Seasonal food

I examine about spring food in Japan. Japan has some seasonal food. For example, cram and Japanese radish are seasonal foods in winter, cucumber and tomato is seasonal foods in summer. This time I would like to introduce some spring food and way of cooking.


One representative spring food is butterbur flower stalk, hukinoto in Japanese. It is an edible wild food. We can sometimes see it roadside with thaw, and when see it, we feel spring. It tastes a little bitter; however it makes us feel a breath of spring in the air. It is said that serve bitter taste in spring dish traditionally. It is because to start a new year by get rid of fat of body, and stimulate their taste.

Please look at this picture. There are two butterbur flower stalk and snow. There are still snow; however butterbur flower stalks are put in an appearance.

Butterbur flower stalk basically thrive in mountain district. It is favor of thriving in shade and humid places.

I will explain bout how to cook it.
First is to eat it as tempra. The secret is to fry in low temperature and if buds open during frying, it is said that bitterness disappear.

Please look at this picture, this is tempra and rice.

Second is put in to miso soup by shredding it.
Third is to eat it seasoned with soy source.
Fourth is to fry with oil.

Actually butterbur flower stalk is a flower and it is beautiful so, it heal people's mind by seeing, and also it can be eaten so it also make people feel spring by eating. It is a good one of Japanese culture to eat seasonal food and feel season.

Two pictures are cited in these URL.

http://www.hpmix.com/home/yamatyann/A4_4.htm

http://queenscafe.hamazo.tv/d2007-02-17.html

I used the information from here.

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/shokuzai/Fukinotou.htm