Meaning
沢庵漬け (たくあんづけ, Takuan-zuke) is Takuan-zuke, a Japanese food (pickled salted or fermented).
What is Takuan-zuke?
Takuanzuke, or takuan (沢庵) for short, is a pickled preparation of daikon. It is a popular traditional Japanese food. Takuan is often served along with other types of tsukemono . The first step in the traditional process of making takuan is to hang a daikon in the sun for a few weeks until it becomes dehydrated and flexible. Next, the daikon is placed in a pickling crock and covered with a mix of salt, rice bran, optionally sugar, daikon greens, kombu , perhaps chili pepper, or dried persimmon peels. A weight is then placed on top of the crock, and the daikon is allowed to pickle for several months. The finished takuan is usually yellow in color and quite pungent, though most mass-produced takuan uses salt or syrup to reduce the dehydration time, and is colored artificially. Iburi-gakko is a variation eaten in Akita Prefecture. It is smoked rather than sun-dried before pickling.