Raw
Hoshigaki Namasu
Hoshigaki namasu — dried persimmon and daikon tossed in a citrus vinegar
Julienned daikon and dried persimmon are tossed with vinegar, yuzu juice, and soy — from Saga's Matsubai district, where curtains of drying persimmons hanging under the eaves mark the fall, and this dish is said to appear alongside New Year's osechi.
- Origin: Saga City, Saga
- About 900 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Daikon and dried persimmon are julienned and dressed in vinegar, yuzu citrus juice, sugar, light soy sauce, and salt; fresh persimmon is sometimes used instead of dried, and turnip can stand in for the daikon. It's said to be a dish cherished in mountain terrain known for growing persimmons, prized for its distinctively soft, chewy texture. Some rare persimmon varieties are said to come from especially old trees in the area. A rare, painstakingly de-astringed persimmon variety is also known locally.
How it's made
Daikon and dried persimmon are cut into thin strips. Vinegar, yuzu juice, sugar, light soy sauce, and salt are combined and tossed with the julienned daikon and persimmon, sometimes with a bit of julienned yuzu peel added. Because it can also be frozen for storage, it's said to be available year-round these days, the balance of the persimmon's sweetness and tartness said to be what makes it work. A little julienned yuzu peel on top is said to bring out the aroma. Freezing it for storage is said to have made it available year-round.
Why it took this shape
The area's mountain terrain, with its wide swing between warm days and cold nights, is said to suit drying persimmons, and rows of them hanging under the eaves have become a mark of autumn there. In the district known for the dried fruit, using it in this New Year's namasu dish is said to be an essential custom, a scene said to have continued for some 300 years. The drying racks are a common sight at the foot of two mountain ranges in the area. Their appearance under the eaves is said to mark the arrival of autumn.
Dishes in the same style
- 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.
- Amagi no KawatakeA rare wild freshwater algae, found only in the Kogane River in Asakura, is dressed with sweet or three-flavor vinegar — said to have once been presented to the shogun, and now conservation efforts continue as it's listed as endangered.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Saga
- Ara no SugataniA grouper weighing ten kilos or more is simmered whole in a giant pot over the better part of a day — the showpiece of the hospitality dishes women prepare for guests during the Karatsu-kunchi festival, said to have started as a postwar display of one-upmanship.
- FunankoguiCrucian carp, wrapped whole in kelp, simmers for hours with daikon and other roots until even the bones turn soft — a winter protein source from the lean season on the Ariake Sea, and in Kashima, an offering to the god of good fortune at New Year.
- Futsu MochiPounded mochi is worked through with boiled mugwort and wrapped around sweet bean paste — where much of Japan offers diamond-shaped rice cakes at the Doll Festival, parts of Saga offer this mugwort mochi instead, and it doubles as a snack marking spring's arrival.
- Go DofuSoy milk is set not with nigari but kudzu starch, giving this Arita specialty a softer, glossier bite than ordinary tofu — served with sesame-soy as a side, or with black sugar syrup and soybean flour as a dessert.
- Ika no KakeaeSquid, daikon, and carrot are tossed in a vinegared miso dressing thick with ground sesame — a style of dish found across Japan, but called 'kakeae' in Saga, where fatty mackerel sometimes stands in for squid at autumn festivals.
- Imari GyuJapanese Black fattened within Imari's JA district in Saga — sharing the same Tajima roots as Saga Gyu, but kept as a separate brand after the JA Saga merger of 2007 left Imari's cooperative outside it.