We have started 2010 strawberry season. （Nov. 28, 2009）
e one of the best ways to enjoy this upcoming winter and spring season. Strawberry picking is amusing to most of the people and one of the best strawberry-producing farms is located in the prefecture of Chiba; in a city named Sammu.
The city of Sammu is located in Eastern Chiba pref. facing the Pacific Ocean. The population is approximately 59,000 (year 2008) and is referred to as "native land" by the novelist Sachiyo Itoh. He is best known for his work entitled "Nogiku no haka", meaning tomb of the wild chrysanthemum.
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As demonstrated by many food bloggers, cooking and creating great foods and drinks have become incomplete and unsatisfying when not considering the benefits or adverse effects of the same foods and drinks regardless of their taste.
I do not intend to delve into counselling or consulting, but only to offer some knowledge about the good sides of Japanese foods and drinks. I will not extoll on its possible lacks and negative aspects. After all, the Japanese are not the longest-living people in the world for no reason!
I will also offr at least one nutritious or healthy recipe at the end of each posting.
Health & Nutrition Facts in Japanese Food 7: Strawberries/Ichigo/苺
The garden strawberry is a common plant of the genus Fragaria which is cultivated worldwide for its fruit, the (common) strawberry. The fruit is widely appreciated, mainly for its characteristic aroma but also for its bright red color, and it is consumed in large quantities — either fresh, or in prepared foods such as preserves, fruit juice, pies, ice creams, milk shake, etc..
The garden strawberry was first bred in Bretagne/Brittany, France in 1740 via a cross of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America , which was noted for its flavor, and Fragaria chiloensis from Chile and Argentina brought by Amédée-François Frézier, which was noted for its large size.
Cultivars of Fragaria × ananassa have replaced, in commercial production, the woodland strawberry, which was the first strawberry species cultivated in the early 17th century.
Since then the Japanese have erased their lste arrival on the strawberry market with a vengeance!
Shizuoka Prefecture with more 1,500 strawberry commercial growers officially registered is called “Ichigo no Ookoku/Strawberry Kigdom” in Japan!
We can consider ourselves lucky here as 7 medium-sized strawberries a day will provide us with all the vItamin C required!
As for preserving the Vitamin C, never take the green leafy end part (sepals) off! That is unless you wish to lose half of them!
NOTE:
Eating strawberries after drinking, especially beer, will help prevent hangovers and strees thanks to the lucin and hespericin which help break up the alcohol quickly!
Hatsu Koi No Kaori/Frst Love Scent White Strawberries develpped in Japan!
For each 100g (edible parts) it contains:
-Energy: 34 kcal
-Water: 90.0 g
-Proteins: 0.9 g
-Ash: 8,5 g
-Natrium: 170 mg
-Calcium: 17 mg
-Magnesium: 13 mg
-Iron: 0.3 mg
-Vitamin B1: 0.03 mg
-Vitamin B2: 0.02 mg
-Vitamin B6: 0.04 mg
-Folic acid: 90 microg
-Vitamin C: 62 mg
-Dietary (roughage) fibre: 1.4 g
HEALTH FACTS & TIPS:
-Combined with yam/yamaimo, or with yoghurt, or with chickory, or with shiso/perilla leaves, will strengthen the digestive system, help prevent cancer and aging.
-Combined with broccoli, or with pink grapefruit, or with tomato, or with re carrot, will help prevent cancer, will help recover from stress, will help with skin rejuvenation and quality and increase brain activity.
-Combined with wakame seaweed, or with onion, or with Jew’s ear mushroom, or with peanuts (fresh), will help prevent high blood pressure, heart diseases and blood vessel hardening.
-Combined with oysters, or with kiwi fruit, or with lemon, will help with skin rejuvenation and recovery from stress.
RECIPE:
A simple recipe which will help you recover from stress and also help with skin rejuvenation!
Strawberries: 5
Chickory: 5 leaves
Olive oil (EVA): 2 tablespoons
White wine vinegar: 1 tablespoon
Salt & pepper: a little
Sugar: as you like
Take off sepals from the strawberries. Make a dressing with the olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Check the taste and add sugar if you wish.
Cut the strawberries to your preferred size. Serve them inside the chikory leaves and pour the dressing over them!
