9/09/2015

Chestnut rice

I have cooked chestnut rice this evening. The chestnuts were harvested in the garden. We have an old chestnut tree at a corner of the garden, which was planted by my father decades ago. It brings forth a lot of chestnuts in every fall. It is a regular routine for us to prepare this dish in this season.

Many chestnuts have been fallen on the ground by the gust of a typhoon today. After boiling chestnuts in hot water for a couple of minutes, the astringent skin is carefully peeled off. This procedure is most tiring and takes a bit of time. Together with seasoning by soy sauce. sake and so forth, the naked chestnuts which have been watered for some time are put into the rice. The rice is also already washed and stayed alone for some time. Lastly, the cooker is powered on.




Here it is the delicious chestnut rice on the table. It is a dish typical for this season. Wondering if father knows how much we appreciate his planting the chestnut tree. It is a great heritage to the next generation to plant such trees.




6 comments:

  1. I wonder what kind of rice that you use. I have become accustomed to Japanese style rice during my days in the rice business in California. The stickier the better. Recently, our local stores stopped carrying any Japanese style rice from California. I refused to buy the cardboard varieties grown in the southern US. So, as we always do, I found some good California Grown Japanese Style rice on Amazon,com. A true story.

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    1. While reading your comment, I was chuckling at it. Because I was sure that a comment about the rice species should be coming from Pagosa Springs. A welcomed comment!

      Well, it is a kind of sticky long grain. The name is Koshihikari. Koshihikari from Niigata is famous but also very expensive. We are eating the same kind harvested in Tochigi. Yes, I know some long grain rice made in CA is pretty tasty. When TPP is enforced, it must be quite tough for japanese fgarmers to fight against that kind of rice from CA. I have an argument regarding deregulation of import of such as rice which is not to be omitted in our lives. I just would like to say farming is a social overhead capital and should be guarded by regulation.

      Anyway, the rice market is already liberalized here. Various kinds of rice are available with quite different prices. They intend to realize agricultural intensification. That deregulation has a history of failure in the past. What comes on?!

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    2. Sorry for late response. Been busy working on antenna projects. When I was in the rice business in California at the beginning of the GATT agreement (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade), our company was in the forefront of attempting to produce acceptable varieties of rice for the Japanese market. We imported and had grown both the Kohikikari and the Akita Komachi varieties of rice. My head sales guy was born/raised in Okinawa, very good at what was necessary to be successful for the Japanese market. We paid California rice growers huge premiums to product these two varieties. Simultaneously, we would contract with Japanese trading companies (Mitsubushi, Mitsui, Tomen, Marubeni) to buy the rice. A back go back arrangement. It worked well for a few years. But, unfortunately, we had a bumper crop, producing more than was under contract. We had to pay for production, but could not sell the excess. Huge losses. That was when I learned to like the taste of such varieties. You cannot buy them here now. Only a mixture of what is called "medium grain" in California, Calrose variety and a variation called M-401, slightly stickier than Calrose. I am glad to be out of the rice business.

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    3. Sorry for late response. Been busy working on antenna projects. When I was in the rice business in California at the beginning of the GATT agreement (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade), our company was in the forefront of attempting to produce acceptable varieties of rice for the Japanese market. We imported and had grown both the Kohikikari and the Akita Komachi varieties of rice. My head sales guy was born/raised in Okinawa, very good at what was necessary to be successful for the Japanese market. We paid California rice growers huge premiums to product these two varieties. Simultaneously, we would contract with Japanese trading companies (Mitsubushi, Mitsui, Tomen, Marubeni) to buy the rice. A back go back arrangement. It worked well for a few years. But, unfortunately, we had a bumper crop, producing more than was under contract. We had to pay for production, but could not sell the excess. Huge losses. That was when I learned to like the taste of such varieties. You cannot buy them here now. Only a mixture of what is called "medium grain" in California, Calrose variety and a variation called M-401, slightly stickier than Calrose. I am glad to be out of the rice business.

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  2. My XYL organically grows a very interesting purple-colored rice 'berry' that is somewhat glutenous and very tasty. 500 square meters paddy makes enough to eat and give away for a year. She grows lots of other organic fruits and veg too but it's very difficult here with all the pests...

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    1. I have searched about berry rice. It seems to contain much antioxidant substances and much fiber. In addition, you said it was tasty. No wonder you must be enjoying this kind of rice. It is really a good food. I would try it sometime.

      The pests and crows are headache here as well. I would give some to them. But they are always greedy enough to take every thing away.

      I always enjoy talking to you on 40m CW. Hopefully, many more!

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