I can't remember where I copied this, so I can't give you a source, but it has lots of basic information:

Japanese Pickles (Tsukemono)
Types of Pickles and Methods
"It is said that in Japan there are four thousand different kinds of tsukemono and over one hundred different techniques for making them" - Richie.
There are endless varieties of tsukemono, including fruit, vegetables, eggs, seeds. Fish and meat are kept in miso or sake. Cherry blossoms are pickled (sakura no hanazuke) and served in hot water to mark special social occasions.
Ingredients vary with the season, but tsukemono are generally vegetables: Chinese cabbage, daikon radish, carrots, bamboo, turnips, burdock root, ginger root, kyuri (Japanese cucumbers), and Japanese eggplant (nasu).
The main pickling agents are salt, rice bran, miso (fermented bean paste), sake lees, malt and mustard. Weight and salt together force water out of the vegetables, promoting a slow process of fermentation. Regional recipes combine different methods with different vegetables: nara-zuke, Nara's famous pickled gourd or daikon in sake wasabi-zuke; shizuoka's wasabi is horseradish pickled in sake; kyoto's senmai-zuke is daikon sliced paper thin, sprinkled with red pepper and preserved in kelp. A lot are available commercially but many people make pickles at home because it's so inexpensive and easy.
Shiozuke
In the simple and popular Shiozuke, or salt pickles, vegetables are salted in a earthenware jar and pressed with a heavy stone for several hours to several days. Today's modern Japanese kitchens use a "pickle press."
One-night salt pickles are called ichiyazuke. A long-term variety are umeboshi, tart, salty pickled plums or apricots, well-known and frequently eaten (often daily!). Umeboshi were first mentioned in 10th century writing. They were originally a disinfectant, then a medicine before becoming a favorite pickle. Popular at breakfast, many think umeboshi are a good appetite stimulant - one must eat a lot of rice to get rid of the salty-sour taste. Umeboshi can be used whole or in a paste.
Suzuke
Suzuke are pickles cured in vinegar. As Japanese rice vinegar has a low acidity, these pickles cannot be kept for long.
Nakazuke
In nukazuke pickling, vegetables are covered with nuka, or rice bran, salt and dried chilies, for about three months. In many households, salt bran is kept in a cask or jar on hand. The most popular kind of nukazuke is takuan zuke, pickled daikon radish. Colored yellow with turmeric, the best season for natazuke is winter when the water freezes on the surface of the keg for keeping natazuke. Nukazuke have a pungent aroma, a tangy flavor, and gather vitamins and minerals from the rice bran. Unlike salt pickles, nukazuke only last for a few days once removed from the pickling medium, so it's best to eat them right after they are washed.
Takuan
Japanese radish preserved in rice bran (crisp, tart, deep yellow in color). The most popular way to prepare daikon radish, legend has it the pickle was named for the resemblance of the heavy stone used in pressing to the gravestone of pickle inventor and vegetarian Zen Priest Takuan. But it is also said that the name came from "takuwae-zuke" = to preserve.
Kasuzuke
For Kasuzoke, a white liquor called sakekasu (made from the rice left from making sake) is combined with sugar and salt to make a pickling medium.
Misozuke
The oldest known variety, misozuke, is made by imbedding vegetables such as garlic, pumpkin, in miso paste. Miso pickles take a long time, sometimes years, to mature. To form the pickling base, miso is mixed with sake. A few ways to make misozuke using this quick parboiling method:
Carrots, burdock (gobo), parboil and pat dry inch long spears before embedding in red miso for at least 3 months
asparagus, parboil and pat dry before embedding in white miso overnight
beefsteak leaves (shiso), embed in red or white miso at least 1 month.
daikon, cut into rounds about inch thick (you can also cut them into half moon shapes). Embed in red miso for at least 3 months
ï· Japanese cucumbers (kyuri), cut into rounds about ½ inch thick, salt press, then embed in red or white miso for at least 4 months
Kojizuke
Koji, rice mold, is used as the pickling base (koji is also used in the manufacture of sake, soy sauce, miso and mirin). Bettarazuke, one kind of kojizuke, is daikon pickled in koji. This winter pickle is known for its sweet flavor and alcoholic aroma.
Shoyuzuke
Vegetables can be pickled in shoyu, soy sauce, and mirin, a sweet liquid flavoring. Fukujinzuke is one of the most popular kinds of soy sauce pickles, and is the standard accompaniment to curry and rice. To make fukujinzuke, a mixture of seven thinly sliced vegetables (which could include white radish, eggplant, lotus root, ginger, shiso buds, turnip, shiitake, udo, sword beans, shirouri) is salted and pickled in soy sauce and mirin.
Senmaizuke
The famous pickle of Kyoto is made from turnip, salt-pickled for up to a month with konbu (a seaweed), mirin or sugar, and chili peppers.
Iburi Gakko
Around October in Akita, people dried radishes over the daily cooking hearth. The dried and smoked radishes were then pickled with salt and rice bran for two to three months, making "iburi gakko," or "smoked pickles."

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As for recipes, there is a book I've found at Amazon that seems to have a nicely wide selection. I haven't actually seen the book myself, but you might want to take a look. I think salt-pickled vegetables are the easiest to start with. I found an old post of mine from the Harvest forum when someone asked about a recipe and copied it here:

I don't use a recipe, as I worked at a Japanese restaurant for years and just sort of learned by watching. However, I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks that sounds about right for proportions of cabbage to salt, so I'll adapt that to what I do:

Kyabatsu no Tsukemono (Cabbage Pickles)

*2 pounds cabbage (Napa, or Chinese cabbage works well too, but has a very different flavor than regular cabbage)
*1 1/2 T salt (I use pickling salt, but at the restaurant they just used plain old table salt)
*about a tablespoon of peeled, minced fresh ginger root (to taste, really)
*1 carrot,peeled & julienned

Core and slice the cabbage...I like it sliced fairly thin, about 1/4 inch, but it is really a matter of personal preference.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl large enough to vigorously mix the salt well through the veggies, squeezing handfuls of the veggies as you mix. You're just bruising them a little to help start the salt drawing water out of the cabbage.

