Kuro Mame

Dec 2, 2019 | Culture, Holiday, Kitchen Culture, Winter

Glossy sugar-stewed black beans, a New Year’s treat.

KURO MAMÉ

black beans・earnest effort  
黒豆・苦労+忠実

In the world of culinary endeavor, word-play can add a nuance of flavor to mealtime. Several of Japan’s osechi dishes served during the New Year holiday exemplify this: Plump, black soybeans called kuro mamé are tender-cooked and sugar-stewed until glossy.

The word kuro usually means “black” But the meaning shifts to “hard work” when the calligraphy changes and the final vowel is extended.

Similarly, the word mamé usually means “bean.” But, when written with different calligraphy, mamé becomes “sincere” or “earnest.”

KURO MAMÉ

Kuro mamé = black beans = 黒豆
Kurō mamé = earnest effort  ­= 苦労・忠実

Eating sugar-stewed black beans on New Year’s ensure that those who work in earnest will have a sweet new year!

Sweet-simmered kuro mamé are part of osechi, the food served at New Year’s in Japan. Osechi dishes are typically served in stacked boxes called jūbako. Pictured here is one of several layers; the swwet-simmered black beans are in the middle in a white dish.

Kuro mamé, black soybeans grow as any other soybean. If you are able to source them as “branch beans” you can enjoy them édamamé style, boiled in their pods. Most of the crop, however, is dried and cooked as needed.

DOWNLOAD recipe for Kuro Mame for Japanese New Years

PROJECT Springtime Sweets

PROJECT Springtime Sweets

洋菓子・yōgashiWestern-Style Confectionery Japan's food culture includes ingredients, techniques and dishes that have been adopted and/or adapted from non-Japanese sources.  One large category is confectionery. Earliest influences were from the Portuguese in the 16th...

Celebrating Sakura

Celebrating Sakura

The Japanese take great pleasure in celebrating the seasons and SAKURA (cherry blossoms) are emblematic of spring. From the time buds (tsubomi 蕾) first appear to the official pronouncement of blooming (kaika 開花) it is often less than a week. And from there to...

PROJECT Temari Sushi

PROJECT Temari Sushi

This KITCHEN PROJECT  features temari-zushi, bite-sized spheres of tart rice topped with various ingredients. HINA MATSURI is celebrated on March 3 and during the weeks leading up to it, and for several weeks thereafter, scattered chirashi-zushi and/or temari-zushi ...

Cooking Cloth

Cooking Cloth

Cloth is the work horse, and often unsung hero, of the kitchen. In the Japanese kitchen, cloth enables the cook to perform a wide range of tasks such as lining steamers, draining and straining, enveloping, and shaping.Cloths known as fukashi nuno 蒸し布 are used to line...

Recent Posts & Projects