Aomikan (Green Tangerine) Marmalade 青みかんマーマレード

The Taste of Green Tangerines

Aomikan, or ‘green tangerine’ mark the beginning of autumn. They are more sour than sweet and make a wonderfully refreshing snack in the still hot late afternoons and early evenings of this season.

The early autumn aomikan has a delightful, berry-like ‘tingle on the tongue’ tartness to it, similar to the sensation of a perfectly fresh strawberry.

In this season though, mikan are not quite ripe, but that makes them all the more tasty! Aomikan is one of Peko’s favorite fruit of all time. Aomikan only stay ‘ao’, green naturally for a short time, so this is the time to enjoy them!

source: KyotoFoodie End of Summer Aomikan article

Aomikan – Green Tangerines

Aren’t these absolutely gorgeous?

I love aomikan! Last year I tried to make aomikanshu liqueur (like umeshu, yuzushu, karinshu), but it didn’t turn out very well. I think that I didn’t add enough sugar and I bought cheap aomikan that weren’t very juicy. Since early this year I have made a lot of marmalade with Japanese citrus, like this yuzu marmalade, and had been looking forward to aomikan season so that I could make some aomikan marmalade.

Slicing Aomikan

Sliced Aomikan

Ready to Simmer – Aomikan and Sugar in the Pot

How I Made It
I followed this quick and simple recipe by a Japanese foodie blogger that called for the entire mikan tangerine being used, as is. I was a little disappointed with the result. The marmalade looks pleasantly creamy, but that is the pith, I think. The pith really needs to be removed and the peel needs to be boiled at least once to remove the bitterness. I don’t think that there is a quick and easy way to make excellent marmalade.

I used 10 large, beautiful, juicy aomikan.

Tangerine Marmalade Recipe

• 5 aomikan (substitute ripe mikan tangerine)
• 100 g sugar
• 500 ml water

Preparation
Scrub tangerines with brush and slice thinly as seen in photos. Simmer sliced tangerines in water for 1 hour and then add sugar and simmer for another 1 hour.

How I Would Make it Next Time
Start with 20 aomikan or ripe tangerines.

Wash the whole aomikan with a scrub brush. Miwa found information in the internet saying to wipe the peel with a towel soaked in shochu (substitute vodka or similar alcohol) to remove wax and (some) chemicals.

Peel aomikan and scrap the inside of the peel with a knife or spoon to remove the pith (see this yuzushu article for photos).

Hand-chop or mix tangerine flesh in blender and squeeze through course woven cloth. You want to separate the juice from the pith and fiber.

Select about half the aomikan peel and boil for 5 minutes and strain. Repeat this process 1 to 3 times, with new boiling water each time. (Thick peel citrus requires a good deal of boiling, aomikan peel is quite thin and delicate so I think that once ought to be sufficient to take the bitter edge off.) You can make candied peel with the remaining peel.

Mix juice, sugar and peel with 500 ml to 1 l of water and simmer for 1 to 2 hours.

Normally, I wouldn’t use white processed sugar, but I wanted to try to bring out the freshness and tartness of the aomikan without complicating the taste with brown or black sugar. Wasanbon sugar, though expensive, could be incredible combination with properly prepared aomikan.

Aomikan Marmalade Served

I am enjoying this marmalade on my bread in the morning and have done a taste test with other marmalade that I made this year and this really is quite bitter. Too bad. Once again, the easy way turned out not to be the best way. By the way, there is no ‘quick and easy’ way in Kyoto cuisine.

Fruit Store in Shopping Arcade

This is the shop where I bought the aomikan. They have some cheap ones out front, but I went in and dug around and found some big, juicy aomikans. They were well worth the extra few hundred yen that they cost. This little old guy that works at the fruit shop is so old that he can’t stand-up straight! I bet he knows everything there is to know about fruit by now.

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There are a number of ways that the pod may be cooked and eaten including grilled, sauteed and tempura. The pod is pleasantly bitter and cooking takes the bite off the bitterness. We sauteed ours in miso which is a perfect contrast to the bitterness of the pod. (This is not Kyoto cuisine.)

Washed and Sliced Akebi Pod

Miso Sauteed Akebi (Miso Itame) あけび みそ炒め
Miso itame is a common way to saute vegetables in Japan. First the vegetable is sauteed with oil then a mixture of ryorishu (cooking sake), shoyu, mirin, sugar and miso is added and sauteed for a few more minutes. Miso itame is a very tasty, quick and versatile dish that combines the taste of sweet, pungent (miso) and salty.

