Abstract
"Shibazuke" is a traditional Japanese salted and fermented pickles, made of vegetables (eggplant etc.) and leaves of perilla. The quality of Shibazuke is characterized by sour taste, magenta color and typical flavour. In this paper, we studied the function of lactic acid bacteria in the quality of Shibazuke. Lactic acid bacteria, cultivated in GYP agar medium, were isolated from Shibazuke fermented in five different stages. Five kinds of lactic acid bacteria were identified on the basis of morphological observation and physiological properties. We found it obviously important that L. plantarum grew sufficiently during twenty day's fermentation for producing the typical magenta color and good sour taste of Shibazuke especially.