Now, Japanese stores have pickle presses, with a lid that screws down, but we always just used a bucket with a close fitting plate at the restaurant. Here at home, I have a plastic food storage container and a different container's lid that just fits inside it. You basically need to be able to weight the cabbage down so it is completely submerged in the brine created by it's own juices and the salt. You don't add water.

Anyway, put the vegies in the container you are using, cover with the lid, and weight it down. I use a big, screw top jar full of water. If the cabbage hasn't released enough water after a couple of hours to be submerged, you probably need more weight.

The fermentation process can take anywhere from a couple of days to a week, depending on how warm the weather is. When it starts to smell sour, take a piece out every day, rinse it off and taste it. I like it pretty sour, but again, it's really a matter of preference. It should definitely not have any of the raw, cabbage flavor to it.

When it's sour enough for your liking, just put it into jars with it's own brine and refrigerate. When you want to eat some, rinse off the amount you want, adding a dash of soy sauce if you like. I don't know how long it lasts in the fridge, I've never had any go bad.

Variations: The Japanese salt-pickle many kinds of vegetables. Turnips and cucumbers (the pickling kind, not the big seeded salad type) are quite good, and sometimes I mix half turnips/cukes and half cabbage. If you like things a little spicy, you can add some Shichimi Togarashi which is a seven-spice blend you can get in Japanese markets...essentially slightly coarse cayenne (I think) mixed with other spices and sesame (or, you could just use a bit of cayenne). If you can get a hold of some Shiso (green or red perilla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perilla )you can substitute it for the ginger for an interesting flavor.

Sometimes, I slice the carrot into thin rounds instead of julienne, and use some tiny cookie cutters to cut it into flower shapes which makes it pretty.

Thanks a million, rachelellen, for the wealth of information you posted. I'm especially grateful for your personal tips and observations.

Jim

Jim, I haven't but I know Lars made some Japanese or Oriental type pickles and he'd probably also have some good suggestions.

I know he's busy with the new house and working, but hopefully he'll see this.

Annie

Jim:
All that for Pickles ??? lol !
I think the best thing to do is take a trip to Japan and
learn first hand.
You will enjoy the Food and Hot Baths, while you are learning.
Don't learn too fast !!!!!
Lou

Annie, I expect Lars to check in real soon. This is right up his alley.

Lou, that is a terrific suggestion. Especially the "Don't learn too fast" part. Do you think I could learn to make pickles in, say, a month? Or would that be rushing it? The way I see it, learning to make my own tsukemono could save me a lot of money over the long run. I want to do it right.

Jim

Jim :
Sorry I couldn't help you with the Pickles.

Rachel, was a lot of help.
Maybe Lars will tune in too.
Lou

Lou,

But you did help. You gave me much more than a recipe. I'm checking Expedia for plane tickets now. How long should I stay in Japan?

Jim

P.S. Is it kind of hard to know when I'm being serious and when I'm not? I do. It makes life interesting.

Tuche !!!!!

Seriously Lou, I would follow your advice in a minute if it weren't for that one picky little issue. Money.

If not for that I would go to Japan and stay for no less than a month, probably much longer. I would learn pickle making and a few other things too. For now I will have to learn from Rachelellen and (I hope) Lars. That's not bad.

I sense that it would take more than tsukemono to interest you in Japan, Lou. What about Italy? Have you been there? Probably I should know the answer to that but wasn't paying attention to previous posts.

Jim

Jim ;
I would rather go to Italy. Almost went a while back but!!!

My Daughters wanted to see our Namesake Village of Badolato
It is on the instep near the Sole.

There is a Badolato Marina there also.

I'm afraid; if I do go, they may hand me a pile of Bills my Relatives may have incurred.

We are still thinking about it ?
Lou

Let me encourage you to go, Lou. I can guarantee you won't regret it. Italians know how to live the good life. There are all sorts of little comforts that make an enjoyable day, cappuccino in the morning, an espresso when you start to lag in the afternoon, nice wines that won't break the bank with every meal and food that is prepared with loving care. You don't have to search for this stuff. It's everywhere. Have I convinced you yet?

Jim

I have made tsukemono pickles, and I recommend that you buy a pickle press, like the one pictured on the Amazon page. I bought mine for $17 a my local Japanese market, and so you might want to go to yours first, as it will be cheaper than buying on line. I have the book in the link as well (but it is still in storage from my move) as well as two others on Japanese pickles. I've gotten the best results with simple cucumbers in salt in the pickle press. I've tried the rice ban method and didn't like the results. I've never been able to make pickles that could compete with what I can find ready-made in the Japanese market, however.

I'll post some more information after I get fully settled. I only just now got one of my computers on our new wireless network. I set it up yesterday, but it was unstable, and today I downloaded a new driver that should help. I have a cable I can use in case it becomes unstable again.

As mentioned above, Japanese pickles do not keep very long, and so I make them only in small batches, which the small pickle press does very well.

Lars

Thanks, Lars. As I said to Rachelellen, it's mostly knowledge from personal experience that I am seeking here (although any good info is welcome). I appreciate yours.

BTW, thanks for getting us back on topic. :-)

Jim