Ripened and Opened Akebi

Recipe for Akebi Miso Itame あけび みそ炒め

Ingredients

• 1 akebi pod (inner fruit removed)
• 2 tablespoons oil (sesame oil is nice)
• 1-2 teaspoon miso paste (same as for miso soup)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
• 2 tablespoons of ryorishu (cooking sake or sake)
• shiso leaf (fresh green shiso leaf) optional

I used at least 2 teaspoons of Kansai-style sweet miso paste which is light in color. Tohoku style miso is red and saltier and you might want to go easy on the amount if you are using that style of miso. Adjust amount based on the kind of miso you are using and of course your taste.

Preparation
If you would like to remove some of the bitterness you can soak the pod halves or slices in warm water for 30 to 60 minutes. Pat dry before sauteing.

Mix all the liquid ingredients together in a bowl, dissolving the miso paste and sugar.

Heat a fry pan and add several tablespoons of oil. Once hot, add sliced akebi pod and saute covered until akebi softens, this should take about 2 minutes.

Pour in liquid ingredients, reduce heat and simmer down until little liquid remains. This should take 1 to 2 minutes. Due to the high sugar content, the mixture will quickly burn – don’t allow that to happen. Once the liquid has been reduced, serve on a plate and garnish with chopped shiso leaf.

Washed and Sliced Akebi Pod

Akebi Pod Miso Itame

Akebi Pod Miso Itame

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About the Mysterious Akebi Fruit アケビ 木通
Traditionally, the image that many Japanese have of akebi is a wild fruit that scruffy country kids pluck and eat from vines in Tohoku (North Honshu) while playing in the mountains. As people became ever more interested in discovering new and interesting culinary sensations, a variety of akebi that could be cultivated was developed. Cultivation only began about 20 years ago and is centered mainly in Yamagata Prefecture in the Tokohu region of Japan.

Ripened Akebi Cut Open

In Tohoku traditional akebi cuisine did exist; the fruit was mixed with salt to pickle cucumber and is said to increase the sweetness (akebi doesn’t taste sweet), the pod is stuffed, sauteed and deep fried – even akebi tempura! I found some Japanese foodie bloggers that had very non-traditional akebi pod ‘katsu’ which looked remarkably similar to the popular deep fried pork cutlet dish called tonkatsu! (Sauteed akebi pod article here.)

In Akita Prefecture oil was produced from the akebi seeds, however this was very rare and was a herbal medicine. Interestingly, recent scientific research has shown the akebi to have antiseptic properties and is diuretic.

Traditionally, in Yamagata Prefecture people believed that the spirits of ancestors returned to this world for obon on a ship made of the akebe pod and offered akebi on the family Buddhist alter.

Akebi makes a brief appearance for just two weeks or so in early autumn, usually in upscale grocery stores and specialty fruit ’boutiques’. Still, many Japanese have never tasted this domestic exotic.

Ripening the Akebi

Unripe Akebi

Ripened Akebi

There are two varieties of akebi: wild and cultivated. The wild akebi will burst open naturally when fully ripe while the domesticated variety will not. Unless you live in rural Tohoko (North Honshu) you probably won’t run into any wild akebi. As I waited for my cultivated akebi to open naturally – it spoiled! The owner of the fruit boutique where I purchased it explained the difference to me (again) and kindly gave me a new, fresh one. (I told him it was for KyotoFoodie.)

When the akebi purple pod starts to soft you should split it open along the seam of the pod, use a knife in necessary. The pod opens easily with just a slight scoring.

How Did it Taste?

Ripened Akebi Cut Open

Ripened Akebi Cut Open

Well, it doesn’t have a distinct or overtly yummy taste. I think people eat it for the novelty of it all. The akebi is indeed beautiful in color and mysterious in form and represents the coming of autumn. Though a domestic fruit, it seems exotic.

The look and feel is similar to the flesh of lychee, but is much softer. And, it is full of tiny seeds that are essentially impossible to separate from the flesh. Japanese tend to look down on any fruit whose seeds must be eaten with the flesh.

The flesh is best slurped up seeds and all. If the seeds are chewed, the taste becomes bitter. Just eat it like you would yogurt or thick fruit smoothie.

Akebi Served

Akebi Served - detail

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Classic Japanese Candy: Bontan Ame – Mochi and Pectin Soft Candy ボンタンアメ

At a little old store in Kyoto, I found this HUGE box of bontan ame and had to get it. I have never seen a candy box so large in Japan. “Now this is some American-style SUPER SIZED bontan ame!”, I thought, when I spotted it. It is equal to about 5 boxes of the regular sized bontan ame.

The package design of bontan ame is a classic and harkens back to the era when Japan was modernizing based on Western influence and technology but was still distinctly Japanese, unlike the Japan of today that too often apes whatever is popular in the West. This era, about 80 years ago is one of my favorite eras of Japanese history, the other being the Warring States period.

