An Edible Ode to Winter: Sleet & Snow

Jan 28, 2025 | Kitchen Culture, Winter

Winter weather reports predicting SLEET (mizoré), are rarely welcome news. After all, the bone-chilling mixture of rain and snow is messy under foot and creates hazerdous road conditions. But when  mizoré appears on a menu, it conjurs up tasty fare. Snowy white daikon radish ressembles sleet when it is grated — that is the origin of the name mizoré aé.

A potential powerhouse of vitamin C to help ward off wintertime colds, be sure to grate your daikon just before serving it since extended exposure to air will diminish its nutritive value.

mizoré  霙  sleet

Download a recipe for mizoré aé

SNOW (yuki) can be beautiful to behold (though problematic when it needs to be shovelled away). Snow can be fun (skiing, sleighing, building snowmen).

In Japan, at table, the image of deep snow is evoked with grated daikon — that is the origin of the name yuki nabé.

Grated daikon provides a marvelous, slightly spicy taste and (coarse) texture contrast to brothy, meaty hotpots. Be sure to grate your daikon just before serving to help preserve its high level of Vitamin C.

Visit my Kitchen PROJECTS page to learn about Bean-Throwing for SETSUBUN and read my January, 2025 newsletter.

New Beginings

New Beginings

In Japan, April is the time for new beginnings -- the start of a new school year, a new fiscal year, and changes to many established programs on TV, radio and other media outlets. In tune with this custom, I've made some changes at A Taste of Culture this month. I...

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 ...

Recent Posts & Projects