Nozawana is said to descend from Tennoji turnips that a temple priest in Nozawa Onsen brought back from Kyoto in 1756. In the high, snowy village the roots stayed small while the leaves and stems flourished, and the green took the village's name. It is harvested from November, once frost has sweetened it, and pickled in salt. Beyond being served with tea, it is a favorite filling for rice balls and oyaki, and was selected in 1983 as one of Nagano's intangible folk cultural assets of food.
Sources: maff.go.jp
This moment in the journey
Oyaki dough, made with rice flour
For breakfast, I decided to try making oyaki, Nagano's specialty dumplings. I poured water from a measuring cup into a steel bowl on the table. Wheat flour is the usual choice for the dough, but today I would make it with rice flour.
I worked the water into the flour by hand, then pressed and kneaded the dough in the bowl until it came together, smooth and white, and lifted out in one piece.
For the filling, it had to be nozawana, another Nagano specialty. I chopped the pickled greens on the board and stir-fried them lightly with fried tofu. The smell of soy sauce catching in the pan made me hungry.
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From: Autumn leaves in Narai-juku and an autumn table in Shinshu
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