🍱 Karaimo Netabo

"Karaimo Netabo" is a local dish made from sweet potatoes, a specialty of Kagoshima Prefecture that is well known throughout the country. "Karaimo" means sweet potato. Kagoshima Prefecture is the largest producer of sweet potatoes in Japan. Kagoshima Prefecture is blessed with a mild climate, but most of the land, with the exception of Mount Kirishima, is a Shirasu plateau, which is very well drained. Therefore, the cultivation of sweet potatoes took root in Kagoshima Prefecture, as they grow easily even in poor soil and are less susceptible to typhoon damage because they grow underground. There are various theories about the origin of sweet potatoes, but it is said that in 1698, Hisamoto Tanegashima, the lord of Tanegashima Island, sent an envoy to the Ryukyus to bring sweet potatoes back to Japan, and later, in 1705, Maeda Riemon, a sailor from Yamakawa, grew sweet potatoes in his fields and distributed them to his neighbors, gaining popularity and spreading throughout the Kagoshima area. It is said that the sweet potatoes were so popular that they spread throughout the whole area of Kagoshima. The sweet potatoes were also called "filial piety potatoes" because they could be harvested in large quantities and were ideal as food for the poor. Kurobuta pork, another local specialty, is also known for being raised on sweet potatoes, and sweet potato shochu, made from sweet potatoes, is a representative sake of Kagoshima Prefecture. Therefore, there are many local dishes made from sweet potatoes in Kagoshima Prefecture. One of them is "Karaimo Netabo," a rice cake dish in which steamed sweet potatoes are mixed with freshly pounded rice cake. It is sometimes called "karaimon neebo". There are various theories as to the origin of the name "Netabo," but some say it comes from "kneaded botamochi" or from "kneading and pounding" rice cakes. The other theory is that the name comes from the rice cakes that are made by kneading them.