tokyo food file: nana-kusa

01/07/2013

Food as medicine: the seven herbs of "spring"

Today is the day when tradition has it we should eat our nana-kusa. While these plants are often translated as the "seven herbs of spring", it would be a lot more accurate to call them the seven herbs of mid-winter, as there are a couple of months to go of chilly-to-freezing weather until spring really arrives.

Whatever the season, they are supposed to be VERY good for you. So good that just blogging about them will keep you healthy for a year!

This was the counter display at a little ryoriya we visited on the final day of last year…

And this was the explanation of the various plants that was hanging on the display:

The exact composition of the nana-kusa varies according to local tradition -- and often different names are used for the same herb. These are the seven plants illustrated here:

seri (water dropwort)
nazuna (shepherd's purse)
ogyo (aka hahakogusa: cudweed)
hakobera (chickweed)
hotoke no za (nipplewort)
suzuna (aka kabu: turnip)
suzushiro (aka daikon: white radish)

Addendum: even Google has been getting into the spirit today with a special doodle on its Japanese site to mark the ausicious occasion. How cool is that?

Update: The ryoriya in question was Ginza Shimada, the standing-only (well, apart from one table for 4) little restaurant set up by chef Hiroshi Shimada. He's done so well out of it, he's taken on the role of executive chef for Ore-no-Kappo.

Unfortunately that means he's no longer in the kitchen in his own place. It's not as outstanding as it used to be...

Jan 7, 2013 11:18:47 AM | food and drink, food is medicine, food photos, herbs, nana-kusa, nanakusa, nanakusa kayu, Ore no Kappo, seven herbs of spring, spring, winter

01/08/2010

nanakusa — the seven health-giving herbs of spring

A few things that everyone agrees on about nanakusa, the 7 herbs of spring: You eat them on January 7th; you cook them up with okayu, soft-cooked rice porridge; and there are seven of them. Or at least there should be...

Exactly which 7 herbs should be used is a different matter. Traditions vary from area to area. Today we bought a mixed bunch of nanakusa in our local farmers' market, and when we got them home we found there were just 5 different plants, including common-and-garden komatsuna greens, a vegetable similar in size to spinach. (It also included a baby kabu turnip, but that is officially one of the 7 herbs, even though the rest of the year it's an ordinary vegetable.)

We also bought a package of nanakusa at our local Kinokuniya supermarket: the plastic carton was printed with a design of 7 herbs (including names). This contained 6 plants, including a couple of babykabu turnips and a fistful of chickweed we could have uprooted ourselves for free.

Nonetheless, we chopped them up and mixed them into our genmai-gayu (we make our porridge from lightly polished brown rice), the flecks of jade green adding a gentle bitterness. This is simple and wholesome fare — exactly just what is needed after all the holiday feasting.