🍱 Orido-nasu no Dengaku (Grilled Eggplant with Miso Sauce)

"Orido-nasu" is a native species of eggplant from Miho area in Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City, and its characteristics are round shape, sharp thorns, dark purple skin and rich and sweet teste. Its richer flavor compared with regular eggplants goes well with dishes with miso like "dengaku", and makes popular. It is said that it is an eggplant in Japanese saying "First Mt. Fuji, Second Hawk, Third Eggplant." (This saying explains what is the lucky sign when you have the first dream of the new year. Mt. Fuji is the luckiest thing in your first dream of the year, and so on.) Also, it is known as Tokugawa Ieyasu's favorite food. The cultivation of "Orido-nasu" had stopped since Meiji Era. However, the seeds kept in the national laboratory were taken over and the cultivation successfully resumed in 2005 thanks to the collaboration of farmers, JA and other related organizations.