Shizuoka's food cultureKnow

Setsuko Maeda, Shizuoka Prefectural College of Agriculture, Forestry and Environmental Sciences

"Tororo soup" is made by diluting grated Japanese yam with stock, and is one of Shizuoka prefecture's representative traditional foods that is eaten over rice (barley rice). It has a long history and is said to have been popular among travelers who passed through the area as a specialty of Maruko-juku on the Tokaido road. It has also become a subject in the world of literature and art, appearing in Jukkasha Ikku's ``Tokaidochu Hizakurige'', Utagawa Hiroshige's ukiyo-e prints, and Matsuo Basho's haiku poems. The Japanese yam grows wild in the mountains and fields, and is about 1.5 m long and 3 cm in diameter. In Shizuoka Prefecture, it is cultivated throughout the prefecture, mainly in the Chubu region.

Well, known seasonings for ``Tororo soup'' include mackerel soup stock, bonito soup stock, and shiitake mushroom soup stock, but in Shizuoka prefecture, which is long from east to west and north to south, there is a ``Tororo soup'' that is unique to the region. It has become clear that there is a food culture of

Now, let's introduce ``Tororo soup'' from various parts of the prefecture. (See the yam soup search map)

Izu area
Matsuzaki Town offers a variety of dishes such as ``Paury Dashi + Soy Sauce'', Shimoda City ``Ise Shrimp + Miso'', and Minamiizu Town ``Chicken Dashi + Soy Sauce'' and ``Shiitake Mushroom Dashi + Soy Sauce''. The west coast of Izu once flourished as a base for inshore skipjack fishing boats. Pacific saury fishing is carried out as a side job, and even today, saury fishing boats return to Asari Port in early winter. In Minamiizu Town, chicken rice has been passed down as a local food that is indispensable for local festivals and gatherings. In Shirahama, Shimoda City, fishermen's lobsters (lobsters that cannot be shipped) are frozen and used to make soup stock for yam soup. In this way, in the Izu region, the custom of making dashi using ingredients such as chicken and local fish seems to have led to the flavor of yam soup.

Tororo soup with spiny lobster soup (Shimoda City)

East from Fujikawa
For household electricity, electricity is sent at 50 hertz to the east and 60 hertz to the west, with the border between Fuji River and Itoigawa in Niigata Prefecture. Interestingly, there is a slight resemblance in whether ``soy sauce'' or ``miso'' is added to the soup stock used to make yam soup. In Shizuoka Prefecture, east of the Fuji River, there are far more soy sauce lovers than miso lovers. Having said that, the seasoning of yam soup cannot be clearly categorized like the frequency of electricity. In Gotemba, some families use miso for seasoning, and Shimoda Shirahama's Ise lobster soup stock uses miso. In areas east of the Fuji River, excluding the Izu Peninsula, the base of most soup stock is bonito stock.

Around Shizuoka City
Starting with the long-established store that opened its store in the first year of Keicho and has been operating a yam soup specialty store in Maruko-juku for nearly 430 years, the shops from the west bank of the Fuji River to the Okabe area of ​​Fujieda City use bonito stock as a base and season with white miso. There are many shops specializing in yam soup near Maruko-juku, and tourists from inside and outside the prefecture come here just for the yam soup. By the way, the miso called white miso in this region is a light-colored rice miso that combines the characteristics of Kyoto's white miso and rural miso, and is called Sohaku miso.

A long-established yam soup shop that has been around for over 400 years

West of Oigawa
To the west of the Oigawa River, many regions use mackerel to make yam soup stock. Mackerel has a rich and rich flavor, and has been used for grated yam soup for a long time. Miso is commonly used as a seasoning. Nowadays, some families seem to be using canned mackerel instead of fresh mackerel. The Makinohara Plateau is home to vast tea plantations and is also a major producer of wild yam. In Makinohara, cultivation of Shizuoka's native wild yam variety 'Agriculture Test No. 60' is actively carried out, and in order to grow high-quality wild yam, wild yam farmers are also putting effort into preserving the original species.

