A Citrus Rainbow
Quick – How many citrus fruits can you name? Probably not more than five. (And, no California Orange and Florida Orange don’t count as two separate ones.)
The citrus section at our local supermarket.
I have always enjoyed cooking and knew a little bit about different foods. citrus fruits, flavors, and scents have been longtime favorites; and so it was interesting to see how coming to Japan has opened up a whole new world of citrus fruits. I look back now and smile at thinking that the kumquat tree in our yard was just and orange tree in need of pruning and fertilizer or that the people in our neighborhood were so odd for not instantly gathering the “oranges” off their tree as soon as they were ripe.
From what we can see down here in the south of Japan, the Japanese seem to love eating and growing citrus fruits. Almost every other person seems to have some type of tree in their yard. Because of Yamaguchi Prefecture’s mild climate, things can be grown year-round here. Most of the varieties of citrus mature in the winter or early spring. (My suspicion is that they blossom in summer and take a long time to mature.) The only problem with all these new citrus fruits is that many of them are sour.
After buying so many sour oranges last spring, I decided to make a chart to take with me to the grocery store. Outside of the five commonly known in the US (oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, lemons, and limes) it lists 20 varieties. Seven of these can be eaten directly and another 4 eaten if you peel away the bitter white part and the casing around the individual sections. The others are used for their sour juice or their rinds are used for zest.
Speaking of sour juice, one of my new favorite condiments is something called ponzu. “Pon” (like a number of other borrowed food word in Japanese) has some connection to Portuguese and means citrus and “zu” is the word for vinegar. This sauce is a combination of traditional Japanese soup stock, sour citrus juice, and soy sauce. While my Japanese friends all think it’s weird that I dip pastries in tea and coffee, they often dip savory food in soy sauce based sauces. This one makes a great dip for grilled meats as well as boiled slices of mushroom and cabbage.
Me and my favorite sauce.
Praise God that our enjoyment of Japanese food has allowed us to share many meals with Japanese friends. Pray for continued opportunities in this area as well conversations that will help us get to know them on a deeper level.