Bontan Ame Candy and Nostalgic Package

About Bontan Ame
This candy (ame) is made from the bontan, also buntan (ぼんたん、文旦) fruit. This fruit is similar to a grapefruit but larger. Large specimens are the size of a volleyball. This fruit came to Japan from Southeast Asia so it grows in the southern-most island of Kyushu where the climate is most suitable.

Bontan ame was has been made by a company in Kagoshima City, Kyushu since 1926. It is said to be inspired by caramel. It is made of mochi, gyuhi, mizuame (traditional sweetener) and the bontan fruit juice.

Interestingly, each piece of candy is individually wrapped and is eaten with the wrapper on. The wrapper is made of oblaat which is gelatinous, transparent film that melts immediately on contact with the tongue. Oblaat originally came to Japan with Dutch medicine, it was used to wrap up bitter medicine in a package like modern-day gelatin capsules. In bontan ame it is utilized to prevent the sticky mochi-based ame pieces from sticking to one another.

How Does Bontan Ame Taste?
The first thing you notice about bontan ame is the oblaat, the odd crunch on your teeth from what seems like crisp cellophane. This lasts for only the first bite as it melts away in an instant.

If you didn’t know that bontan ame were made with citrus, you might not realize it when taste it as the taste is not heavy on citrus. It is certainly not sour or bitter like lemon or grapefruit. I suspect that the citrus aspect of bontan ame has been purposely mellowed, even more so than the fruit itself.

To me bontan ame is all about the texture. As it is made with gyuhi mochi and citrus pectin so it is of course very soft and chewy.

Like most Japanese sweets, the taste itself is not particularly sweet. Not just citrus, not just mochi, not just mizuame; it is a taste of what Japan created after initial exposure to Western technology and culinary culture. There isn’t really anything like it being developed by ‘junk food’ companies in Japan today.

If you come to Japan and you want to try to find some bontan ame, it is available in most grocery stores and some convenience stores. Look for the distinctive package.

Bontan Ame Candy and Nostalgic Package

Bontan Ame Soft Candies with Edible Oblaat Wrapping

Bontan Ame – Early Modern Japanese Package Design

Bontan Ame – Early Modern Japanese Package Design

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Autumn is persimmon time in Japan. The shibugaki is an astringent persimmon that can be enjoyed only when it is very ripe, or has been blet. I like to spoon the soft, dripping flesh out like ice cream from a paper cup.

Persimmons are called ‘kaki’ in Japanese.

There are numerous varieties that come in two very distinct categories; either astringent or ‘regular’.

Fuyugaki The regular persimmon, or fuyugaki is similar in shape to a conventional tomato and is eaten like an apple; peeled and sliced into wedges. This is the ‘garden variety’, entry level persimmon.

Shibugaki The shibugaki is a foodie’s persimmon. The astringent shibugaki is very astringent. A shibugaki that is not over-ripe cannot be eaten, the mouth revolts in immediate protest and extreme pucker, by instinct. (I have tried.) Ripening breaks down the culprit tannins.

Ways to Enjoy Shibugaki

1. Over-ripen Time is required and direct sunlight facilitates this. The inner flesh becomes extremely soft and the taut skin is like a bag holding it together. This is simply an unforced bletting.
2. Steeping in Alcohol Japanese put shibugaki in a plastic bag and pour in some shochu (watered down vodka would be similar) and put it in the refrigerator overnight or for a few days. Alcohol serves as a bletting agent and hastens decomposition.
3. Harvest after Frost Freezing breaks down cellular structure and this hastens decomposition as well. In Japan, ravens love to eat persimmons too, so leaving them on the tree late into the season is especially attractive to ravens.
4. Dried Persimmons Hoshigaki, literally ‘dried persimmon’, is the most common way that shibugaki are enjoyed in Japan. (look forward to an upcoming article on hoshigaki)

How to Eat

I gently cut the top off the shibugaki with a small, sharp knife. Then, with a spoon, simply scoop out the flesh. The fruit is actually decomposing, the tannins decompose too, however the sugar content increases with the ripening and decomposition process.

note: Actually, the shibugaki in the photos below, while it did not taste astringent could easily have been ripened for several more days. The fruit is still firm and holds its shape. Personally, I prefer shibugaki to be about the consistency of very thick yogurt, or homemade applesauce, and that would take several more days.

Japanese Persimmon Shibugaki Ripening in the Sun

Japanese Persimmon Shibugaki – A Gorgeous Specimen

Ready for the knife and spoon!

Japanese Persimmon Shibugaki – Removing the Top

Shibugaki – ‘Lid’ Removed

Shibugaki – Ready to Scoop

Shibugaki – Scooping out the Flesh

Reference and Links
This is a great article with recipes, historical quotes and links. Persimmon Beer!
The Old Foodie: Puckering up with Persimmons
Bletting Process (Wikipedia article)