NATTO 納豆

　There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food.

You can find a pack of Natto in food stores every day in Japan. We Japanese like Natto very much and many people have Natto at breakfast. A long time ago, some Natto was packaged in straw rather than plastic for sale in stores. Probably many of you don’t like the smell of Natto, but it’s a very healthy food. Here is a bit of information about Natto.

How to make a Natto?

1. We wash soybeans and then soak them in 16℃ of water for 20 hours and the beans with double in size during this time because they will absorb water. 2. Next, we steam them in a pressure cooker. 3. Then we sprinkle Bacillus Natto (yeast) over them to start the fermentation process. 4. The beans are then packed in a container and add packets of mustard and Natto sauce, then and check them by a computer. 5. The mixture ferments for 18-20 hours at 35-40℃ and 80-90% of humidity. 6 Once the fermentation process is completed, the mixed is kept cool at 5℃. 7. Finally, the product is labeled and sent to the stores.

Types

There are many kinds of Natto in stores. And you may find some different size of beans as well. There are normally 3 kinds of sizes, Goku-kotubu (smallest), Kotubu(medium), Otubu (biggest). We also have Hikiwari which is cut into fine pieces. Hikiwari Natto contains less fiber because of the skin is removed, but more other nutritious. There are other types of Natto with many spices and ingredients.

Spice

We Japanese sometimes have Natto with some spices. It’s depends on personnal taste. For example, Natto sauce and mustard, leek, soy sauce, egg, laver, grated Japanese radish, Shiso etc. Each spice gives different taste and different nutritional equality.

What’s white thing ?

You may find something white over Natto ? It’s a harmless yeast. Once the package expiration date has pasted the Natto’s taste and smell might change, but it is still edible for a few days. Also you may find some small white granules outside beans. It’s a Tyrosine which is a kind of amino acid and is harmless, too. Nevertheless, you can’t really enjoy authentic taste of Natto if it is consumed after the expiration date, so get the freshest Natto you can find to eat. Natto can be frozen, but should be allowed to reach room temperature before eating.

Nutrition

Natto is a very famous healthy food , because of Nattokinase, Vitamin K2, Mucin, isoflavone and Polyamine. It’s also high in protein, calcium, fiber, Vitamin B2 and B6, potassium, magnesium, iron, selenium, etc. It’s said to be good for many disease like a heart attack, strokes, thrombosis, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc.

Area

The people in Kansai (east area) normally don’t eat that much Natto. It’s popular in Tohoku (north area) to Kanto. It’s said that the Kansai area is warm and easy to get fishes, so there are no custom to make Natto there.

Ama-Natto

There is a Japanese sweet called ‘Ama-natto’. It’s not really made from Natto, but it is popular in Japan and we enjoy it with Japanese tea.

Hope you try to have Natto tomorrow for breakfast !!

ONSEN -hot springs 温泉

　There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food.

Autumn in Japan is the best season for ONSEN, hot springs in autumn. You may find many tours in brochures. What is a Japanese Onsen ? How can you enjoy Japanese Onsen? Let me tell you about it today.

What’s a Japanese Onsen ?

A hot spring is a natural spring whose water is hot. There are many hot springs all over the world, but there is no universally definition of a hot spring. Probably the temperature of hot springs are different between each countries. A Japanese hot spring are defined as follows. 1. The water temperature at the source should be more than 25℃. 2. 18element or compounds must be present (CO2,Litium, strontium, etc). The hot spring should include more then one of these items.

Types

There are over 10 hot springs types or groups in Japan. Each group has a different character of element, color, aroma, taste and effects. It’s said there are over 3,000 hot springs here in Japan.

Onsen sign ♨

There are three main stories of how the hot spring sign was developed. One of them is that it originally came from Germany, but there is an another story. It’s said that this sign means ‘ times of taking Onsen’. You should enjoy hot spring three times during a stay at an Onsen. The first one is at the time when you arrive, you take a hot spring for short time to refresh. The next one is the time after dinner for long time to relax. The last one is the time at next morning for short time to start of the day.

