🍲 Junsai Nabe (Junsai pot dish)

"Junsai nabe" is a one-pot dish in which a large amount of junsai is added along with chicken, gobou(=burdock), and other ingredients. "Junsai" is characterized by its smooth and juicy texture, and it goes very well with chicken. Having an abundant amount of junsai in the pot is the local specialty. "Junsai", often called “watershield” in English, grows in freshwater marshes and ponds. It is a perennial aquatic plant and is from the water lily family with round leaves floating on the surface of the water. The bright green leaves grow from spring to summer, and the jelly-like shoots that emerge from the stems are eaten. In Japan, it used to grow wild in many places, and in Akita Prefecture, it was growing wild in "Kakusuke-numa" in the town of Mitane. It has been called "nunawa" (swamp rope) in the region, because it grows long and thin like a rope in the swamp. People have eaten junsai for a long time, but environmental changes have reduced its native areas. The local people began to cultivate and maintain the "junsai" swamp with the passion to save their precious foodstuff. Now, the town of Mitane has become one of the largest producers of "junsai" in Japan. Even today, "junsai" are carefully hand-picked one by one on a little boat, which has become a summer tradition in the town of Mitane.