Suguki

Step 1: Clean the jar or container and lid: wash in hot soapy water, rinse, then dry in a 250°F oven for 10 minutes (or pour boiling water over and in it and air-dry upside down). Let it cool; it must be completely dry.

Step 2: Wash the 2 ¼ lb small turnips with leaves well, especially where leaves meet root. Peel the roots thinly in long strokes, leaving the leaves attached. Halve large roots lengthways through the leaves.

Step 3: Rub the turnips, roots and leaves, with 1 ⅜ oz coarse sea salt and pack them tightly in a container that only just fits them. Lay a plate or lid on top and weigh it down with about twice their weight (2 kg; bags of water or a filled pan work). Leave in a cool place (10–59°F) for 2–3 days, until brine has risen above the turnips and the leaves are dark and limp.

Step 4: Lift out the turnips, pour off the brine and rinse the container. Repack the turnips, sprinkling ½ oz coarse sea salt between the layers, fold the leaves over the top, cover with cling film pressed onto the surface, and weigh down again with the same weight.

Step 5: Ferment in a warm place at 30–95°F for 5–7 days. Check daily: the brine must cover the turnips. It is ready when the brine is cloudy, tiny bubbles rise when you press, and it smells clean and sour like yoghurt; the roots turn pale amber-green and taste distinctly tangy.

Step 6: Normal: bubbles, cloudy brine, sour smell, a flat white film you can skim off. Bad: fuzzy blue, green, pink or black mould, a putrid smell or slimy turnips; throw the whole batch away if you see these.

Step 7: Move the pickle, in its brine, to a clean jar and refrigerate. It keeps about 1 month, getting sourer. Use clean chopsticks each time.

Step 8: To serve, slice roots and leaves thinly and season with 1 tsp tamari and 1 pinch shichimi togarashi if you like.