🍚 Tamba black soybean rice

Black soybeans from Tamba Sasayama are said to be of the highest quality among black soybeans, with large grains and high sugar content due to the clayey, fertile soil of the region and the intense temperature difference between day and night. They are characterized by their large size, slightly sweet taste, and the skin is difficult to tear. Farmers cultivated black soybeans for shipping and for their own consumption using the paths in the rice paddies. The black soybeans are grown along these paths and those that could not be shipped were used to make snacks for children and a feast at rice planting time. The black soybean rice was offered to the god of rice paddies during the “sabiraki” (early opening of rice seedlings) ceremony (an event to pray for the growth of seedlings) held in June. Freshly cooked black soybean rice is rolled up like a rice ball, wrapped in a magnolia leaf, and offered to the altar. The fragrance of the magnolia leaves and chestnut trees repels insects, so the ritual is said to be a wish that the rice would grow without insects.