{"id":685,"date":"2020-01-20T17:23:31","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T08:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yukiguni-journey.jp\/?p=685"},"modified":"2020-04-23T18:08:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T09:08:42","slug":"myoko-winter-features%e3%80%80red-pepper-yukisarashisnow-bleaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yukiguni-journey.jp\/en\/685\/","title":{"rendered":"Very Photogenic!
Exposing Chili Peppers to the Snow in Myoko city!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you know the spicy condiment \u201cKanzuri\u201d?<\/h2>\r\n

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January 20th is said to be the coldest day of the year in the East Asian lunar calendar.\u00a0 \u00a0This marks the beginning of Myoko City\u2019s winter tradition of spreading chili peppers over the snow (Yukisarashi).
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The vivid color of the peppers comes out after they are salted in autumn.\u00a0 They are about 20cm long.<\/p>\r\n

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Spreading them out and exposing them to the snow removes impurities and salt from the peppers.\u00a0 This stage is called \u201cYukisarashi\u201d and is done every year, beginning on January 20th<\/span>, by a food manufacturing company in Myoko City.\u00a0 They produce the condiment \u201cKanzuri\u201d.<\/p>\r\n

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\u201cKanzuri\u201d is a spicy condiment that has been loved by the locals for a long time.\u00a0 It is used in a variety of dishes including miso soup, hot pot and yakitori.\u00a0 Recently, Kanzuri and Kanzuri-flavored products have been featured widely in the media.<\/p>\r\n

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\u201cYukisarashi\u201d is an essential step in producing Kanzuri.\u00a0 It removes impurities and salt from the peppers, and makes the taste milder.\u00a0 In addition, the texture of the chili become softer and easier to process.\u00a0 The chili peppers are exposed to the snow for three or four days, then mixed with koji (malted rice) and yuzu (citrus junos fruit) and aged for at least three years.<\/p>\r\n

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\u201cYukisarashi\u201d is usually done in Nishijo, Myoko City, but since there was no snow this year, it was done at Lotte Arai Resort where it has never been done before.\u00a0 It was done halfway up a ski slope at an altitude of 950m with a temperature of minus 1 degree at 11 am.\u00a0 The snow quality was sufficient for the Yukisarashi process.<\/p>\r\n

At this ski resort, about 400kg of chili peppers were exposed to the snow for 23 days.<\/p>\r\n

We will continue to do Yukisarashi in Nishijo, Myoko City, while monitoring the snow conditions into the future.<\/p>\r\n

Kanzuri<\/h2>