Ebi Imo – Kyoto’s Luxurious Shrimp-Formed Taro & Imobō Dish

Ebi imo is a precious sort of taro from Kyoto, well-known for its distinctive form, which seems like a bent shrimp, and its wealthy, easy texture. This vegetable is a revered conventional Kyo-yasai (Kyoto vegetable) and exhibits the area’s give attention to particular, high-quality elements. Not like frequent root greens, Ebi imo is pricey due to the large quantity of labor it takes to develop it and its essential function within the metropolis’s outdated cooking historical past. This text gives a fast take a look at this particular meals, its historical past that spans centuries, and the place to strive its signature dish.

What Precisely is Ebi Imo?

Ebi imo actually means “Sea Shrimp Taro.” The identify completely suits the way it seems: a transparent curved form, typically in comparison with a bent shrimp, with faint, nice-looking stripes. Locals extremely valued this for its easy, barely sticky texture, identified in Japanese as netto-ri, and its sturdy, earthy taste. The construction of this vegetable is essential to its excessive standing. It doesn’t collapse even after simmering for a very long time. This makes it the right ingredient for fancy boiled dishes the place the meals should preserve its good form. This power throughout cooking is what separates it from frequent taro and is why it prices extra. Primarily harvested and accessible through the late autumn and winter, normally November by February.

Transient Historical past of Kyoto’s Premium Taro

The historical past of Ebi imo goes again to the late 1700s when seeds have been delivered to the town. The profitable rising and improvement of the particular “shrimp-shaped” selection was achieved by Hiranoya Gondayū, who served the palace and specialised in rising greens.

The creation of this particular vegetable has some previous with Kyoto’s meals historical past, as Hiranoya Gondayū can also be well-known with inventing the normal dish that options it. This farming success shortly made the vegetable a consultant winter Kyo-yasai and secured its identify at present as a high-grade “Kyoto Model Product.”

The particular curved form and striped floor will not be pure. They’re the results of extremely expert farming strategies. Making the perfect shrimp curve requires particular “hilling,” the place farmers repeatedly pile soil across the plant because it grows. Due to this intense, specialised labor, actual Kyoto Ebi imo is legendary as a high-grade ingredient.

Reference: Agriculture of Kyoto prefecture

The place to Strive the Traditional Dish

Imobō Hiranoya Honke (いもぼう)

To actually benefit from the historical past and taste of Ebi imo, you could strive the signature dish, Imobō, at its origin. Imobō is a dish of Ebi imo and Bōdara (sun-dried codfish) simmered for a very long time. Therefore, the very best place to do this is Imobō Hiranoya Honke.

This restaurant, positioned in Kyoto’s Maruyama Park, has a direct, historic connection to the vegetable’s founder and has been serving clients for over 300 years. Consuming right here is not only having a meal; it’s als collaborating in a historic cooking follow preserved over centuries. Moreover, the cautious cooking fuses the total taste of the preserved codfish with the wealthy style and easy texture of the taro.

Handle: Maruyamacho, Higashiyama-Ku, Maruyama Park, Kyoto 605-0071
Cellphone quantity: +81-75-561-1603
Hours open: 10:30 AM – 8:30 PM (Final entry 7:30 PM)
Web site: http://www.imobou.com/

Abstract

Ebi imo is an ideal instance of how specialised farming and detailed approach can flip a easy root vegetable right into a premium cultural product. Thus, this dish displays Kyoto’s dedication to holding its culinary heritage and agricultural high quality sturdy.

And so, for readers on this refined fashion of regional cooking, comparable conventional dishes to strive embody: Saturated taro, simmered takenoko, simmered shibazuke, and different traditional Kyo-yasai simmered dishes.

You can even lookup on this article the totally different Kyoto’s conventional greens or popularly referred to as Kyo Yasai.