Tag Archives: Ginger

野菜, 野菜亭, 観光, 農業, Japan, Japanese Gastronomy, Recipes, Shizuoka, Shizuoka agricultural products, Shizuoka Cuisine, vegetables, Yasaitei

Shizuoka Agricultural Products: Hatada Garden Leaf Ginger at Yasaitei!

April 2, 2011 dragonlife 4 Comments

Ms. Aki Suzuki/鈴木朋, chef at Yasaitei.

I said in my previous article that there are many Shizuoka products worthwhile introducing not only to the general public but also to restaurants who work hard promoting food originating from our Prefecture.
Another such place is Yasaitei in Shizuoka City!

Like in the other article, after having interviewed Toshikatsu Hatada/畑田敏克 at Hatada Garden/畑田農園 in Kuno/久能 in Shizuoka City, I called Ms. Suzuki to tell her I was bringing fresh leaf ginger and I wished her to create some dishes with it to which se immediately genially agreed! Yasatei thus the second restaurant I visited on that day!

I had my usual (I’m a regular there, too…) glass of Doman Shochu (brewed by Hamamatsu-Tenjingura Brewery in Hamamatsu City) with a snack consisting of kogomi/こごみ/ostrich fern in sesame dressing.

Aki keeps things simple with a respect for the natural taste of ingredients.
The first serving was the leaf ginger cut and served with red miso paste. A great snack for the shochu!

Keeping in mind I wanted something light to accompany the drink, she lightly fried in olive oil and a minimum of salt and pepper thin strips of leaf ginger, bacon and strips of yellow sweet pimentoes.

Great balance between the salty taste of bacon, the sweetness of pimentoes and spiciness of the ginger!

She was back in true vegetarian mode for the last dish:

A salad of very lightly fried strips of leaf ginger and cucumber topped with thin strips of raw radishes for an interesting and slightly piquant salad!

Did I say I was enjoying my work at Agrigraph? LOL

YASAITEI/野菜亭
Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Tokiwa-Cho, 1-6-2 Green Heights Wamon 1-C
Tel.: 054-2543277
Business hours: 17:30~22:00
Closed on Sundays
Reservations highly recommended
Seating: 6 at counter + 14 at tables
Set Courses: 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 yen
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

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野菜, 葉生姜, 観光, 農業, Ginger, Japan, Japanese Gastronomy, Leaf Ginger, Mando, Recipes, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Cuisine, Tourism, vegetables

Shizuoka Agricultural Products: Hatada Garden Leaf Ginger at Mando!

April 1, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

Mr. Takeshi Hirai/平井武, Manager of Mando Restaurant

There are many Shizuoka products worthwhile introducing not only to the general public but also to restaurants who work hard promoting food originating from our Prefecture.
One such place is Mando in Shizuoka City!

Mando, Neo-Japanesque Bar, is the third restaurant of the BECK Co., Ltd with Cafe & Bar Cherry Beans and World Beer Restaurant GROW STOCK.
Mando is particularly interesting to me as they serve food in tapas style and are always looking for new products.
After having interviewed Toshikatsu Hatada/畑田敏克 at Hatada Garden/畑田農園 in Kuno/久能 in Shizuoka City, I called Mr. Hirai to tell him I was bringing fresh leaf ginger and I wished him to create some dishes with it. He genially agreed and I was no my way to his restaurant!

Mr. Hirai usually does not work inside the kitchen, although he is a fully-qualified chef, but he wouldn’t let anyone taking care of a product he knew, but not that of a producer he was aware of.

He marinated some of the fresh leaf ginger into hot amazu/sweet vinegar for later use, although it could be eaten right away as a snack with a drink, which I did. beautiful combination, like eating a dessert on a stick!

The Japanese love their leaf ginger fresh as they are with some miso paste. Mr. Hirai served some to me with white sweet miso. They didn’t last long! They go well with any drink!