The strawberry was introduced to Taiwan by the Japanese during the Japanese colonial period, and records indicated it was grown in Taiwan as early as 1934. The fruit was cultivated on a small scale at first, however, because of the lack of success in growing it in abundance. With the introduction of the Marshall variety of strawberry in 1952 and plans to grow it on a large scale, Taiwan's strawberry sector became more active. The idea of "u-pick" strawberry farms promoted by the Dahu Farmers' Association in Miaoli County in the 1990s met with success and helped boost the sector further by spawning the popularity of picking strawberries as a recreational activity.
Japan currently has the largest production and consumption of dessert strawberries in the world. Their color and shape are truly outstanding and they are available almost anytime throughout the year, although the best season is from January to March. You can buy them at fruit shops, greengrocers or supermarkets (a container of more than 10 costs around 500 yen). Strawberry farms throughout Japan offer strawberry picking during this season, and it is wonderful to taste them right off the vine. (For an admission fee of around 1,500 yen per adult, you can eat as many as you like within a limited time.) Recommended brands are Nyoho and Toyonaka. Both have a fine balance of sweetness and tartness, and the flavor spreading inside your mouth as you bite into the fruit is marvelous. They are sometimes eaten with sugar, milk or yogurt, but these days, most strawberries are sweet enough to just wash and eat.
In Japan, the melon has an image of being an expensive fruit and is often given as a gift when visiting someone in the hospital. Musk melons are carefully grown in well-controlled greenhouses and some sell for more than 10,000 yen each. As its name suggests, this melon has a musk-like flavor and is grown only in Japan. Musk melons sold at fruit shops have a seal attached indicating the best date to taste. If you don't want to buy a whole melon but would like to try the taste, look for cakes using musk melons for sale at pastry shops. There are more inexpensive melons such as the andesu melon (under 1,000 yen) that has a white mesh pattern on the skin just like the musk melon and the prince melon (around 500 yen) that has a pale green skin surface with no mesh pattern and orange-colored flesh. All of these melons have a very rich flavor. The melon season is from June to July, but you can find musk melons at all times of the year.
Cherries are very popular as an early summer fruit. You can see packs at fruit shops and supermarkets from May to July from around 500 yen per pack. The purplish red American cherry produced in the US is popular in Japan, but sato-nishiki, with its bright red skin, is also very popular. This is a juicy cherry with plenty of nectar and a good balance of sweetness and tartness. Being a large, high-grade cherry however, a carton of 80 sometimes costs more than 10,000 yen. Therefore, it is also known as "red jewelry." Cherries are tastiest when eaten raw; freshness is the key, so eat them as soon as possible. Shops will try to sell their cherries by the end of the day, often reducing the price just before closing time, so if you want to enjoy a bargain, try shopping around that time.
In Japan, canned yellow peaches in syrup are popular and are often used in cakes. However, peaches for processing are usually imported from overseas, so if you would like to taste native Japanese peaches, you must get them from fruit shops, greengrocers or supermarkets in season from June to September (around 200 yen each). Hakuto is considered the best variety of peach, and with its juicy white flesh and strong sweetness, it is meltingly delicious. Hakuho also has white flesh and is very sweet, with just a hint of tartness. It is renowned for the beautiful color of its skin. The skin of a fully ripe peach can be peeled off easily with your fingers, but if this is difficult, just place it in lukewarm water before peeling.
The watermelon, in season from June to August, is a typical summer fruit in Japan. Suika-wari (a watermelon splitting game) on the beach is part of the summer fun in Japan. A blindfolded person tries to split a watermelon with blows from a wooden stick while others yell out instructions about where to strike. Watermelons in Japan can be round, rugby ball-shaped, with or without stripes, and with red, yellow or orange flesh. Fruit shops and greengrocers sell whole watermelons (1,000-2,000 yen each), but in supermarkets they are usually cut into quarters (a quarter is around 500 yen), which is recommended if you just want a taste. Watermelons with really black seeds and just a small space around them are the tastiest. If you want to buy a whole one, tap it with your hand lightly, and when you hear a dry clear sound, it is a good watermelon. Sprinkling the fruit with a little salt brings out the sweetness.
