Ginkgo nut ✦

Noix de ginkgo (ginnan)

What it is

The kernel sits inside a fleshy coat that smells of rancid butter, which is why cities plant only male trees and why ginnan reaches the market already cleaned. Ginkgos standing about a kilometre from the Hiroshima hypocentre put out buds the following spring, and several are alive today.

In the kitchen

Heat them in a dry pan with a spoon of coarse salt until the shells crack, then peel while hot — the inner skin slips off and the kernel turns jade green. They contain methylpyridoxine, an anti-vitamin B6: a small handful for an adult and only a few for a child, which is how kaiseki counts them out anyway.

Goes with

Kombu Egg Chicken Junmai sake Salt Shiitake Mitsuba Yuzu

Also used with

Shiro shoyu

In season alongside

Sweetfish (ayu) Bagnoli truffle Calendula Cardoon Citron Belgian endive

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