He then came up with sawara/鰆/Spanish Mackerel (it the season in Shizuoka right now), fried with Japanese sake and a little yuzu koshio/柚子胡椒/lime pepper paste and served with a stick of leaf ginger marinated in amazu. Perfect marriage for a great fish!

Leaf Ginger Pork Belly Roll Fritters!

The last dish was a delicacy that Japanese and expats alike would kill for!
Using thin slices of Shizuoka-bred pork belly, he wrapped them around leaf ginger before dipping them in batter. The whole were deep-fried and served with a beautiful salt and pepper mixture.

For a different view!

Decidedly, my work for Agrigraph is becoming sheer fun!

Mando, Neo Japanesque Bar
420-0031, Shizuoka Shi, Aoi Ku, Gofuku Cho, 2-4-6, Mori Blg, 1F
Tel/Fax: 054-221-5103
Business hours: 17:00~26:00
Parties possible on 2F
HOMEPAGE

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Shizuoka Agricultural Products: Stick Ginger at Hatada Garden

March 24, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

Toshikatsu Hatada/畑田敏克, the 7th generation of the Hatada Family!

With Chiba and Inbaraki Prefectures, stick ginger (or leaf ginger/ha shyouga/葉生姜 in Japanese) is a specialty of Shizuoka Prefecture, and the best are said to be cultivated in Kunou/久能, Suruga Ku, Shizuoka City near the sea where the sandy soil is most propitious!

Yesterday morning I found the whole family and their employees hard at work cleaning, sorting, cutting and packaging the leaf ginger harvested that morning.
Father, Mother, son and 4 staff, including a full time are not too many to harvest the vegetable grown on 1,500 tsubo/4,000 square meters in greenhouses.

Toshikatsu’s fater hard at work!
Toshikatsu’s grandfather first grew leaf ginger 34 years ago!

Ready for packaging. Beautiful, aren’t they?

For a closer look!

The root extremity will be snapped off (not cut!).

The snapped off extremities will not be thrown away. They are just too good! Their filaments and other unwanted parts can easily be pared off before the pieces of fresh ginger can be served in many ways, cooked or raw.
Toshikatsu recommend them fried rolled into tasty bacon!

Toshikatsu makes his own jam with the snapped off extremities of the fresh ginger and honey only. A true health food!

Or pickle them in amazu/sweet vinegar! I was offered that lot! a beauty!

The leaf ginger are carefully selected before delivery.

They usually harvest enough to prepare 100 boxes daily, but they have been asked to limit their delivery to forty daily boxes by their Association due to the recent earthquakes in north east Japan.

Half the boxes will be delivered immediately to Tokyo and the other half to various parts of Shizuoka Prefecture.

The inside of the leaf house greenhouses are hot!
I was advised to take off as many clothes as possible before entering.
40 degrees Celsius! No wonder!
The temperature is controlled by automatic ventilators, but Toshikatsu has to visit the greenhouses every morning and lift the second vinyl sheets where, if one is not careful, the temperature might go into the 70’s!

As for fertilizers, Toshikatsu uses only organic fertilizer, liquid or solid.
Pesticides will be spread at the the bare minimum only once a year.

The care for the health and quality of the vegetables will mean an unavoidable number of them rotting away that have to be taken out at once.

Toshikatsu does not market the rhyzomes (roots) that are found in markets all over the world, but use them for planting.

Choosing the right rhyzomes requires a lot of experience, good eyes, nose and ears (the snap sound is the best indictaion of their health!)!
The ryzhomes will be divided and planted from January to April to produce crops from March to July.
I can assure that the planting alone is back-breaking work!

Toshikatsu and his family grow “leafy” leeks between July and December inside the same greenhouses.
They also grow all year round tomatoes on 300 tsubo/1,000 square meters inside green huses, maily Momotaro and Chuudama varieties.
I certainly intend to come back soon to have a close look at those tomatoes!

Now, I took two batches of those freh leaf ginger with me to introduce them to restaurants of my own choosing. Two gastronomic articles are coming very soon!

