Dried Fruits of Nihonmatsu

Whenever I visit a local farmer’s  market in this area I’m always amazed at how beautiful and hulking the women are, like silly little big legged bovine beauties walking around so carefree – fair skinned, black hair, long and flowing like a horse’s mane.  I wanna marry this type of woman.  I would do anything to marry the type of Japanese woman who only cares about making love, eating, and drinking delicious sake, and of  course onsen and shrines.  She is a fruit of the earth.  She’s a Japanese fruit.  A Fukushima variety.

Fruits come in many forms and can be eaten in many ways.  Kanpyou(かんぴょう), or dried strips of the flesh of a variety of gourd, used in Japanese cooking…i.e. dried fruits.  



Whole dried honey apricot(みつあんず), which tasted a bit too sweet, but was  nice on a warm sunny day.



This is a type of citrus called yuzu, which was dried  shredded and marinades in honey.  Always a favorite for me.



And then lastly, my favorite.  Whole dried baby tomatoes.  I love eating these as is, or with a nice tall  glass of ice cold barley tea(むぎちゃ）.   AHhh…Fukushima.