Shizuoka's food cultureKnow

"Tororo soup" is a dish made by grating wild yam, mixing it with dashi stock and miso, and pouring it over barley rice. Wild yam is also called "yama no imo" (mountain yam) and is about 1.5 meters long and 3 centimeters in diameter.

It grows wild in the mountains and fields of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, but is also cultivated in some places. Wild wild yam in Shizuoka Prefecture is mainly grown in the Chubu region, but is also harvested in the Western and Eastern regions.

Tororo soup has a long history and is a specialty of Maruko (now Maruko District, Suruga Ward, Shizuoka City), the 20th post town on the Tokaido Road. It was popular among travelers as a dish that gave them energy. It also appears in Jippensha Ikku's novel "Hizakurige on the Tokaido," Utagawa Hiroshige's ukiyo-e print "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido," and Matsuo Basho's haiku "Umewakana, Maruko no Yado no Tororo Soup."

As wild yam is harvested from mid-October to December, it is often eaten from autumn to winter. In some areas, it is eaten on the second day of the New Year to pray for good health for the year.

Ingredients used 

Potato

How to eat

Grate the wild yam with a grater and pound it in a mortar. Then, gradually add the mixture of dashi stock, miso, and soy sauce, and pound it well again until it is thickened. When it is done, serve it over rice and sprinkle with nori seaweed. Depending on the region, eggs are added when grating the wild yam and pounding it in a mortar, and when adding the dashi stock, only soy sauce is added instead of miso and soy sauce.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Our local cuisine）