Sansai - The Wild Vegetables of Hokkaido

If a catastrophe happens then supermarkets may disappear! Then, ordinary people are going to suffer from a food crisis. However, if you have the knowledge about wild vegetables, you can survive! In addition, the vegetables taste wonderful so I want you to try them!

Hi everybody, I’m Soshin! I would like to introduce the wild vegetables we can get in Hokkaido. They’re called Sansai, it means mountain vegetables.

First, I would like to introduce Udo, you can get them in the mountains in Hokkaido in spring.

Udo is good for Tempura. It is little bitter but smells very nice, Please try it!

Second, This is Taranbo, it looks like Udo but it is different, we can get them earlier than Udo in the season. We can get them around March, they live on mountain paths where they can get a lot of sunlight. They are good for tempura as well but I like a Taranbo stir-fry! You should try it!!

Next is Fukinoto, if you live in Hokkaido, you must have seen them at least once because they can grow in the street! However, the Fukinoto in the street grows surrounded by exhaust gas so I don't recommend eating them. On the other hand, Fukinoto in the mountains tastes wonderful. I think having them with miso soup is the best way to eat them.

The last is Zenmai, it looks a little strange but tastes very good. You can get them in humid places in the mountains. However, there are similar plants which are poisonous! You can distinguish them by their color. If it’s clear green, then it’s safe but if it’s red, then it has poison so be careful!

I hope you try them and enjoy the fantastic tastes but please be careful about plants that have poison and the bears in the mountains so I recommend bringing things that make loud sounds like bells! See you next time! (Soshin)