It's Harvest Time Again
If you're a long-time reader of The Japan Years, you may recall a trip we took back in March with the Kakimoto family to pick strawberries at a nearby farm. Hide-san is a coworker of mine and he and his family have taught us a lot about some of the day to day fun things that happen in Japan. This past weekend, we were again invited by the Kakimoto family to join them for a morning of sweet potato harvesting at the same farm where we went strawberry picking just a few months earlier.
In a nutshell, we paid our admission fee (800 yen for the family), received a potato collection bag, and began digging as many sweet potatoes as we could find. Within under an hour, our bag was full and heavy - and all of us were a little bit dirty but also very happy to have had the experience. The picture of the day goes to Josh... who found a sweet potato half the size of his head. The rest of our photos are in our Gallery:
In a nutshell, we paid our admission fee (800 yen for the family), received a potato collection bag, and began digging as many sweet potatoes as we could find. Within under an hour, our bag was full and heavy - and all of us were a little bit dirty but also very happy to have had the experience. The picture of the day goes to Josh... who found a sweet potato half the size of his head. The rest of our photos are in our Gallery:
posted by Unknown | 9:07 PM
8 Comments:
I used to have a great recipe for sweet potato biscuits, but I don't have it over here.
That looks like such fun! Are the sweet potatoes different than the ones we get here? They look darker and shaped differently.
How fun! Looks like you guys got some great spuds! Great photo of Josh with his giant sweet potato! Any recipes you want to share with us know that you have a big sweet potato stash?? :-)
That is a fantastic photo!! So cute, josh looks like he had a great time. I think Leah and Sean are jealous they didn't get to play in the dirt like that when they went to the farm.
Ginger's Mom,
They look a bit different because they are still moist in the picture. They are pretty much the same here as they are in the states.
MAN that sweet potato is huge! It looks like the little guy needs TWO hands for that thing. When I read your post and started scrolling down and saw "sweet potatoes" my knees went weak. That's yet another thing I love about cuisine in Japan.....they really know what to do with a sweet potato.
Awesome Gallery shots too, loved Mom digging in the dirt. You little nature girl!
The sweet potatoes are a little different here. Starchier and dryer than their American cousins. I usually just do it the Japanese way and bake them in the oven and eat them like that....with lots of butter!!
Jeff, I've heard that they are getting harder to find in Tokyo but keep an ear out this fall for the sweet potato vendor driving through the streets. He will be singing, "Yaki-imo" It will sound like, YAW-KEEEEEEE-MOOOOOO! Which literally means, Yaki(fired)-imo(potato). Imo, short for Satsumaimo. This vendor is usually easier to find in the country side or, where we live! :)
-Nicki
OMG, we used to do this all the time for class fieldtrips at Sullivan!!! My mom loved it every time we went sweet potatoe picking (we went tangerine picking also)! She makes chips outta them and dips them in sugar, they're so delicious!!! Wow, this just brought back a bunch of great memories!!! Thanks!
~Claudette
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