tsukemono

thumb|275px|An assortment of tsukemono thumb|Assorted tsukemono thumb|A dish of tsukemono thumb|Tsukemono shop in Nishiki Ichiba, Kyoto are Japanese preserved vegetables (usually pickled in salt, brine, or a bed of rice bran). They are served with rice as an okazu (side dish), with drinks as an otsumami (snack), as an accompaniment to or garnish for meals, and as a course in the kaiseki portion of a Japanese tea ceremony.

== Alternative names == Tsukemono are also referred to as , , or , all carrying the meaning of "fragrant dish" in Japanese. The ko or portion in these names means "fragrant", and the term was used as a nyōbō kotoba or "woman's word" for miso in reference to the smell. Over time, this term was also applied to pickles, again for the smell. Oshinko ("fresh fragrance") more specifically referred to vegetables that had been only lightly pickled and that had not yet changed color very much. The term is now also used more broadly to refer to pickles in general.