Shikuwasa ✦

Shikuwasa

What it is

Ogimi, a village in northern Okinawa with an unusual number of residents past a hundred, grows more shikuwasa than anywhere else, and researchers have picked over its flavonoid nobiletin ever since. In the kitchen the fruit is far simpler than that: picked dark green in late summer it is something to squeeze, and only the January fruit, gone yellow and mild, is eaten as fruit.

In the kitchen

Squeeze it over the dish at the table, never into a hot pan — the aroma lives in volatile peel oils that a few seconds of heat destroy. Half a fruit gives about a teaspoon; count three per portion of grilled fish.

Goes with

Gilt-head bream Soy sauce Katsuobushi (dried bonito) Soba noodles Hon-mirin Pork Salt

Same species

Bergamot Candied citron Chenpi Citron Menton lemon Makrut lime

Also used with

Sea grapes (umibudo)

In season alongside

Lingonberry Buckler-leaf sorrel Chinotto Cranberry Cucamelon Damson

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