Kyoto

Bright red-purple color and strong sour taste, a representative pickled food of Japan

Shibazuke

Shibazuke - kamonasu (eggplant) pickled with salt and chopped red perilla leaves – is a traditional pickled food of Kyoto, and is one of the three great pickles of Kyoto, together with “suguki” and “semmaizuke”. Its origins date back to when the Heike family died out in the Dannoura war, Kenreimonin, the only survivor, called the pickles “shibazuke” from the color of the leaves. In Ohara, Kyoto, not only eggplants but Japanese ginger and perilla are also ingredients of pickles. Shibazuke is made by chopping these vegetables and pickling them in salt, and the red-purple color and sourness are its characteristics.