List of Japanese ingredients
The following is a list of ingredients used in Japanese cuisine.[]
Plant sources
[Cereal grain]
- Rice
- *Short or medium grain white rice. Regular rice is called uruchi-mai.
- *Mochi rice -sticky rice, sweet rice
- *genmai
- *rice bran - not usually eaten itself, but used for pickling, and also added to boiling water to parboil tart vegetables
- *arare - toasted brown rice grains in genmai cha and chazuke nori
- *kome-kōji - Aspergillus cultures
- *sake kasu
- *sake
- awa
- oshimugi
[Flour]
- katakuri starch - an alternative ingredient for potato starch
- kinako - soybean flour/meal
- kibi flour
- konnyaku starch powder
- kudzu starch
- Rice flour
- *'
- *'
- *'
- *', semi-cooked rice dried and coarsely pulverized; used as alternate breading in domyoji age deep-fried dish, also used in Kansai-style sakuramochi confection. Medium fine ground types are called shinbikiko and used as breaded crust or for confection. Fine ground are jōnanko
- *, kanbaiko powdery starch made from sticky rice.
- *Gyūhi flour
- soba flour
- warabi starch - substitutes are sold under this name, though authentic starch derives from fern roots. See warabimochi
- wheat flour
- *tempura flour
- *kyōriki ko, chūriki ko, hakuriki ko
- *uki ko - name for the starch of rice or wheat. Apparently used for wagashi to some extent. In Chinese cuisine, it is used to make the translucent skin of the shrimp har gow.
[Japanese noodles]
- soba
- sōmen
- ramen
- udon
- yakisoba noodles
[Vegetables]
- cucumber
- eggplant
- shishitō mild peppers
- *
- * Fushimi pepper - The leaves of the Fushimi made into tsukudani are hatōgarashi.
- kabocha squash
- shiro-uri - type of squash/melon.
- komatsuna -
- mizuna -
- napa cabbage -
- takana -
- Nozawana -
- na-no-hana
;
- asatsuki - type of chives
- nira
- rakkyo
- wakegi - formerly thought a variety of scallion, but geneticists discover it to be a cross with the bulb onion.
- Green onions or scallions
- * Fukaya negi - Often used to denote the types as thick as leeks used in Kanto area, but is not a proper name of a cultivar, and merely taken from the production area of Fukaya, Saitama. In the east, the white part of the onion near the base like to be used.
- * ' "multipurpose scallion" - young plants.
- * ' - Kyoto cultivar of green onion.
- * ' - Cultivar named after Shimonita, Gunma.
- * Other varieties with articles are ', ', '
- ' - Allium macrostemon, collected from the wild much like field garlic.
- ' - Allium victorialis much like ramps.
- chorogi
- daikon
- gobo
- lotus root
- potato
- sweet potato
- Taro and stalk
- * ' - Kyoto variety
- * ' - stems available fresh or dried. careful! tartness must be boiled off before use.
- takenoko
- * himetakenoko, sasa-takenoko, nemagari-take - Slender bamboo shoots of , so-called "baby bamboo shoots".
- * menma - vital condiment to ramen, made from the Taiwanese giant bamboo and not from the typical bamboo shoot.
- yamaimo - vague name that can denote either Dioscorea spp. below. The root is often grated into a sort of starchy puree. The correct way is to grate the yam against the grains of the suribachi. Also the tubercle used whole.
- * or jinenjo - considered the true Japanese yam. The name jinenjo refers to roots dug from the wild.
- * - In a strict sense, refers to the long truncheon-like form.
- * - A fan-shaped variety, more viscous than the long form.
- * - A round variety even more viscous and highly prized.
- * mukago - edible tubercles
- kaiware
- moyashi
- soybean sprouts
; - Tsukemono
- takuan zuke
Nuts">nut (fruit)">Nuts
- ginkgo nuts
- Azuki - Red Bean
- kuri - chestnut
- onigurumi - Japanese walnut
- tochi-no-mi - type of buckeye or horse chestnut
- shii-no-mi - acorns of Castanopsis spp.
Seeds
- sesame
- * black sesame
- * white sesame
- shiso seeds
- wild sesame egoma
- hemp seeds - mixed in shichimi
- karashi
- sanshō
[Mushroom]s
- enokitake
- eringi
- matsutake
- maitake
- nameko
- hiratake
- shiitake
- shimeji
- Wood ear
- Rhizopogon roseolus
[Seaweed]
- hijiki
- konbu
- * ' or oboro-kombu - thin shavings.
- * usuita-kombu - thin sheet created as byproduct
- * ' - the thick, pleated portion near the attached base
- mozuku
- nori
- * - refers to seaweed harvested from sea-rock.
