🍱 Ukogi no Horohoro

‘Ukogi' is a deciduous shrub of araliaceae like ‘taranome' (Japanese angelica tree) and ‘udo' (Aralia cordata), and its height is around 2~7m. It has many small branches and 4~7mm (0.1~0.2 inch) of thin thorns. It grown wild in mountains and fields, but it has been used as fences and food from old times in Iwate Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture. Young sprouts grown in spring are harvested and used as food. It's quite long time ago when ‘ukogi' came to Japan, and it is mentioned in ‘Honzou Wamyou', the oldest book about Chinese and Japanese medical herb in Japan written in 918. It was used as a famine food. Actually, it is very nutritious, and has plenty of polyphenol, fiber, calcium, vitamin C, etc., and it was found that it works for anti-acidification, lowering blood sugar level, lowering cholesterol, improving gut health. ‘Ukogi no Horohoro' is like a rice seasoning made from minced boiled ‘ukogi' mixed with finely chopped daikon radish pickled with miso and crushed walnuts. The name ‘horohoro' came from the description of falling this small and light food when samurai in Nambu Domain tried to eat it. ‘Ukogi' is still planted along hedges or fields in Morioka area.