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Igisu
Igisu — a seaweed simmered down and set like a savory jelly
Igisu grass, a seaweed gathered from Japan Sea rocks in summer and autumn, is dried, then simmered until it sets naturally into a jelly, with no thickener added. Topped with sesame and eaten with vinegar-miso or chili soy sauce, it's a fixture of shojin cuisine and New Year's and memorial tables in central and western Tottori.
- Origin: Tottori
- About 540 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Igisu is made by simmering and setting a seaweed called igisu-gusa (also known as egonori), which naturally firms up like agar or tokoroten without any added gelling agent. It looks something like a block of yokan sweet, but the first bite releases a rich oceanic aroma and a distinctively smooth, slippery texture. It is also known for being low in calories while rich in water-soluble fiber and minerals.
How it's made
Igisu-gusa dried in the strong summer sun is rehydrated and simmered slowly over low heat. Cooking it until the fibers turn completely smooth is the key step, after which the liquid is poured into a container to set. Sliced and served with a sprinkle of sesame, it is typically eaten with vinegared miso, mustard soy sauce, or ginger soy sauce, though some also finish it with dressing or black sugar syrup.
Why it took this shape
Igisu-gusa is said to have been sent to the imperial court as tribute as far back as the Asuka and Nara periods, marking it as a seaweed with a long history on the table. Harvested as it flourishes in summer and autumn, it goes through a laborious process of repeated washing and sun-drying to preserve it, and this care is thought to be why the finished dish came to be served at vegetarian meals, festivals, and formal family occasions. For many, the mere mention of igisu is said to bring to mind New Year or a memorial service.
Before you go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Food for Obon and the harvest moon (tsukimi)A guide to the meat-free shojin ryori and somen served at Obon, and the tsukimi dango offered on the night of the harvest moon.
- At teishoku diners, shokudo, and machi-chukaA guide to the teishoku set-meal format, free rice refills, table placement, and paying at a shokudo-style diner.
Dishes in the same style
- Agonoko UmaniThe roe of egg-bearing flying fish, caught only in early summer, is simmered in stock and soy sauce as an Oki bar snack. Its large grains and dense, sticky texture are prized as a delicacy said to be scarcer even than the fish's flesh.
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tottori
- Ago ChikuwaChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.
- Akagarei no KomaburiRoe-bearing red flounder is sliced into sashimi and tossed with its own boiled, crumbled eggs, a dish from around the Amijiro area of Iwami Town. Said to have descended from a similar dish made with crucian carp roe, it pairs rich eggs with mild, fatty winter flounder for festivals and New Year's.
- Azuki ZouniSoft round rice cakes are added to a broth of simmered red beans, the mainstream style of New Year's zoni in Tottori. Red beans have long been thought to ward off misfortune, and the dish is said to be simmered on New Year's morning with the year's first water and a purified flame, then shared among family.
- Daisen-doriA branded chicken said to be raised end-to-end, from breeding stock to processing, by producers at the foot of Mount Daisen — free-ranged longer than usual on an antibiotic-free feed aimed at balancing fat and flavor.
- Daisen OkowaShiitake, burdock, and chicken are cooked into sticky rice seasoned with soy, a dish from the foot of Mount Daisen. Said to trace back to warrior monks preparing it before battle to pray for victory, it was later served at the horse-and-cattle market by Daisen-ji temple and carried on into festivals and hospitality since.
- Daisen RubyBred at Tottori Prefecture's livestock station by crossing a sow of the oleic-acid-rich Daisen Akabuta line with a Berkshire boar, said to inherit both breeds' fat quality and tenderness.