Around Lake Hamana
It is said that in the Iride district of Kosai City on the west coast of Lake Hamana near the Mikawa border, people offered carp and crucian carp to Lord Ieyasu and obtained fishing privileges throughout Lake Hamana. The combination of mullet, a popular fish caught in Lake Hamana, and wild yam, a bounty from the Kosai Mountain Range, was one of the traditional winter foods of this region. The grated yam soup made with mullet soup is more like thick bean paste than soup. We also use curry and rice plates instead of bowls. It seems that there is also goby soup stock. Around Lake Hamana, each household has made yam soup made with local fish from Lake Hamana and seasoned with soy sauce.

Mountainous areas and inland areas
A survey conducted in the Tenryu River basin (Mizakubo, Tatsuyama), the Oi River basin (Senzu, place name, Sasama-do), and the Abe River basin (Umegashima) revealed that there are many areas where dried sardines and shiitake mushrooms are used to make yam soup stock. I understand. In hilly and mountainous areas where fresh seafood is difficult to obtain, dried sardines and dried shiitake mushrooms, which have a long shelf life, seem to have played an important role in making dashi, in addition to yam soup. On the other hand, in Jina, Kawanehoncho, they make yam soup made with mackerel stock and seasoned with miso, and in Senzu, further upstream on the Oigawa River, they make yam soup made with black hanpen from Yaizu and local shiitake mushrooms, and seasoned with miso. was making. Dashi using mackerel and black hanpen can be said to be a way of eating that was born out of the distribution system and people's wisdom that connected the sea and the mountains in the 30s.

Black hanpendashi and yam soup set meal (Kawamotocho Senzu)

Dashi for river fish: Dashi for sweetfish
Before Sakuma Dam was built, it seems that many sweetfish lived in the Tenryu River. Farmhouses at that time had a hearth. A charcoal fire was built in the hearth, where sweetfish were dried and stored in tin cans. In addition to making dashi, it is said that the taste is outstanding when you squeeze dry sweetfish into powder and sprinkle it on hot rice like furikake. Misakubo's Ayu Dashi Tororo Soup does not contain eggs in order to bring out the aroma of the Ayu. Shredded yuzu is used as a condiment, and the aromas of ayu and yuzu match well, creating an elegant taste. This was a feast for a special day where mountains and rivers intertwine. Ayu dashi was a special soup stock for special occasions, and dried sardines were used in everyday life. Nowadays, the number of sweetfish in the Tenryu River has decreased dramatically, and there are almost no houses with hearths. I no longer see people drying sweetfish at home.

Reproduction of sweetfish soup stock @ Misakubo
In November 2023, we took on the challenge of reviving ayu soup stock in conjunction with the ``11nd Yam Taste Comparison Workshop'' held at a farm restaurant in Misakubo. We caught sweetfish in the Keda River, a tributary of the Tenryu River, and then frozen the sweetfish and dried it over a hearth in late September, after the Misakubo Festival (photo).

Ingredients from the mountains, rivers, and sea are closely related to yam soup, including the distribution channels, and this is reflected in the seasoning. Shiitake mushrooms and dried sardines were important ingredients for making dashi in mountainous regions. The food comparison event at Misakubo was an opportunity to share such things as ``Ayu Dashi'', which has declined as a stock ingredient, and ``Kurohanpen Dashi'' from Senzu, Kawanehoncho, which was born from the distribution system of the 30s. In the future, we would like to link Fujinokuni's diverse yam soup culture and ingredients with gastronomy tourism, and use it to further foster Fujinokuni's food culture and regional development.

Fujinokuni “Tororo Soup Search” Map

Fujinokuni “Tororo Soup Search” Map (PDF)）

Recipes posted on the Tororo Soup Search Map

Recipe for grated lobster soup

Tororo chiffon cake recipe