A COOK'S YEAR

Seasonal eating is something of an obsession in Japan, with special menus designed to celebrate the most fleeting of ingredients, writes ALEXANDRA CARLTON.

- ALEXANDRA CARLTON

Spring

The spring ingredient that captures the Japanese imagination more than any other is takenoko, giant edible bamboo shoots that grow all over Japan and are at their most tender as the snow melts from the mountains and brings new life. Many country people will head into the forest first thing in the morning to dig up the pyramid-shaped shoots to make into dishes such as takenoko gohan, where they’re simply boiled and served with rice, sake, mirin and soy sauce.

The Japanese love to celebrate the blossoming of colourful flowers during every month of the year; the chrysanthemums of late autumn and the shaga, or wild fringed irises, of spring are just two. But the flowers that lure most tourists are of course the sakura, radiant pink cherry blossoms, which bloom for a few weeks each spring. To celebrate their arrival, locals like to serve food with a pink hue such as sakura mochi – mochi-rice cakes dyed pink with food colouring, jam or preserved cherries – or desserts featuring strawberries such as shortcakes and jellies.

Another colourful addition to the Japanese dinner table in spring is nanohana, the bright-yellow buds of a Japanese crop that’s similar to Western rapeseed or canola. It shares many qualities with broccolini and is eaten in its flowerless form year-round but in spring, the tiny yellow tips are a special delicacy. It’s commonly eaten as a side dish, served simply with soy sauce, mirin and bonito flakes or fried into a crisp tempura.

Summer