Rediscovering the Treasures of Food

Vol. 1:Tochimochi: Traditional local food culture is fast dying out in Japan, and the case of tochi (Japanese horse chestnut) trees illustrates the threats to ancient customs that the country now faces. The "Rediscovering the Treasures of Foods" project explores why the tochi tree is so important to the preservation of Japan's culture, tradition, and conservation.
Vol. 2: Dried Kaki (1): The kaki (Diospyros kaki), or Japanese persimmon, is one of the few fruits that are native to Japan. Until sugar production began in Okinawa and western Japan in the early seventeenth century, dried kakis were the only form of sweetening, except for honey, available in Japan.
Vol. 2: Dried Kaki (2): Dried kakis, which are traditional sweets made of one of the few fruits native to Japan, now face a crisis due to a surge of sugar imports, changes in the Japanese people's dietary habits, and the advancing age of their producers.
Vol. 3: Soybeans: Soybeans are essential to Japanese cookery, yet Japan produces only five percent of what it consumes. The author introduces a growing movement involving the sites of soy production and processing to grow soybeans for one's own consumption.
Vol. 4: Agar: Kanten, or agar, is a gelatinous substance that is essential in Japanese confectionery. Unlike animal gelatin, kanten is a healthy, calorie-free food rich in dietary fiber, being made from seaweed. But the producers of natural kanten are now on the verge of disappearing.
Vol. 5: Asakusa Nori: Nori is an indispensable element of any sushi meal. At first glance, the black sheets of dried seaweed may look unappetizing, but nori is a healthy, nutritious sea vegetable. The type called Asakusa nori was once synonymous with nori, but is now fast disappearing.
Vol. 6: Salmon Sacchep: The Ainu, an indigenous people who inhabited the northern part of Japan and part of Russia, produced sacchep, made by drying salmon, as a preserved food and as a commodity from more than 500 years ago. They were deprived of freedom and the right to live in the old way for centuries, and many traditions have been lost. But the Ainu Museum has begun making salmon sacchep again, giving momentum to efforts to preserve Ainu culture.
Vol. 7: Yukina: Yukina is a rare vegetable with a distinct flavor and texture made by transplanting turnip stalks at the end of fall and harvesting just the spears that have grown under the snow with nutrients from older leaves. Cultivated for centuries as a laborious but valuable source of nutrition in snowy regions, it now faces the issues of climatic anomalies and aging producers.
Vol. 8: Rapeseed Oil: For ages, rapeseed oil was an important oil in Japanese cooking. But while oil consumption has increased with the Westernization of the Japanese diet, domestic production of rapeseed oil has taken a nosedive due to imports of similar products and a lack of producers. This article looks at the activities of farms, citizens, and municipalities that have begun paving the way toward self-sufficient production.
Vol. 9: Japanese Radish: Daikon, or Japanese radish, is one of the most representative vegetables of Japan. Originally from the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts, it found a home in Japan over 1,300 years ago. More than 100 local varieties were born, but most are on the verge of extinction, having been largely replaced by a single variety.
Vol. 10: Koji, an Aspergillus: Miso soup for breakfast and dinner, soy sauce that always makes it on the dining table, the evening cup of sake-Japan has a wealth of fermented food products and beverages. The fermenting agent used in many of these foods is koji, a fungus of the genus Aspergillus. But in today's fast-paced society , natural fermentation is growing rare.
Vol. 11: The Yuko, a Native Japanese Citrus: The yuko is an astringent type of citrus fruit recently confirmed to be native to Japan. Aromatic and high in citric acid, the yuko has been used to flavor food. At one time this fruit was in danger of dying out completely, but a successful movement to revive the species has provided
Vol. 12: Sea Salt: Salt has been manufactured from seawater across Japan since prehistoric times. But with a 90-year monopoly on salt and the disappearance of salt fields, the only choice for Japanese consumers in recent decades had been salt produced by an ion exchange process. Following abolition of the monopoly in 1997, a wide choice of salts is becoming available.
Vol. 13: Funa Zushi: Funa zushi, or fermented sushi made with fish of the carp family known in Japan as funa , is a traditional dish that is said to show vestiges of the oldest sushi in Japanese history. It is a product of ancient Japanese wisdom and art.
