Yuzugaki
On a day when we had very English weather (sun, rain, and anything in between), I had a great pleasure meeting Katy Huiwen Hung, a Taiwanese food historian. Together we visited Kew Garden herbarium. Among their wonderful collection, I found an odd Japanese sweet called Yuzugaki - dried persimmons with Yuzu peels rolled and wrapped with a straw rope. Who knew Kew has a stash of sweets!?
This particular Yuzugaki was dated, we believe, year 2002, and from a little mountainous village in Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu Island. This dried delicacy has been produced there since around 1975, but there is an interesting history behind it.
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| Yuzugaki, Kew Gardens collection |
History of persimmons
Persimmons, or kaki, was believed to have been introduced from China. However, multiple archaeological evidence suggest that there were native persimmon trees in various parts of Japan, albeit rare. For example, fossils of Diospyros miokaki leaves from Miocene (23.03 - 5.33 million years ago) have been found in Mizunami in Gifu Prefecture.
While, in China, the species was domesticated since Qing dynasty and Han dynasty (221 BC to 220 AD). For consumption, the fruit was brought to Japan during the Yayoi period (c.300 BC - 300 AD). It seems that the Japanese people were not bothered to eat the fruit from their native trees before then, presumably deterred by their pungent taste.
In fact, sweet persimmons did not appear until the 13th century and even then, they were only partially non-astringent. The completely sweet kinds emerged during the Edo period (1603-1867) and became widely cultivated.
The variety introduced from the continent was also astringent. How did they eat the fruits then? The Qimin Yaoshu, the oldest surviving agricultural text compiled in the mid 6th century in China, mentioned drying methods and de-astringency treatment - soaking raw persimmons with lye solution. It is not clear if the drying method was passed to the people in Japan when persimmons were introduced, however, we know that at least some of the fruits were left unpicked until they were nearly rotten. Almost jellified flesh of ripe astringent persimmons is extremely sweet. At a time when sweetener was very limited and expensive, sweet fruits must have been the ultimate luxury.
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| A persimmon plant painting on persimmon wood, Kew Garden collection |
Dried persimmons
One of the earliest evidence of dried persimmons in Japan seems to be from year 733-734. Documents kept at the Shosoin Repository include records of purchase of dried persimmons.
Engishiki, a Japanese book about laws and customs completed in 927, mentioned that there were one hundred persimmon trees in the orchard of the imperial palace. It also stated the ripe persimmons (熟柿子) and dried persimmons (干柿子) were used for ceremonial sweets. The de-astringency treatment used in Japan at that time seems to have involved soaking the fruits in salt water.
Persimmons are still sundried in a traditional way. The sight of hundreds of the golden fruits hanging outside of rural houses like a curtain against the backdrop of mountains and blue autumn sky is spectacular.
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| The_farming_house_hung_a_dry_persimmon by Sakaori (wikimedia commons) |
Makigaki (Rolled persimmons)
Makigaki (巻柿), dried persimmons rolled and wrapped in straw, is believed to have existed by the 12th century. In the 1180s, there were epic battles between the Taira clan and the Minatomo clan, culminated with the destruction of the former. Tokushima in Shikoku, near where one of the battles was fought, is known for Makigaki. According to a legend, Heike fugitives taught the locals about it. The aristocratic Taira family enjoyed high life in the capital of Kyoto where the treat was available. As Makigaki is a preserved food, they might well have taken the sweet to the war.
Makigaki have been produced in various persimmon-producing regions using their local variety and traditional method. Once astringent persimmons are dried they are cut open, seeds removed, and depending on the size of the fruits (variety), six to sixteen of them are laid and rolled, wrapped in a bamboo sheath, then in straw, before tightly wound with a rope.
When cut, a slice of some looks like a rose, and others like a peony. This once noble now humble sweet is also a feast for the eyes.
Yuzugaki gathers happiness
Yuzugaki is a variation of Makigai with Yuzu peels wrapped with persimmons. Sadly, I could not find when the citrus fruit was started to be used.
Also, confusingly, Makigaki produced in Okayama actually use Yuzu. You can see how they are made from this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxwMoGvh5Bs
The appeal of using Yuzu is easy to see: tanginess and freshness of the citrus fruit cuts through the sweetness of dried persimmons.
These days, you can buy ones with fresh, dried, jellied or candied Yuzu, some of which may well be a modern invention.
Makigaki/Yuzugaki are popular as a New Year’s gift with their symbolism, ‘gathering (kaki-yoseru) happiness’. Discovery of this delicacy in Kew, thousands miles away from home, certainly gave me a moment of happiness.
Katy Huiwen
Hung’s blog: https://katyhuiwenhung.
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<Bibliography>
Haruyuki Ina, ‘Miocene fossils of the Mizunami group, central Japan, 1. Plants of the Kani and Mizunami basins’, Monograph of the Mizunami Fossil Museum No.2 (1981), p.98
Iwamoto, Kazuhiko, Yamanaka, Yasuhiko, ‘Distribution and diversity on elder trees of Japanese persimoon in Nara prefecture on the Present Productions and Manufacturing Methods of Tea in China and Taiwan’, Nara Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station, 2006 (Bull. Nara Agr. Exp. Sta 37:39-45. 2006)
Nomura, Ami, ‘Hoshigaki (Hinokagecho Nanaori)’, Noringyogyo no Field: Furusato Ikkei, Miyazaki Nichinichi Shimbun, December 2015
Sawa, Shisei, ‘Makigaki’, Encyclopedia Nipponica, (Shogakukan Inc.) via Kotobank < https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%B7%BB%E6%9F%BF-739258 > [Accessed 18 May 2023]
Wang, R., Yang, T. and Ruan, X. ‘Industry History and Culture Of Persimmon (Diospyros Kaki Thumb.) in China, Acta Horticulturae 996 (2013), Abstract
‘Makigaki, Kumamoto-ken’, Uchi no Kyodoryori: Jiseiki ni Tsutaetai Taisetsu na Aji’, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries <https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/k_ryouri/search_menu/menu/makigaki_kumamoto.html > [Accessed 18 May 2023]
‘Nara no Miyako de Shokusareta Kashi’, Nara Women’s University < https://www.nara-wu.ac.jp/grad-GP-life/bunkashi_hp/kodai_kashi/nara_kashi.html> [Accessed 18 May 2023]
Setonaikai Broadcasting Corporation, ‘Maniwa-shi Fukuda ni Tsutawaru Kyodo no Kashi ‘Makigaki’: Fufu de Nenmatsu Korei no Kashizukuri, Okayama’, YouTube, 24 December 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxwMoGvh5Bs> [Accessed 18 May 2023]
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