List of Japanese ingredients explained

The following is a list of ingredients used in Japanese cuisine.

Plant sources

Cereal grain

• Rice
  • Short or medium grain white rice. Regular (non-sticky) rice is called .
  • Mochi rice (glutinous rice)-sticky rice, sweet rice
  • (brown rice)
  • Rice bran – not usually eaten itself, but used for pickling, and also added to boiling water to parboil tart vegetables
  • – toasted brown rice grains in and
  • – Aspergillus cultures
• (barley)

Flour

• starch – an alternative ingredient for potato starch
• – soybean flour/meal
• – (millet) flour
• – starch powder
• starch
• Rice flour
  • • • • • • • – semi-cooked rice dried and coarsely pulverized; used as alternate breading in deep-fried dish, also used in Kansai-style confection. Medium fine ground types are called and used as breaded crust or for confection. Fine ground are
  • , – powdery starch made from sticky rice.
  • flour
• Soba flour
• starch – substitutes are sold under this name, though authentic starch derives from fern roots. See
• Wheat flour
  • Tempura flour
  • ,, – descending grades of protein content; all purpose, udon flour, cake flour
  • – name for the starch of rice or wheat. Apparently used for to some extent. In Chinese cuisine, it is used to make the translucent skin of the shrimp .

Noodles

See main article: Japanese noodles.

• Soba
  • Ramen
• Udon
• noodles

Vegetables

Botanic fruits as vegetables

• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• – mild peppers
  • • • – The leaves of the made into are .
• – pumpkins, squash
• – type of squash/melon.

Cabbage family

• – (B. rapa var. perviridis)
• - (B. rapa var. nipposinica)
• Napa cabbage – (B. rapa var. glabra)
• – (Brassica juncea var. integrifolia or var. of mustard)
• – (cultivar of B. rapa var.)
• (rapeseed or coleseed flowering-stalks, used like broccoli rabe)

Other leafy vegetables

• Spinach

Onion family

Vegetables in the onion family are called in Japanese.

• – type of chives
• – Chinese chives or garlic chive
  • – formerly thought a variety of scallion, but geneticists discover it to be a cross with the bulb onion (A. × wakegi).
• Green onions or scallions
  • – Often used to denote the types as thick as leeks used in Kantō region, 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 (Hiroshima), (Fukui), (Gifu)
• – Allium macrostemon, collected from the wild much like field garlic.
• – Allium victorialis, much like ramps.

Root vegetables

• – Chinese artichoke, Stachys affinis
• – Japanese radish
• – Arctium lappa
• Lotus root
• Potato
• Sweet potato
• Taro and stalk
  • – Kyoto variety
  • – stems available fresh or dried; their tartness must be boiled off before use.
• – bamboo shoots
  • ,, – Slender bamboo shoots of (Sasa kurilensis), so-called "baby bamboo shoots".
  • – vital condiment to ramen, made from the Taiwanese giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus) and not from the typical bamboo shoot.
• – vague name that can denote either Dioscorea spp. (Japanese yam or Chinese yam) 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 . Also the tubercle used whole.
  • or (Dioscorea japonica) – considered the true Japanese yam. The name refers to roots dug from the wild.
  • (D. opposita) – In a strict sense, refers to the long truncheon-like form.
  • (D. opposita) – A fan-shaped (ginkgo leaf shaped) variety, more viscous than the long form.
  • (D. polystachya var.) – A round variety even more viscous and highly prized.
  • – edible tubercles
• – lily bulbs

Sprouts

• – radish sprouts
• – mung sprouts
• Soybean sprouts

Specialty vegetables

• Aralia cordata – "Japanese spikenard"
• –a type of butterbur, both stalk and young flower shoots
• – dried gourd strips
• –
• – a term for wild-picked vegetables in general, including fernbrake, bamboo shoots, tree shoots

Pickled vegetables

• – term for Japanese pickles.

Nuts

• Ginkgo nuts
• Azuki bean
• – chestnuts
• – Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia)
• – a type of buckeye or horse chestnut (Aesculus turbinata)
• – acorns of Castanopsis spp.

Seeds

• Sesame seeds
  • Black sesame seeds
  • White sesame seeds
• seeds
• Wild sesame seeds
• Hemp seeds – mixed in with
• – usually powdered mustard, or in paste tubes
• – Zanthoxylum piperitum

Mushrooms

• • • • • • • Shiitake
  • Wood ear
• Rhizopogon roseolus

Seaweed

See also: Edible seaweed.

• – Campylaephora hypnaeoides
• – Petalonia binghamiae
  • – kombu, kelp
  • or – thin shavings of kelp
  • – a thin sheet of kelp created as a byproduct
  • – the thick, pleated portion near the attached base of the seaweed
  • Nori
  • – refers to seaweed harvested from sea-rock.
    • – Aphanothece sacrum, a Kyushu specialty
• – also known as and ; agar

Fruits

Citrus

See main article: Japanese citrus.

• • • – a new hybrid
      • Yuzu

Other

• Akebia (sausage fruit)
  • Loquat
• – a traditional type of melon
• Nashi pear
• Persimmon
• – Myrica rubra

Soy products

• • • Soy sauce (light, dark,)
    • – soy sprouts
• – soy meal
• – dry-roasted soy beans and black soy beans (used in, etc.)

