A large black soybean grown in the Tamba region since old times. It was presented to the shogunate and the imperial court, and records survive of taxes paid in black beans. A hundred beans weigh 80 to 90 grams, against about 30 for ordinary soybeans; the skins hold when simmered and the beans swell well. The edamame harvested in October, while the pods are young, is popular too. Hyogo is Japan's top producer, with about 1,400 hectares planted in fiscal 2022. At the hearth, black-soybean edamame came out as a side dish.
Sources: web.pref.hyogo.lg.jp
This moment in the journey
A summer hearth is not bad at all
A summer hearth is not bad at all. With the electric fan turning, I poured non-alcoholic beer from a can into a glass; beer by the fire tastes especially good.
The host's home cooking was superb too: sweetfish and shiitake roasted at the hearth, and edamame of Tamba black soybeans, a real treat.
When I lifted the wooden lid, the botan nabe was ready. In the miso-colored broth were the meat and vegetables, shiitake, tofu and carrot. The boar was rich without being heavy, a perfect match for the sweet miso seasoning. Sweating on a summer night, I enjoyed a delicious hot pot.
Watch this scene on YouTube5:45
More notes from this journey
Tamba, Hyogo
Kingyoku hydrangea
Kingyoku (kingyokukan) is a Japanese sweet made by dissolving agar, adding sugar or starch syrup, and letting it set; its translucence is used to suggest water…
From: Hydrangea season in an old house in Tamba
Tamba, Hyogo
Botan nabe of Tamba
Thinly sliced wild boar is arranged like a peony (botan) flower and simmered with vegetables in a miso broth.
From: Hydrangea season in an old house in Tamba
Tamba, Hyogo
Tamba City
An inland city in the hills of eastern Hyogo, roughly midway between the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan.
From: Hydrangea season in an old house in Tamba
Tamba, Hyogo
Sobanchi
A soba restaurant in an old house, with veranda seats looking out on a garden maple, rice fields and hydrangeas.
From: Hydrangea season in an old house in Tamba
More notes from Kinki
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)
Ozoni in and around Kyoto is built on kombu dashi and white miso, with round mochi, taro, carrot and daikon.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Osechi (datemaki, red-and-white namasu, decorated kamaboko)
Each osechi dish carries a wish.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Toshikoshi soba (nihachi soba)
The custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve is said to have spread among ordinary people in the Edo period.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Chestnut rice (kuri gohan)
My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled saury with sudachi
Sanma is written 秋刀魚, "autumn sword fish," but that spelling only spread from the Taisho era on; older texts wrote it 青串魚.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Wakayama bonito and mandarin carpaccio
In contrast to the lean first bonito of spring, the fish that head south from around September are called modori-gatsuo, returning bonito.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast