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Takenoko season
Apr. 15th, 2007 08:56 amIt is takenoko season here in Japan. That's bamboo shoots, except we're talking about something with a base as big as your palm and about six inches tall. Fairly thick until the final narrowing.
Anyway, it is one of the seasonal vegetables and fruits here in Japan. And right now, there are piles of them everywhere. One of the other professors wife and mother both dig them, and he brings them for us. So we have plenty, too. I think it is only wild, not actually farmed, although apparently it is relatively wide-spread.
Now, one trick to digging it is that once the sprout breaks the surface and starts sending up green shoots, it turns bitter. So the best shoots are dug before anything shows aboveground. How do you know the right place to dig? Experience, intuition, a bit of luck? I gather that where there were shoots last year, there will probably be shoots this year. And you can look for shoots that are just starting to break the surface.
Anyway, we are having takenoko tempura, takenoko rice, takenoko sashimi, takenoko . . . kind of like the turkey season, takenoko in everything.
Anyway, it is one of the seasonal vegetables and fruits here in Japan. And right now, there are piles of them everywhere. One of the other professors wife and mother both dig them, and he brings them for us. So we have plenty, too. I think it is only wild, not actually farmed, although apparently it is relatively wide-spread.
Now, one trick to digging it is that once the sprout breaks the surface and starts sending up green shoots, it turns bitter. So the best shoots are dug before anything shows aboveground. How do you know the right place to dig? Experience, intuition, a bit of luck? I gather that where there were shoots last year, there will probably be shoots this year. And you can look for shoots that are just starting to break the surface.
Anyway, we are having takenoko tempura, takenoko rice, takenoko sashimi, takenoko . . . kind of like the turkey season, takenoko in everything.
