nukadoko — MikrobenKabinett

Index

00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07

MikrobenKabinett is what I call my fermentation cabinet — a bubbling, living archive.

Here I keep a growing collection of starter cultures that I’ve collected, nurtured, traded, or purchased over the years, along with several ongoing jarred fermentation experiments.

This page is a digital duplicate of the cabinet at home. It serves both as a record of each “member” in the Kabinett, and as a practical manual: If you’ve ever received a culture from me in real life, you’ll likely find its basic ratios and reference recipes here — to help you start your own fermentation journey!

Welcome to explore！
Xijing Xu
info@xijingxu.com
https://xijingxu.com
Instagram

糠床 | ぬかどこ

A traditianal Japanese way to make pickels with rice bran

Terminolodgy

Nuka (糠 | ぬか) means bran in Japanese.
Zuke (漬け | つけ) means pickle.
Nukazuke (糠漬け) Traditional Japanese pickles made using rice bran.
Nukadoko (糠床 | ぬかどこ) literally means “bran bed.” It refers to the seasoned rice bran base in which vegetables (or other ingredients) are buried and fermented.

How to start?

There are tons of tutorials out there showing how to start your own nukadoko. But to sum it up in one sentence: season your bran with salt and your favorite flavors, mix in water until it reaches a moldable consistency, start burying some leftover veggies, and stir the doko twice a day. After about a week, swap out the veggies. If you're fermenting at room temperature, you’ll notice the doko becoming fluffier and warmer after 2–3 weeks. From that point on, you can start fermenting the vegetables you actually want to eat—most will be ready to harvest in 4 to 12 hours.

Another easier way to start a nukadoko is by using a pre-mixed pack from a Japanese market.
Alternatively, you can introduce active lactic acid bacteria using other fermented foods—such as sake, laozao, or the brine from pao cai—as a starter.
That said, this only works if you’re okay with those ingredients leaving some of their own flavor in the nukadoko.

Maintaining and feeding the Nukadoko

I enjoy nukazuke most when the flavor of the nuka doesn’t overpower the original taste of the food—just gently wrapping around it. That’s why I usually don’t ferment things for more than half a day, especially since I keep my nukadoko in the fridge.

My nukadoko is mainly seasoned with plenty of black pepper and the peels of lemon and lime. This was inspired by recipes where people use Sichuan pepper and Yuzu peel—ingredients that, unfortunately, aren’t easily accessible where I live.

I also mix in the discard from my sakadane starter. I imagine the microbes from both should get along just fine.

What can be made to Nukazuke?

Theoretically, you can ferment anything.

Radish and carrots are very typical, though I’m not a big fan of them. Aubergine is also quite common, but I’ve heard that European varieties can be too firm for this kind of fermentation.

There are also recipes for fermenting tofu, eggs, tomatoes, even avocado.
But so far, I’m definitely the biggest fan of nuka apple!

Rice bran? Other bran?

It’s difficult to find organic rice bran in Germany, as it’s not a traditional rice-producing country. I’m a big fan of the idea that your diet and recipes should adapt to local ingredients—so I use wheat bran instead to feed my nukadoko.

I came across a blog post by the Nordic Food Lab documenting their nukadoko recipe using oat bran and beer

, which also sounds interesting to me. I did try starting a nukadoko with oat bran once, but it turned out extremely gluey and almost impossible to handle...

If you’re based in Europe and really miss the classic rice bran flavor, you might try reaching out to some organic farms in Italy—there’s a better chance of finding it there.