Toshikatsu Hatada/畑田敏克
Hatada Garden/畑田農園
422-8015 Shizuoka Shi, Suruga Ku, Naka Hiramatsu, 212/静岡市駿河区中平松２１２
Tel/Fax: 054-238-3484
Mobile Phone: 09014137499
Corporate and individual orders accepted!

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Health & Nutrition Facts in Japanese Food 1: Ginger/Shoga/生姜

May 3, 2010 dragonlife 6 Comments

As demonstrated by many food bloggers, cooking and creating great foods and drinks have become incomplete and unsatisfying when not considering the benefits or adverse effects of the same foods and drinks regardless of their taste.
I do not intend to delve into counselling or consulting, but only to offer some knowledge about the good sides of Japanese foods and drinks. I will not extoll on its possible lacks and negative aspects. After all, the Japanese are not the longest-living people in the world for no reason!
I will also offr at least one nutritious or healthy recipe at the end of each posting.

Health & Nutrition Facts in Japanese Food 1: Ginger/Shoga/生姜

The Japanese make an enormous consumption of ginger, both in its dry and fresh state, from the very new thin roots and stems called “stick ginger” or “leaf ginger/Hash0ga” consumed with miso paste, fresh roots pickled and cooked, to dry roots used in everyday cuisine from stews to herbal teas.

Ginger contains up to three percent of a fragrant essential oil whose main constituents are sesquiterpenoids, with zingiberene as the main component. Smaller amounts of other sesquiterpenoids (β-sesquiphellandrene, bisabolene and farnesene) and a small monoterpenoid fraction (β-phelladrene, cineol, and citral) have also been identified.

Ginger acts as a useful food preservative.

The Japanese consider it effective in preventing colds and lessening menstrual pains.

NUTRITION FACTS:

For each 100g it contains:
-Energy: 30 kcal
-Water: 91.4 g
-Proteins: 0.9 g
-Carbohydrates: 6.6 g
-Ash: 0.7 g
-Natrium: 6 mg
-Potassium: 270 mg
-Calcium: 12 mg
-Magnesium: 27 mg
-Phosphorus: 25 mg
-Iron: 25 mg
-Manganese: 5.01 mg
-Vitamin B1: 0.03 mg
-Vitamin B2: 0.02 mg
-Dietary (roughage) fibre: 2.1 g

Fresh “stick ginger/leaf ginger” and miso paste.

HEALTH FACTS & TIPS:

-Combined with lemon, or with orange, or with strawberry, or kiwi fruit, helps skin rejuvenation, helps prevent obesity and helps combat stress.

-Combined with cabbage, or with broccoli, or oysters, or with nalta jute/Moroheiya/モロヘイヤ, helps prevent gastric disorders (colics, diarrhea).

-Combined with onion, or with leek, or with kikurage/木茸/Jew’s Ear Fungus, or with milk, helps blood circulation, helps prevent high blood pressure and blood vessel hardening.

-Combined with yam/yama imo/山芋, or with rice, or with daikon, or with chicken, helps restore appetite, helps prevent aging, and helps with general digestion.

RECIPE:

This simple recipe helps restore blood circulation and prevent cold extremities:

For 1 person:
-Fresh ginger: 5×5 cm piece
-Milk: 1 cup/200cc/ml
-Honey: 1 tablespoon

-Cut the fresh ginger into thin slices.
-In a pan pour the milk. Add ginger slices. Heat on a low fire until just before boiling point.
-Switch oof fire. Add honey and mix thoroughly. Drink at once!

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Vegetarian & Vegan Cuisine: Ginger as a Vegetable

October 29, 2008 dragonlife Leave a comment

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Ginger when eaten outside Japan generally comes under its semi-dry or dry root.
Actually here, and in Shizuoka especially, fresh ginger or “Ha Shoga”/Leaf Ginger comes into some great recipes to please any one who does not consume meat (of course ginger is used in many meat recipes!)