Home-style
Kashikiri
Kashikiri — acorn flour, leached of bitterness for two days, set into a tofu-like block
Acorns are ground, then leached of bitterness over some two days of repeated water changes, and worked into a tofu-like block. Once widely eaten across the mountains as emergency food in lean years, it survives today only in southern Aki City, where it's treated as a rare local dish.
- Origin: Kochi Aki
- About 590 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
Starch drawn from acorns is kneaded into a paste and poured into a mold to set, a plain, tofu-like food, it is said. This dish of southern Aki City is said to have come from the Korean peninsula, and it is said to have taken root because it could be made from nothing more than acorns and water in mountain areas unsuited to farming. It was once eaten widely across Kochi, but today it is said to survive as a rare regional dish found only in Aki City.
How it's made
Acorns, shelled, are ground together with water, and the water is changed roughly ten times until the liquid that settles on top runs clear, drawing out the bitterness — a process said to take about two days. The mixture is then cooked in a pot with water, stirred so it doesn't scorch, and once the starch turns into a smooth paste it is poured into a mold and left to set. Once firm, it is cut into pieces and eaten with nuta, a mix of garlic chive, miso, and rice vinegar.
Why it took this shape
It is said to have been customary to gather acorns in the mountains around the end of October. They were dried in the sun, and once they cracked open on their own, said locally to mean the acorn is laughing, the kernel was taken out. In times of food shortage it is said to have served as emergency fare, and making it was often said to fall to the elders who kept the household running. Korea has a similar dish called dotori-muk, said to hint at a shared origin.
Before You Go
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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 Kochi
- Chate no AemonoChayote, a squash-family vine native to tropical America and known locally as chate, is tossed raw into a light dressing — an autumn home dish in Kochi. A single vine can bear over a hundred fruit, so it's mostly grown for the household or shared with neighbors, and it's especially popular in the mountains where it grows easily.
- Chunichi SobaA local noodle dish from Akaoka, Kochi's Konan City, pairing Chinese noodles with udon stock. Dried baby sardines and shredded kelp are the standard toppings, said to have grown from a shortcut sparing the effort of both udon and ramen kitchens.
- Ginburo ZushiGinburo, a kidney bean grown only for home use in a district of Otoyo Town, is simmered sweet and folded into vinegared rice with root vegetables. Regarded as a bean of long life and good fortune, it's traditionally made for festivals and celebratory banquets.
- GoishichaA post-fermented tea from Otoyo, Kochi Prefecture, made through two stages of fermentation — an aerobic mold fermentation followed by a lactic acid soak. Named for its square-cut, sun-dried pieces said to resemble go stones, it carries a distinctive sweet-and-sour flavor.
- GuruniDaikon, carrot, taro, and other root vegetables are simmered together in a dashi made from dried baby sardines and soy sauce — a winter side dish. The name is said to come from "guru," Tosa dialect for a group of companions, and the dish was long made in bulk and reheated meal after meal.
- Ha Ninniku no NutaGarlic greens are chopped, ground, and mixed with miso, vinegar, sesame, and sugar — a traditional Kochi condiment said to trace back to a Korean import. It's commonly spooned over raw fish like yellowtail in place of soy sauce, and both its name and the fish it accompanies vary by area.