Kyoto Sawai Shoyu Honten Soy Sauce Candy

Japanese make hard candy with some novel indigenous ingredients and flavors that often sound culinarily dubious but actually taste quite good. This is one, shoyu ame, or soy sauce candy. It is made by a shinise shoyu producer that still makes handcrafted soy sauce the heart of the ancient city, just a few minutes walk from the Gosho Imperial Palace.…
Read More »

Japanese Fruit: Hyuganatsu Miyazaki Omiyage Hyuga-no-Kaori Yokan

Itadakimono from NoRecipes: The hyuganatsu is a very mysterious citrus from southern Japan that apparently just appeared in 1820. I became acquainted and enchanted with this fruit this spring thanks to a business associate that is originally from Miyazaki. The taste is uniquely sour and very fragrant. The white pith between the flesh and peel is very thick and is…
Read More »

Tsukemono: Kiku Kabura (Chrysanthemum Turnip)

Autumn is chrysanthemum season in Japan and the flower which has literally countless form, shape and color variations makes numerous appearances in Japanese cuisine, both as decoration and as symbol. This meibutsu tsukmono is from Kamekura a shinise in Kameoka, a small and quaint town west of Kyoto. Kamekura is perhaps best known for its senmaizuke, a Kyoto winter favorite…
Read More »

Dinner at Yoshikawa Ryokan: Tempura Kakiage O-chazuke

The other day I was fortunate enough to be invited for a wonderful tempura kaiseki dinner by some new friends from San Francisco at one of Kyoto’s most famous ryokan inns: Yoshikawa Ryokan. While Yoshikawa Ryokan is a fine place to stay, it is perhaps more famous for its tempura cuisine. Many Kyotoites go there just for tempura dinner. Now,…
Read More »