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| Euonymus oxyphyllus |
Whatever COVID-19 does for us, I love sweets! This week I tell you another cooking adventure of mine using leaves from forest. This week’s leaf is, I’ve heard, regulars for sweets in western provinces of Japan. It’s leaf of China root (Smilax china). China root is a climbing plant native in Japanese archipelago, Korean Peninsula, and China. People in western part of Japan, i.e. Kin’ki 近畿, Shikoku 四国, Chugoku 中国, and Kyushu 九州 areas, use traditionally the leaf of Smilax china for wrapping sweet dumpling made for an annual May 5th festival to rejoice healthy growth of kids, called “Kodomo-no-Hi (Kids’ Day) こどもの日.” In my post for May 22, 2020, I reported my adventure to cook Chimaki sweet with reeds for Kids’ Day. Another, and more popular, sweet for Kids’ Day is sweet dumpling called Kashiwa-mochi. Today I make Kashiwa-mochi with leaves of China root.
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| Strawberry Geranium (Saxifraga stolonifera) |
In contemporary Japanese language, Kashiwa means Japanese Emperor (Sweet) Oak (Quercus dentata). In eastern Japan, we wrap dumplings for Kids’ Day with leaves of Kashiwa. I’ve heard it’s the reason for the name of the sweet. Though, according to Mr. Hiroshi Taoda 垰田宏, a retired officer for the Forestry Agency of Japan, the truth was different. He reports there was a marketing ploy some 300 years ago for Emperor Oak to replace China root in Eastern Japan. Before Tokyo became Japanese political center, people used ubiquitous China root to make dumpling for the kids’ festival. After Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 started his shogunate government in 1600, the population of Edo (Tokyo), which was till then a remote corner of Japan, exploded. Tokyoite people soon found shortage of leaves for sweet dumpling of Kids’ Day. Kids’ Day festival was important for samurai who dominated Edo then. It was the ritual to pray for their offspring growing stronger, and for their clan prospering further into the future. Eating sweet dumpling was the MUST. Pâtissiers in Edo had to satisfy high demand of dumpling with substitute leaves. They used leaves of Kashiwa tree that were used locally around the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and rationalize their choice by saying “Look, old leaves of Kashiwa do not fall off until young leaves become robust enough. That’s the way to promote success of a clan, as Lord Tokugawa does! We use leaves of Kashiwa for this very important symbolism.” Well, it’s a Confucian catch copy, but anyway became popular in Tokyo. Not all the people in Japan were samurai, especially in old western part of islands. They simply pooh-poohed this “new trend from once rural area of the East” and continued using leaves of Smilax china.
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| Kashiwa-mochi,
Edo-style. These days, they are available in supermarkets all year round. |
In classic Japanese, any large leaves were called “Kashiwa.” According to Mr. Taoda, there are linguistic studies why this “Kashiwa” became the name for emperor oak. Patisserie business of Tokyo utilized such verbal confusion to market their newer approach, I guess. In any case, Kashiwa tree loves chillier places. Western part of Japanese archipelago has milder climate. Kashiwa down there are often planted for luxurious garden. My mom who came from Shikoku Island told me she was surprised to see “Kashiwa-mochi” was actually wrapped in Kashiwa leaf when she first visited Tokyo. Well, a daughter of her, born in Tokyo and grew up in the suburb of Tokyo, has never seen Kashiwa-mochi wrapped in leaves of China root. Having said that, (with a fearless smile on Naomi’s face) I now know where to go for leaves of China root in Yokohama. In addition, Google gives us recipe, right? My adventure begins.
