Homemade "Chirimen Sansho" is cheap and delicious ♡ How to make it surprisingly easily

Hello. I am Ayumi Nakaganji, a chef.

An early summer treat, sansho berries, are now available in stores.

Sansho is a deciduous shrub of the Rutaceae family, Zanthoxylum genus, and its young leaves are commonly used in Japanese cuisine as "kinome."

"Misansho" is the raw fruit of the Japanese pepper, and is in season from May to July. It is characterized by its vivid green color and aroma, and can be enjoyed as dried sansho or tsukudani, giving it a refreshing flavor and a spicy taste. It goes well with a variety of ingredients, and can be used in a wide variety of ways, such as adding it to simmered fish, chopping it up and stir-frying it with minced meat, or adding it to soup.

Some people may have never bought it, but if you get it at this time of year and store it, you can easily enjoy it all year round.

Why not try preparing Japanese pepper berries this year?

It's actually easy! "Preparing Sansho Fruit"

Preparing sansho berries is very easy.

Image: Ayumi Chuganji

Remove the stalks and stems from the sansho berries. If you don't want to bother, you can leave the stems as they are, but if you put in the effort, the taste will be much better and you'll grow to love them more.

Image: Ayumi Chuganji

Having said that, I also lost concentration and was unable to finish it completely...so I gave up halfway through.

(1) Add some salt and some of the Japanese pepper berries (with the twigs and stems removed) to plenty of boiling water, boil for 6 to 8 minutes, and drain in a colander.

(2) Place in cold water and leave for an hour to remove the scum.

If you try one and it still tastes bitter or is too spicy, replace it with fresh cold water and let it soak a little longer. Be careful not to soak it for too long, as it will lose its spicy flavor.

Once the preparation is complete, the sansho berries can be dried with paper towels, divided into small portions, wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen, or placed in a clean jar with salt, pickled in soy sauce, or pickled in oil. There are a variety of ways to preserve them.

I froze half of it and pickled the other half because I wanted to use it for my rice bran mash and dried sansho pepper.

Recipe using this product: "Chirimen Sansho"

Put a generous amount on hot rice and munch on it = bliss. Eat it as is as a snack with sake = bliss.

All you need is some pre-processed Japanese pepper to make this blissful moment. It's not too sweet or spicy. It has just the right amount of spiciness and a refreshing feeling in your mouth.

Image: Ayumi Chuganji

[Ingredients] (easy to make amount)
Sansho berries (pre-processed)...10g
Dried small sardines (small size recommended)・・・50g
Sake・・・50ml
A Light soy sauce・・・2 teaspoons
A Mirin・・・2 teaspoons

<How to make>

(1) Place dried small sardines in a frying pan, add lukewarm water and leave for 5 minutes (to remove the salt).

(2) Drain the water in a colander, return the dried small sardines to the frying pan, heat, and dry-fry until the surface moisture has evaporated slightly.

(3) Turn off the heat, add the sake, stir lightly, cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

(4) Add the Japanese pepper berries and A, and simmer over low heat until the water evaporates.

By soaking dried small sardines in sake after desalting them, the distinctive odor is removed and they have a clean taste. The ingredients are simple, so please try making this using delicious seasonings and dried small sardines.

What did you think? If you come across some Japanese pepper, please pick it up. (Text by Ayumi Nakaganji)
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