“Tsukemono” Pickle Press

http://www.japanbargain.com/servlet/the-1769/Japanese-Pickle-Maker,-Tsukemono/Detail#itemadded

I discovered something really cool today shopping at a Japanese wares store: A small (650 mL), inexpensive pickle press. You can slice a couple persian cucumbers, peppers, cabbage, or possibly other items and place in the containter along with salt and optional vinegar, lemon juice, or other ingredients. When the lid is placed on the container a spring-loaded press provides enough pressure to cause the veggies to exude water and take in the salt and optional flavorings.

It seems like it wouldn’t work yet today I made my first batch just experimenting with two persian cucumbers, some brown rice vinegar, and real salt and it turned out excellent! All I did was slice the cucumbers, place them in the press, add about 1/2 tsp real salt and maybe 1-2 tbsp vinegar.

It makes a type of fresh pickles that are actually nicer than store-bought pickles. They can be made in only a couple hours or even less, although a site which I saw this press listed on has these instructions:

Hakusai Tsukemono Recipe

Ingredients:

2 heads Hakusai/Chinese cabbage
3% (of the weight of cabbage) salt

Preparation:

Wash hakusai or Chinese cabbage. Cut the cabbage into 6 pieces lengthwise. Sprinkle salt over Chinese cabbage. Put salt at the bottom of a barrel. Pack Chinese cabbage in the barrel and sprinkle salt. Place another layer of Chinese cabbage and sprinkle salt. Repeat the process. Pickles should be ready to eat in two days.

Here is a list of possible ingredients:

radish
cucumber
cabbage
celery
turnip
pepper (hot, mild, or sweet)
ginger
onion
plum
sea veggies (arame, hijiki, wakame, kombu, …)
vinegar
soy sauce
miso
lemon juice
wine
real (pink) salt
sea salt