Vol. 14: Eight-Rowed Corn: Eight-rowed corn sustained the lives of those who had newly settled Hokkaido in the late nineteenth onward. It has since been supplanted by sweet corn as fresh food, and corn in general is mostly imported today. But the vegetable continues to be produced on a small scale in an effort to keep the familiar taste from being lost for eternity.
Vol. 15: Dried Bonito: Dried bonito is a major source of the traditional soup stock that is essential to so many Japanese dishes. The choice variety is fermented and takes several months to make, and even ordinary, unfermented kinds take a month. This important seasoning is being driven from its position in everyday Japanese life by quick chemical alternatives.
Vol. 16: The Red Turnips of Kiso: Several varieties of red turnip are grown in communities dotting the Kiso mountain range in Nagano Prefecture. They have mostly been grown for household consumption, but now initiatives are being led by local women to produce them on a more organized scale and to dynamically link them together as their common treasure, bringing new energy to the aging communities.
Vol. 17: Abalone: Eaten since prehistoric times, abalone is favored in Japan as a luxury foodstuff. It also has religious significance. The numbers of abalone in the Japanese seas are decreasing, however, as are the number of female free divers who have traditionally fished for abalone.
Vol. 18: Wasabi: Wasabi is known across the world as a condiment for sushi. It only grows under highly specific conditions, and, most of all, it needs clean, running water. For four centuries, producers have cultivated the delicate plant in stepped fields that their ancestors constructed with stone. Today, however, fresh wasabi roots have largely been replaced by cheaper pastes and powders.
Vol. 19: Rice Grown in Rice Terraces: Rice terraces are paddies fields made on sloping land that follow the natural contour lines. Suited to the Japanese geography, they are ideal for sustainable agriculture, having the ability to filter water and nurture organisms, among other benefits. Today rice terraces are also growing into a focus of green tourism.
Vol. 20: Domestic Flour: Of the wide variety of noodles of Japan, among the most popular is a thick wheat flour noodle called udon. But today most of the wheat used to make udon is imported from Australia. In Kagawa Prefecture, the biggest producer and consumer of the noodle, a new variety of udon wheat has been developed and is beginning to be used by local eateries.
Vol. 21: Konbu (Kelp): Since ancient times the Japanese have taken in essential minerals, such as sodium, calcium, and potassium, as well as iodine by eating seaweed. Konbu, or edible kelp, is particularly important to Japanese cookery. Being rich in glutamine, a source of the savory taste known as umami, it is a basic ingredient of dashi stock alongside dried bonito.
Vol. 22: Japanese Honeybee: Japanese honeybees are a subspecies of the Asian honeybee native to Japan. But although honey is a kitchen staple in Japan as in many other countries, most of the honey is imported, and even the domestic honey is largely produced using European honeybees. The island of Tsushima retains a thriving population of Japanese honeybees and is home to a growing honey industry.
Vol. 23: Japanese Shorthorn Cattle: Lean and flavorful, Japanese Shorthorn beef is popular with many connoisseurs of good food. It was approved as a native breed of Japan in 1957. But production has plummeted with the liberalization of beef imports in 1991, and today Japanese Shorthorns make up less than one percent of the total beef cattle population in Japan.
Vol. 24: Pan-Fired Tea (1): Japanese tea owes its green color to the lack of fermentation. While steamed teas are far more common, there is another kind of unfermented tea that has a stronger aroma: pan-fired tea, or kamairicha. The first installation of a two-part series, this article explores the history of this aromatic tea and visits producers in Kumamoto Prefecture.
Vol. 24: Pan-Fired Tea (2)　: Japanese tea owes its green color to the lack of fermentation. While steamed teas are far more common, there is another kind of unfermented tea that has a stronger aroma: pan-fired tea, or kamairicha. The second installation of a two-part series, this article discusses the tea varieties grown in Japan and takes readers to another small village where residents privately produce kamairicha.
Vol. 25: Yakihata Turnips: Swidden agriculture, known in Japanese as yakihata ("burned field") farming, has been conducted in Japan for several centuries. In contrast to the destructive slash-and-burn farming seen in some parts of the world, it is a sustainable practice in harmony with the forest ecosystem. Moreover, turnips grown in swiddens are highly nutritious, brightly colored, and, above all, delicious.

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