Onsen powder

There are many types of ‘hot spring powder’ in stores. You just put a packet of the powder in a bath. Each powder has own color, aroma and effect. It’s made of similar elements found in as Japanese hot springs. If you have no time for hot spring trip, you can enjoy a Japanese hot springs in your own home.

Effects of taking bath

There are good effects of taking a bath, ‘buoyancy’ ‘water pressure’ and ‘temperature’ . From these effects, you can get a relaxation of muscle, improving of blood circulation, improving heart and lung function and a feeling of relaxation. It’s said the hot water control of autonomous nervous system and you can get both of good stimulation and relaxation depends on temperature of water. For example, if you have to do more work after taking bath, you had better take a bath of a bit hot temperature (42-43℃) for short time. If you want to get sleep well after taking a bath, you had better take a bath of lukewarm water (36-38℃) for long time.

Onsen-Tamago (Onsen-egg温泉卵)

Have you ever eaten an Onsen-tamago ? It’s an egg recipe where the yolk of an egg is a bit hard and the white of the egg is soft-boiled. The reason this can happen is because of a difference in cooking of temperatures. The yolk of the egg becomes hard under 70℃, but the white of the egg becomes hard over 70℃. If you keep an egg in 70-75℃ of hot water for 20-25minutes, you can get it. Unfortunately you need a bit of skill and there are some methods of this recipe and actually you can buy an Onsen-tamago cooking machine at the store.


It’s the best season for an Onsen trip. Enjoy and a hot spring, delicious food, beautiful scenery and nice air !!

KOME -rice 米

There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food.

Do you like Japanese rice ? It might be a bit different from your country’s rice. It’s more sticky, so we can make a Onigiri (rice ball) from it, and it’s easy to pack in a lunch box. Let me tell you a bit about Japanese rice a bit today.

Nutrition

Kome nutrition ratio is starch 76%, protein 7% and lipid 1%. Kome also includes Vitamin B1,B2, sodium, calcium, fiber and water. Kome has a good balanced amino acids.

Types

There are two popular types, Uruchi-mai うるち米 and Mochi-gome もち米 . Uruchi-mai is normal rice and Mochi-gome is stickier . The stickiness is attributed to the ratio of starch, Amyloose and Amylopectine. Uruchi-mai starch ratio is Amylose : Amylopectin = 15-35 : 65-85. Mochi-gome starch is Amylopectin only and very sticky.

To preserve rice

When you buy a bag of Kome, you had better finish it within 1 month in the summer season and 2 months in winter season. If you have made a lot of steamed rice, it keeps well if wrapped tightly and stored in the freezer.

How to cook

Here are the basics of good tasting rice.
1.Measure rice correctly. 2.Wash rice quickly. (if you wash too slowly, it will change the aroma of the rice) 3.Measure water correctly. 4. Allow the rice to sit and absorb water before cooking ( 30minutes in the summer and 2 hours in winter) 5. Steam rice thoroughly (after the finish signal, let stand for 15 minutes before opening ) 6. Mix rice with Shamoji (big flat spoon for rice) gently after the rice steamer has been opened.

Okowa おこわ　

You may find Okowa rice in stores. How is Okowa rice different from normal rice? It’s made of Mochi-gome and it’s a bit hard and sticky. Usually it’s mixed with many vegetables, meat (fish) and soup. It’s very delicious and good for lunch box.

Gen-mai 玄米

Recently there are many types of grain in stores. You may find Genmai as well. Genmai is brown rice. Genmai has significantly more vitamins, minerals and fiber than white rice. The cooked rice a bit harder, but healthier for you. When you cook it, soak it longer in water than you would for white rice and the cooked rice will be a bid softer.　 　　　 　　

There are many kinds of rice ball in stores. Everything looks delicious and it’s hard to decide which to have today !!　 　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

SHOYU -soy sauce 醤油

There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food.

What’s a typical Japanese taste? You may think about a soy sauce. We call it Shoyu.
Every family definitely has soy sauce in their kitchen. Do you know about a Shoyu? Do you know how different from each other. Let me tell you a bit of Shoyu today.

