🍱 Teppou-Jiru

In Hokkaido, especially in the East Hokkaido region, miso soup with crab is called "Teppo-jiru." "Teppo-jiru" has long been eaten as a fisherman's dish in the Nemuro region. It is said that the name "Teppo-jiru" came from the way people poke at crab legs with chopsticks, which resembles the gesture of filling a gun with bullets. One of the most famous ingredients used in "Teppo-jiru" is the hanasaki crab, which is caught in the Nemuro region (hanasaki crab is named crab, but it is correctly classified as a member of hermit crab, closely related species of king crab). Nowadays, the catch of hanasaki crabs is decreasing and the harvest period is only three months from June to September, making them a precious foodstuff. Some say that the raw hanasaki crab is dark brown in color, but when boiled, it turns vermilion, as if a flower has bloomed, hence the name hanasaki crab. The spines on the entire carapace are another characteristic of this crab.