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| Yokohama’s
China root in May. It’s growing strong. Could you figure out its stems with green hooks? As the plant matures, they become real hangers causing a mess for anybody who ventures into their bush. Japanese name for China root is Sarutoriibara. “Saru = monkey, tori = catching, ibara = thorns.” Got it? |
First, harvesting. China root has beautiful, and tons of, red currants in late autumn. I found many of them lying around on trekking roads while I walked in Yokohama’s forests. Several years back, I was tempted to plant it in our garden … and so, did a bit of research. Without fail, the recommendation was, “Don’t, unless you have acres of forest as your private park. It is a strong and dominating climber that should cause havocs in your garden for sure.” Well, indeed, China root is ubiquitous in Yokohama’s forests. It’s not at all difficult to find them. In addition, incentive to remove Smilax china from forests is lower. Their leaves are feed grass of the larva of Blue Admiral (Kaniska canace). Afficionados of butterflies value the existence of the plant as a sort of insurance for their Blue Admiral to dance coming summer. When I checked the leaves of Smilax china, I often met with voracious larva munching the leaves continuously … Sorry, I take just little bit of these leaves, and I hope you don’t mind, caterpillar. 😄
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| In
winter the red currants of China root become matured seeds. Don’t you think they are inviting us to do endozoochory? Devil’s temptation … |
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| The real very hungry caterpillar for Blue Admiral |
Next, strategy. Commercial Kashiwa-mochi uses Kashiwa leaves only to wrap sweet dumpling. It’s a sort of boring, isn’t it? Besides, in Japan, the entire Smilax china plant has been used as an ingredient for traditional herbal medicine. Leaves of Smilax china are edible when they are young. The leaves have slightly sweet flavor, it is said. I decided to sandwich the dough of sweet dumpling with young leaves of China root and to eat all together. Here is the recipe I used for cooking Kashiwa-mochi dumpling with young leaves of China root:
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| Young leaves of Smilax china |
2020
Kids’ Dumpling with China root leaves
<Ingredients
for 10 Dumplings>
200g Joshinko 上新粉: rice flour made from non-glutinous rice which is available in large supermarkets.
200cc of
lukewarm H2O: Er, I tell you this amount was, it turned out to be, too much. I
should not use all 200cc… please look below.
200g Anko: Sweet red bean paste. In Japan, we can find many brands for the paste in ordinary supermarkets. Yeah, if you like, you can make it by yourself. But it’s something of the most important ingredient for Japanese sweet. The maestros of Japanese pâtissiers compete each other to make theirs even better. I didn’t intend to join their life-long pursuit for perfection, and settled with the popular edition.
20 young leaves of China root: to eat leaves, we have to harvest them while they are still young. I collected them in mid-April. Inevitably, the size of leaves is smaller, and so we need a set of 2 leaves to wrap one dumpling. We can collect young leaves and freeze them fresh until usage.
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| Joshinko and too much lukewarm water … |
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| Anko pouch |
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| Frozen young leaves of Smilax china |
<Essential
Tools>
Steamer
<Directions>
1. Add lukewarm water little by little in a bowl of Joshinko, and mix well. Don’t damp the liquid at once. It will create lamps of flour which will be difficult to incorporate into the dough smoothly. Also, I found out 200cc was too much to have a dough formed. Mine turned out to be syrupy. I confess I panicked and added one spoonful of Kinako (roasted soy bean flour) to recover from the situation. Why Kinako? Er, our fridge stored lots of them, to be honest. Anyway, it’s very healthy ingredient, you know.
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| The beginning of mixing … |
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| Kinako
was added to too-soft dough of 200c water. I was upset … |
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| After-Kinako dough. It was over-mixed, I presumed. |
2. Divide the dough and Anko in 10, and wrap one potion of Anko with one portion of dough. My way of doing it was (1) flatten the dough with slightly dimpled center, (2) put Anko in the center, and (3) wrap Anko with dough. It’s just like what we did for kindergarten!3. Sandwich the formed dough with leaves of China root, and steam them for 15-20 minutes.
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| Anko wrapped by dough and sitting pretty on Smilax china leaves |
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| and sandwiched by another leaves, and situated in a steamer |
4. Bon Appetite!
My mom tried the treat and said “Well, 20 minutes of steaming made the leaves stringy which is irritating for senior citizens with denture.” OK, OK, OK. “And, you mixed too much the dough, didn’t you? Over-mixture can make dumpling not so soft. Next time, you should know when to stop.” Er … Yeah, I panicked and frantically mixed the dough. Though, I think it was a tasty treat with sweet flavor of spring forest. Traditional Kids’ day is around this time of the year, in early June according to the lunar calendar. The leaves of China root now are far larger in Yokohama. Traditional way of cooking the dumpling is wrapping, not sandwiching, the dough by one leaf, and remove the leaves before biting. This week may be good for making Kashiwa-mochi again. Next time, I shall know the time to stop adding water and to avoid over mixing …
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| Deutzia crenata |
If you find a problem in Yokohama’s North
Forests, please make a contact with
Office for the Park
Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government
Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016
FAX: 045-316-8420
If you find
environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa
Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323
You can send an
enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/
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