of Tsukemono Dokoro Honcho. The store name “Honcho” was also given to the store by the founder, Chouemon Honma.

・A place where Tsuruoka's world-renowned native vegetables can thrive

Tsukemono Dokoro Honcho actively deals with local crops, or so-called native vegetables.

These native vegetables are absolutely essential when talking about Tsuruoka’s food culture.

The reason why Tsuruoka City was designated as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy is the existence of over 60 types of native vegetables.

The Shonai region was surrounded by mountains on three sides and faced the Sea of Japan, making it difficult to transmit supplies and information.

Due to this climate, native vegetables have been grown in Tsuruoka and passed down through the generations.

Native vegetables that were once suited to Tsuruoka’s climate are said to be becoming more difficult to cultivate due to the effects of global warming.

At Tsukemono Dokoro Honcho, we carefully process the native vegetables that farmers have painstakingly grown even under these circumstances, and sell them as tsukemono, in the hopes of letting more people know about Shonai’s food culture.

2. Visit to the head priest's tsukemono storehouse

At Tsukemono Dokoro Honcho, you can tour the tsukemono storehouse for free (reservations required two days in advance).

The author was given a tour of the tsukemono storehouse by the company president, Kotaro Honma.

① Sake lees storage facility

The first place we were shown was the storehouse for storing sake lees, which are important in making kasuzuke.

The moment you step inside the building, the smell of sake lees tickles your nose.

The sake lees are stored in this large tank.

Early spring is the season for new sake. The sake lees stored in tanks are delivered at the same time as the new sake is released, and are aged for about a year.

② Salted

The next place we visited was the room where the vegetables are pickled.

This is the room where the process of making tsukemono begins.

At Honcho, we still use wooden barrels to pickle tsukemono. These barrels are an amazing two meters deep.

As you can see in the picture, they pickle the tsukemono inside the barrel.

The volume of the wooden barrel is approximately three tons.
The vegetables are salted without the use of machinery for two days.

③ Pickling

The vegetables that have been pickled in wooden barrels are then moved on to the pickling process.

Salted vegetables have a salt content roughly the same as saturated salt water (about 26% at room temperature).

Vegetables pickled in high salt concentrations can be stored for a long time, but they become too salty and inedible.

Therefore, we carry out the process of pickling the vegetables to remove the salt.

Honcho’s standard product, Kasu-zuke, uses sake lees in the pickling process.

Apparently you can even observe the process of pickling the ingredients.

④ Aging

After being pickled multiple times, tsukemono enters the aging process.

The sight of sake aging in sake barrels can only be seen at Honcho, a former sake brewery.

Apparently, the inside of this sake barrel is filled with tsukemono, which has been significantly reduced in volume.

3. You can buy it at Honcho! Three selections of native vegetables

The more you learn about Honcho’s tsukemono production and native vegetables, the more you will want to try the delicious tsukemono.

Honcho sells tsukemono, seasonal native vegetables, over the counter, so you can purchase any tsukemono that catches your eye.

I would like to introduce you to tsukemono, a native vegetable that particularly caught my attention during my conversation with Mr. Homma.

① Atsumi turnip pickled in sweet vinegar

The Atsumi turnip is a representative example of the native vegetable tsukemono.

By slowly soaking Atsumi turnips with their bright red skin still on in sweet and sour brewed vinegar, it creates a vibrant pink sweet and sour pickle that is a visual treat.

Atsumi turnips are still grown using traditional slash-and-burn farming methods.

This is a sustainable farming method that involves burning vegetation on mountain slopes and using the ash as fertilizer.

Another feature of Atsumi turnips is that they can be grown without pesticides, as pests can be eradicated through slash-and-burn farming.

Honcho’s Atsumi turnip pickled in sweet vinegar is a famous product that won the Tohoku Tsukemono Association Chairman’s Award.

It has a gentle flavor and is easy to eat.

Taken from Tsukemono Honcho Online Shop

② Minden eggplants pickled in mustard

The particularly eye-catching mustard yellow tsukemono are Minden eggplants pickled in mustard.

Minden eggplants are small, round eggplants grown in the Minden district of Tsuruoka.

Minada eggplants pickled in mustard have been featured in the media many times, so some people may have seen it.

This was my first time trying it.

This tsukemono has an adult flavor with a spiciness that goes up your nose.

When you bite into the crispy skin, the salty, spicy and moist eggplant flavors flood your mouth.

If you don’t like spicy food, you can wash off the mustard with water and wipe it with kitchen paper before eating, and it will be just the right level of spiciness.

The salty mustard-pickled Minden eggplants will make you want to eat bowl after bowl of delicious Shonai rice.

3) Fujisawa turnip pickles

Although it is a turnip, the Fujisawa turnip has a completely different appearance from the Atsumi turnip.

It is a slender vegetable, about 15cm long, with a cute appearance similar to a small radish.

Pickling in a seasoning of sake lees and tamari soy sauce gives Honcho’s tamari pickles a unique flavor.

As soon as you open it, the aroma of sake lees fills the air.

It reminds me of the tour of the Tsukemono storehouse at Honcho.

The skin has a crispy texture that is slightly different from that of the Minden eggplant, and the flesh is crunchy and satisfying to eat.
You can taste the flavors of Japanese seaweed and sake lees behind the tamari soy sauce.

Although the turnips are produced only a few kilometers away, I was surprised at how different the texture was from the Atsumi turnip, and I felt the depth of Shonai’s food culture.

4. Message

President Kotaro Homma has provided a message for VISIT YAMAGATA readers.

Tsuruoka City has a unique food culture, even in Japan. Among it is its native vegetables. We hope you will try tsukemono, which use these native vegetables.

If you come to Tsuruoka, you can experience not only tsukemono made with local vegetables, but also the food culture itself, so I hope you will come and enjoy Tsuruoka.

Tsukemono, which uses local vegetables, is a product we would like to recommend to local people. We hope that the scene of “Tsukemono made with local vegetables on the dinner table” will spread in Shonai as well.

5. Basic Information

Tsukemono storehouse tour
[Reservation required]
Hours : 9:00~16:30
Admission : Free
Tour time required : Approximately 30 minutes (tour, tasting, shopping)