The Traditional Cuisine of Kotsugaru

1 The Origins of Traditional Cuisine

Rice, Fermentation, Salt-pickling, and Baccha

“We don’t have anything else, but be sure to fill your belly with rice!” Tsugaru is a region where a high volume of rice is harvested, to the extent you may hear people saying things like this.
To entertain guests using the rice they proudly harvested, farmers would bring out feasts of fermented foods and delicious sweets, even during the harsh winter. The traditional cuisine of Tsugaru began with the welcoming hearts of these farmers.

An energizing Kobiru meal during rice planting season

In the past, rice planting was a cooperative between family and friends they got gather and worked from sunrise to sunset. On busy days, up to five meals may be eaten while working on the farm. During the 10 am kobiru, (a small lunch break), farmers ate sugary red rice, nerikomi (a type of sweet pickled vegetable), and dried cod boiled in soy sauce. These sweet dishes were made to give farmers strength and protect them from the cold.

Drying and Pickling

In preparation for the harsh winters of Tsugaru, grains, vegetables, fruits, mountain vegetables, and nuts are harvested and dried or pickled, while vegetables and fish are submerged in rice bran, malted rice, or rice lees to make preserves before the snow begins to fall. The culture of pickling was so widespread, A dedicated room for pickling could be found in every farmhouse. These rooms would be full of cucumbers, eggplant, warabi (eagle fern), and mountain vegetables pickled in salt for long term preservation. Home-made miso paste was a given in region with kaccha and baccha, or mothers and grandmothers, proudly made their own.

Festivals and mochi, and sometimes sweets

The people of Tsugaru frequently ate glutinous rice. In autumn, they would make mochi with freshly-grown rice and celebrate the harvest by handing them out to friends. In December, making mochi was almost an everyday affair, and festivals were held to welcome the new year. Mochi was also used as offerings to the gods. On December 1st they would make an offering to Iwaki, on the 5th to Ebisu, on the 8th-10th to Yakushi, Daikoku, and Inari, and on the 12th to the gods of the mountains. Offerings of mochi would continue until the end of the year. Whenever there was time, they would use rice to make hard candy, unpei (a mochi-like dessert), and other sweets.

To connect to the next generation

At the Tsugaru Akatsuki Club, women have formed a group spanning generations to make food. The group was formed to leave behind secret recipes for the next generation, including methods for choosing and preparing ingredients, cooking techniques, and tricks. The oldest baccha (grandmother) is the leader, while skilled kaccha (mothers) supervise flavoring the dishes, and accha (young women) work as assistants to gain knowledge and build up experience.

A variety of traditional dishes

Even if times change, we hope that the traditional cuisine of Tsugaru is passed on and continues to be eaten and made by the next generation. The Japanese Furusato Gohan Association works together with people from the Tsugaru region to certify ingredients, cooking methods or foods with regional names as “Tsugaru Food Heritage.” On their public archive site, over 130 types of dishes and techniques are listed, with many using ingredients such as rice, cod, and mountain vegetables. This website introduces the food culture of Tsugaru so that both locals and visitors come and enjoy the taste of Tsugaru in the place it comes from.
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Tsugaru Food Heritage
https://tsugaru-ryouriisan.com/

Other staple dishes: ● Sweet Chawanmushi… Many ingredients such as chicken tenderloin, chestnut, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, colored konjac, and shrimp fill this faintly sweet traditional Japanese custard dish.; ● Pickled Beans… A dish of local edamame beans pickled with the skin on.; ● Pickled Leaf Wrap… A pickle made by wrapping leaf mustard and napa cabbage in a large shiso leaf.; ● Pickled Squid and Cabbage… A typical Kotsugaru azazuke (light pickle) using squid and cabbage.; ● Pickled Nanban… Layers of Nanban (Togarashi chile) are pickled in soy sauce and malted rice to create this fermented all-purpose flavoring.; ● Mizumono… Meat from fresh hoya (sea pineapple), is put in konbu soup stock with mizu (a type of nettle) to create this dish that is indispensable in Kotsugaru’s short summers.; ● Salt-Pickled Samodashi… Samodashi or honey mushroom is the most popular type of mushroom in Tsugaru. Soak the mushrooms in water to rinse off the salt from this preserve and pair with rice flavored with shiokara and konbu.; ● Monkfish dressed in Miso.. A dish made by dressing monkfish meat and liver with miso for a rich flavor. Pairs well with sake.