Instructions: Combine ingredients in a jar, and store in the back of the refrigerator for several days, until ready to eat.

Comments: There are few culinary pleasures greater than wandering around the pickle (tsukemono) section of a Japanese market. Anything and everything can and is pickled in Japanese cuisine, from cucumber to eggplant, from plums (umeboshi) to fish.

Traditionally, pickles are used as the closing dish in a meal, something to nibble on while you sip your tea, instead of gobbling a rich, creamy dessert. As a final palate treat, it does make sense. And its as much fun to make yourself as to buy at the market, though at the market you usually have the chance to taste samples of every pickled item sold, which makes for a fine treat in the middle of shopping.

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