- ogonori
- - Kyushu specialty
- tengusa - kanten, tokoroten
- wakame
[Fruits]
- amanatsu
- daidai
- dekopon - a new hybrid
- iyokan
- kabosu
- sudachi
- yuzu
- ume
- loquat
- - a traditional type of melon
- nashi pear
- persimmon
- yamamomo
Soy products
- edamame
- miso
- soy sauce
- nattō
- mame moyashi - soy sprouts
- kinako - soy meal
- irimame - dry-roasted soy beans and black soy beans
Vegetable proteins
- Fu
- * nama fu - fresh fu usually sold in sticks
- * dry fu - variously shaped and colored. kuruma-bu is one
- *chikuwabu - somewhat more doughy
- Tofu
Animal sources
Egg">Egg (food)">Eggs
- chicken
- quail egg
- fish roe → #Roe
- terrapin eggs, sea-turtle eggs
[Meats]
- beef
- * Kobe beef
- * Matsusaka beef
- * Mishima beef
- * Beef tongue, heart, liver, tripe, rumen, omasum, abomasum
- chicken - called kashiwa in Western parts. There are various heritage breeds called jidori
- * Nagoya Cochin
- * shamo - fighting cock
- * Hinai jidori = x Rhode Island red
- * unlaid egg yolk
- pork
- * kurobuta
- * or shimabuta, extinct but reconstructed heritage hog of Okinawa
- *
- * boar meat. The nabe dish is called botan nabe
- * whey buta - marketed by
- horse meat, sometimes called sakura-niku, is a delicacy. Raw sliced horsemeat is "basashi". The fatty portion from where the mane grows.
Aquatic creatures
Finned fish
;- skipjack tuna - made into tataki, namaribushi, and processed into katsuobushi
- *
- tuna
- Japanese amberjack
- Spanish mackerel
- Japanese jack mackerel
- pacific saury
- sardine
- * Niboshi or iriko is dried sardine, important for fish stock and other uses.
- mackerel
- or kohada
- herring
- aji - typical fish for hiraki, or fish that is gutted, butterflied, and half-dried in shade.
- flatfish - ribbons of flesh around the fins called engawa are also used. Roe is often stewed.
- pike conger - in Kyoto-style cuisine, also as high-end surimi.
- pufferfish - flesh, skin, soft roe eaten as sashimi and hot pot ; organs, etc. poisonous; roe also contain tetradotoxin but a regional specialty food cures it in nuka until safe to eat.
- tilefish - in a Kyoto-style preparation, it is roasted to be eaten scales and all; used in high-end surimi.
- red sea bream - used widely. the head stewed as kabuto-ni.
- ayu - the shiokara made from this fish is called.
- Japanese eel
- - refers regionally to different fish, but often the goby type, some are high-end fish.
- salmon - shiojake or salted salmon are often very salty fillets, so lighter salted amajio types may be sought. is salt-cured whole fish. uses snout cartilage.
- suzuki
- nigoro buna - vital source of funazushi for Shiga-kennians
[Marine mammal]s
[Mollusks]
;;
- scallop
- littleneck clam
- freshwater clam
- oyster
- * iwagaki, available during summer months.
- clam
- Geoduck
- horned turban
- abalone
[Crustaceans] (''ebikani-rui, kokaku rui'')
;
- spiny lobster
- Kuruma prawn
- humpback shrimp
- mantis shrimp -
- barnacle
- - freshwater
[Echinoderms]
- Sea cucumbers - body, intestines, ovaries
- Sea urchin, ovaries
[Tunicates]
- Sea pineapple
[Roe]
- ankimo, or monkfish liver.
- and abalone livers are used as is, or as kimo-ae, i.e., blended with the fish flesh or other ingredients as a type of aemono.
- squid and katsuo livers and guts, used to make shiokara.
Processed seafood
- anchovy, dried to make Niboshi. The larvae are shirasu and made into Tatami iwashi
- chikuwa
- himono - some products are bone dry and stiff, incl. ei-hire, surume, but often refer to fish still supple and succulent.
- kamaboko, satsuma age, etc., comprise a class of food called nerimono, and are listed under surimi products.
- niboshi
- shiokara of various kinds, made from the guts and other portions.
Insects
- , larvae and pupae of kurosuzumebachi or yellowjacket spp.
- , tsukudani made from locusts that infest rice fields. It used to be pretty common wherever rice was grown.
- , tsukudani made from stonefly and caddisfly larvae in streams.
Bizarre foods
An imori no kuroyaki or "blackened broiled Japanese Fire Belly Newt has popularly been ascribed aphrodisiac properties, though this animal has been found to contain tetrodotoxin, the deadly fugu poison. On a related note, certain beetles of the Spanish fly family are used in Traditional Chinese medicine but are toxic, and in ninja fiction, the beetle's poison has been portrayed as being used in assassinations.
Use of not just raw, but living animals might be considered a novel use of ingredients: shirouwo and hotaruika'' are swallowed while still alive and wiggling. This is also a unique culture of Japan.