🍱 Heso-daikon no nisime

In the Tohoku region, where the weather is severely cold, there has long been a custom of making preserved foods by exposing vegetables and fish to the cold wind. "Heso-Daikon" is one such preserved food, produced in Marumori Town in the southern part of the prefecture. Delicious daikon radish produced at an altitude of over 300 meters above sea level is peeled, cut into round slices, boiled, and then dried on skewers or straw in the center for about one month under the eaves to take advantage of the cold winter weather. By repeatedly freezing at night and thawing during the day, candy-colored "Heso-Daikon" is produced. It is called "Heso-Daikon" or "Baba-beso" because the hole in the daikon radish after it is skewered "looks like a navel." When sufficiently dried, it can be preserved until the following summer, and the standard way to cook it is to simmer it with seasonal vegetables. When cooking, lightly wash daikon radish and soak in lukewarm water to return it to the desired consistency before simmering with various other ingredients. It is known that sun-drying increases the nutritional value of daikon radish, including B vitamins, minerals such as potassium and calcium, and dietary fiber, which is higher than that of fresh daikon radish.