Kanpyō

Kanpyō

What it is

The lord of Mibu had gourd seed brought from Ōmi in 1712, and southern Tochigi still makes over eighty percent of Japan's kanpyō; the fruit is pared into a single continuous ribbon on a lathe and hung to dry in the July sun. The gourd is Lagenaria, the bottle gourd — the same plant that dries into a calabash flask, here eaten young instead of hollowed out.

In the kitchen

Rub the dried ribbon hard with salt and rinse it before it goes near soaking water, then boil until a fingernail passes through — undersoaked kanpyō stays like string. Simmer it in soy, mirin and dashi and let it cool in the liquid; that is when it takes the seasoning.

Goes with

Nori Rice Koikuchi shoyu Hon-mirin White sugar Dried shiitake (donko) Kombu

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