Celebrating the spring with homemade Japanese sweets
Spring is a great time for fans of wagashi, traditional Japanese sweets. While many wagashi reflect the seasons all year long visually — especially the colorful, beautifully formed nerikiri created by skilled artisans — this is the time of year when you can taste, ...
Cabbage: The brassica that found a new home in Japan
The humble cabbage is the third most consumed vegetable in Japan according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, following daikon radishes and onions. It's used in everything from stir-fries and gyōza dumplings to pickles and more and, despite the high prices for ...
What makes a great chawanmushi? Using even better dashi
The clear, umami-packed stock called dashi is the foundation of washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine. Follow this recipe to find out how a good dashi makes a great chawanmushi.
In winter, the humble daikon is the ultimate utility vegetable
The price of fresh vegetables this winter is much higher than usual. That's why this edition of Japanese Kitchen features a classic, daikon-based seasonal recipe that will help your yen go further.
Break with tradition and bring out the duck this Christmas
These days, having chicken for Christmas dinner is quite commonplace in Japan, whether it's made at home or carried there in a paper bucket. But chicken doesn't have that long a history as an everyday food source. Until the Meiji Era (1868-1912), when Western poultry ...
Bitter or sweet, the much-loved persimmon is a healthy and versatile fruit
Persimmons come in three types, but amagaki is of most use in the kitchen.
Autumn is peak season for ‘sanma,’ a once-common fish that's playing hard to catch
The sanma (Pacific saury) that's caught at this time of year is rich with heart-healthy oils, and is considered a quintessential autumn delicacy in Japan. But unlike other fall delicacies such as matsutake mushrooms, sanma has traditionally been considered affordable. This national favorite is in ...
Attention turns to kabocha squash as cooler weather looms
With cooler weather around the corner, our thoughts turn away from cold noodles and salads to autumn comfort foods like nimono, simmered dishes in a broth, usually a classic seaweed and dried fish-based dashi. One of the most comforting nimono is simmered kabocha squash, a ...
Pickle your own veggies with a traditional Japanese nukadoko
The nukazuke method of pickling vegetables in a fermented rice bran bed called a nukadoko was developed in the 17th century. Since vegetables pickled in a nukadoko absorb Vitamin B1 from the rice bran, they helped to prevent beriberi, an illness stemming from a ...
Once a food for the upper classes, tofu is now enjoyed by the masses
It's not certain exactly when tofu was introduced to Japan. One theory holds that it was brought over from China by the great Buddhist priest and scholar Kukai, also known as Kobo Taishi (734-835) in the early ninth century during the early Heian Period ...
Beating the heat with food: 'Hiyashi chūka' cold Chinese-style noodles
If a Japanese dish bears the name chūka, meaning Chinese, chances are it's not really Chinese at all, but a Japanese invention with Chinese-inspired flavors. Such is the case with hiyashi chūka, a cold noodle dish that is a popular summertime fixture. While there are ...
First-harvest green tea goes best with traditional ‘karinto’ sweets
Hachijū-hachi-ya, the 88th day after risshun, the first day of spring, falls on May 2 in most years. It's the day that marks the beginning of the new tea harvest season, according to tradition. The nation's actual tea-harvesting season begins a little earlier, starting with ...
