Shibazuke (Eggplant and Red Shiso Fermented Pickle)
Quick answer
- Total time
- Approx. 15 days
- Level
- Hard
- Yield
- 1 batch
- Ingredients
- 3
About this dish
With only eggplant, red shiso leaves and salt, the pickle ferments at room temperature until a clear sourness, not the purple color, says it is ready.
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The salt is weighed against the eggplant alone. Only the dark brown liquid that rises on the first day is poured off, and after that the eggplant stays submerged in the brine that keeps coming up.
Ingredients
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Instructions
- 1
Prepare a deep, approximately 6 L pickling vessel resistant to acid and salt, a large food-safe plastic bag and a 1 kg pickling weight. Remove the shiso stems, weigh 300 g leaves, wash them in plenty of water and drain well. Wash and drain 1 kg eggplant.
- 2
Trim the eggplants and cut them diagonally into slices about 5 mm thick.
Measure 70 g salt. This is 7% of the 1 kg eggplant weight, not 7% of the combined vegetables.
- 3
Line the vessel with the bag.
Repeat layers of salt, eggplant, salt and shiso until all measured ingredients are used. Finish with salt and enough shiso to cover the eggplant completely.
- 4
Press the air out of the bag and twist its opening closed.
Place the 1 kg weight on top, equal to the eggplant weight, and cover the vessel. Keep it at room temperature during the warm season.
- 5
The next day, drain the dark brown liquid if it has risen.
Expel the air again, twist the bag closed and replace the weight and lid. Keep the eggplant submerged in the new liquid that rises afterward.
- 6
Leave it at room temperature for at least 2 more weeks.
Once adequately fermented and pickled to the desired tartness, transfer it to a clean container resistant to acid and salt and refrigerate. Cut a small portion to serve with rice.
References checked
These references were consulted when this page was prepared or corrected. A source check does not mean the recipe was independently kitchen-tested.
- しば漬け
Palsystem · Checked: 2026-09-13
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