Check It Out

No.170 (8/27/10)

This is Oita!

By Nao H. Kauffman
Chief Editor

Often, there are unique products that only a certain destination is known for, such as apples and scallops in Aomori, which are special commercialized products from those.

I think the Japanese are so obsessive about good food or gourmet in a good way that it instantly creates many gastronomists. Not just traveling to a destination, eating its regional food and purchasing its signature items can be part of tourism.

The purpose of traveling is more like cleaving to the destination's delights rather than leisure time. Why? It is a very Japanese custom of sharing with family and friends ? Omiyage (souvenir). Wherever you travel in Japan, you would easily find a variety of local items. Those that are unique and hard to find without visiting touristy spots. Since you do not come across special items daily, your curiosity may grow as a result. Especially traditional or new signature items capture media interest and create new allure for travelers. That definitely taps in popular issues and cherishes mementoes. Many distributors develop online shopping lately; in fact, it is relatively easy to conduct repeat business this way.

Let me introduce some signature items from Oita.

Oita has a large amount of production in citrus fruits called Kabosu and Yuzu. Kabosu is like a green lime with rich vitamin C. The acid helps cutting down on salt for fish or meat dishes. Yuzu is another citrus fruit. Young green yuzu is manufactured to spices like pepper or chili because of its tartness. The ripen yuzu shows lemon yellow, often processed with honey or sugar like a sweet jam.

吉四六漬: Pickles are made soy-based from carrots, cucumber, or Japanese radish (Daikon.) The name of Kitchomu is from real character, who was wit of a farmer.

鳥天: Toriten is chicken deli food. It is not exactly like fried chicken(Karaage) because they are cooked with tempura powder. They are commonly served with soy vinaigrette sauce.

ザビエル: Xavier is named after Francisco Xavier, missionary from Spain, who had a great influence on Catholic in Japan. The sweet is collaboration of European delicacy and sweet beans in it with rum steeped raisin.

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