Hishio 醤
　
What is the origin of Shoyu? We called Shoyu,Hishio, in the past. A long time ago, people kept foods in salt to preserve them. We found the word ‘Hishio’ in a old Chinese law book in B.C.700. It’s said that it was brought to Japan in A.D.500. There are four types of Hishio, Uo-bishio魚醤(fish), Shishi-bishi肉醤(meat), Kusa-bishio草醤(plants) and Koku-bishio穀醤(grain). The Koku-bishio had become popular later, because of our food culture and a value of preservation.

How do they make a Shoyu ?

Main ingredients in Shoyu are soybeans, wheat and salt. We steam soybeans and roast and crush wheat, then mix with koji (mold). It’s a Shoyu-koji. We mix Shoyu-koji with Salt water and we call it ‘Moromi’. Then the mixture is fermented. It takes for six months. The protein of soybeans provides the main flavor and dark color. The starch becomes the sweet taste and aroma. Then the Moromi is held in cloth, squeezed and heated, finally resulting in Shoyu.

Types

There are many types of Shoyu.

Koikuchi......most popular, good for cooking fish and meat.
Usukuchi......light color, more salty, good for soup, you’d better use Dashi soup together
Tamari..........mainly made of soybeans (with a bit of wheat), thick, good for sushi and sashimi, Tsukuda-ni,and teriyaki recipe
Saishikomi....soy sauce is used instead of salt water in the process, very thick, good for sushi, sashimi and tofu.
Shiro............ mainly made of wheat (with a bit of soybeans), usually used for processing, very light color, good for soup.

Taste

Shoyu has five different tastes, sweet taste, sour taste, salty taste, bitter taste and flavor (umami). The nice flavor is made by a glutamic acid (a kind of amino acid). When we cook with Shoyu, the flavor of the food will be better, because some amino acid ( umami flavor) will be mixed in.


There are many stories about Shoyu and I will let you know more later!!　

KURI -chestnut 栗

There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food.

Girls like chestnuts very much ! 　You may find many sweets containing chestnuts and some lunch boxes holding chestnuts rice during this time. Yes, Autumn is the best season for chestnuts now. 　 Let me share with you a bit about our beloved maroon nut today.

　Why do we call chestnuts, KURI ?

There are several stories that tell about the origin of the word of Kuri (chestnut). 　One of the famous is that we call a small stone as ‘Kuri’ in archaic Japanese and since a chestnut looks like a small stone on the road and we call it as Kuri.

　How different are other country’s chestnuts from Japan’s?

There are four kinds of chestnuts in the world, Chinese chestnut, European chestnut, American chestnut and the Japanese chestnut. 　European chestnut is good for sweets, for example, marrons glaces, and roasted chestnut. 　American chestnut has been wiped out because of a fungal disease. 　Compared with other chestnuts, the Japanese chestnut size is very big. 　　There are over 200 kinds of Japanese chestnuts and about 10 types are popular. It’s said people ate chestnuts from the Jomon periods. 　Delicious chestnuts have a good shape, are heavy weight, have a lustrous skin and are juicy.　

　Nutrition

Chestnuts are high in starch and their sweet taste is brought out by heat. 　Chestnuts are also high in protein, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, calcium, potassium and fiber.　

　Shibukawa (inner skin)

The inner skin of the chestnut has tannin the same as polyphenol and it has a bitter taste. 　We have a Japanese sweet ‘Shibukawa-ni’, which is made by stewing chestnuts with the inner skin. It’s sweet, delicious and healthy. 　Eating foods containing tannin is good when you have diarrhea or intestinal disorder. So when you cook chestnuts, leave some of inner skin together for their medicinal value.　　

　Iga – a spiny cupule

The chestnut fruit is a spiny cupule, containing 1 to 3 chestnuts. September to October is best season to harvest chestnuts.　 If a boy has a short spiky hairstyle, we call it ‘Igaguri-atama’, because it looks like the spiny cupule of chestnut.　

　Keeping and cooking

Topreserve of chestnuts, soak them in hot water (70-80℃) for 1 minute, then dry them in the shade. Then, put them in plastic bag and keep them in the refrigerator. 　Chestnut skin is hard to peel. To peel off the skin of chestnuts, soak them in water for 2 to 3 hours and peel off the skin from bottom to top.

There are so many chestnuts recipes and sweets now. Let’s enjoy delicious chestnuts !!