Vegetable proteins

• – wheat gluten
  • – fresh usually sold in sticks (long bars)
  • Dry – variously shaped and colored. is one variety
  • – somewhat more doughy (still has starches left)
• Tofu
  • Soft: (silken),,
  • Firm: (cotton)
  • Freeze-dried:
  • Fried:,,,
  • Residue:
  • Soy milk

Animal sources

Eggs

• Chicken
• Quail egg
• Terrapin eggs, sea-turtle eggs

Meats

• Beef
  • Kobe beef
  • Matsusaka beef
  • Mishima beef
  • Beef tongue, heart, liver, tripe, rumen, omasum, abomasum
• Chicken – called in Western parts (Kansai). There are various heritage breeds called
  • Nagoya cochin
  • Shamo – fighting cock
  • – × Rhode Island red
  • Unlaid egg yolk
• Pork
  • (Berkshire (pig))
  • or, extinct but reconstructed heritage hog of Okinawa
  • – a domestic pig × wild boar crossbreed
  • Boar meat – the (hotpot) dish is called ("peony")
  • Whey – marketed by
• Horse meat, sometimes called – a delicacy. Raw sliced horsemeat is called ; the fatty neck portion from where the mane grows is known as .

Finned fish

Marine fishes

• (red-fleshed fish or akami zakana)
• skipjack tuna (katsuo) - made into tataki, namaribushi, and processed into katsuobushi
  • • tuna (maguro)
• Japanese amberjack (buri / hamachi)
• Spanish mackerel (sawara)

Blue-backed fish

These fish are collectively called ao zakana in Japanese.

• Japanese jack mackerel (aji)
• pacific saury (sanma)
• sardine (iwashi)
  • Niboshi or iriko is dried sardine, important for fish stock and other uses.
• mackerel (saba)
• or kohada (Konosirus punctatus)
• herring (nishin)
• aji (Japanese horse mackerel and similar fish) - typical fish for hiraki, or fish that is gutted, butterflied, and half-dried in shade.

White-fleshed fish

These fish are collectively called shiromi zakana in Japanese.

• flatfish (karei / hirame) - ribbons of flesh around the fins called engawa are also used. Roe is often stewed.
• pike conger (hamo) - in Kyoto-style cuisine, also as high-end surimi.
• pufferfish (fugu) - flesh, skin, soft roe eaten as sashimi and hot pot (tecchiri); organs, etc. poisonous; roe also contain tetrodotoxin but a regional specialty food cures it in nuka until safe to eat.
• tilefish (amadai) - in a Kyoto-style preparation, it is roasted to be eaten scales and all; used in high-end surimi.
• red sea bream (madai) - used widely. the head stewed as kabuto-ni.

Freshwater fish

• ayu - the shiokara made from this fish is called .
• Japanese eel (unagi)
• - refers regionally to different fish, but often the goby type, some are high-end fish.
• salmon (sake) - 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
• (Family Salangidae)
• nigoro buna (Carassius auratus grandoculis) - vital source of funazushi for Shiga-kennians

Marine mammals

• baleen whale (kujira)
• dolphin (iruka)

Mollusks

Squid and cuttlefish

These fish are collectively called ika in Japanese.

• (aori ika)
• (surume ika)
• (kensaki ika)
• (yari ika)
• (hotaru ika)
• (kō ika)

Octopus

Octopus is called tako in Japanese.

• Common octopus (madako)
• Giant Pacific octopus (mizudako)
• Amphioctopus fangsiao (iidako)

Bivalves

• scallop (hotate-gai)
• littleneck clam (asari)
• freshwater clam (shijimi)
• oyster (kaki)
  • iwagaki (Crassostrea nippona), available during summer months.
• clam (hamaguri)
• (akagai)
• (aoyagi)
• Geoduck (mirugai)
• (torigai)

Single shelled gastropods and conches

• horned turban (sazae)
• abalone

Crustaceans

These foods are collectively called ebikani-rui or kokaku rui in Japanese.

Crab

Crab is called kani in Japanese.

• snow crab (zuwaigani)
• horsehair crab (kegani)
• king crab (tarabagani; hanasaki gani=Paralithodes brevipes)
• horse crab (gazami)
• Kona crab (asahi-gani)

Lobsters, shrimps, and prawns

These shellfish are collectively called ebi in Japanese.

• spiny lobster (ise-ebi)
• Kuruma prawn (kuruma ebi)
• humpback shrimp (botan ebi; Pandalus hypsinotus)
• mantis shrimp - (shako)
• barnacle
• (Palaemon paucidens) - freshwater

Echinoderms

• Sea cucumbers (namako) - body, intestines (konowata), ovaries (kuchiko, konoko)
• Sea urchin (uni), ovaries

Tunicates

• Sea pineapple (hoya)

Roe

• salmon roe (ikura)
• herring roe (kazunoko)
• mullet roe (karasumi) - similar to botargo
• pollock roe (tarako (food))
• capelin roe (masago)
• flying fish roe (tobiko)
• crustacean eggs

Liver

• ankimo, or monkfish liver.
• (Thread-sail filefish) 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 (skipjack) livers and guts, used to make shiokara.

Processed seafood

• anchovy (katakuchi-iwashi), dried to make Niboshi. The larvae are shirasu and made into Tatami iwashi
• chikuwa
• himono (non-salted dried fish) - some products are bone dry and stiff, incl. ei-hire (skate fins), surume (dried squid), 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

Some insects have been considered regional delicacies, though often categorized as or bizarre food.

• , 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 (specialty of Ina, Nagano area).

See also

• List of Japanese cooking utensils
• List of Japanese dishes
• List of Japanese condiments
  • List of sushi and sashimi ingredients Sansai