つくし Horsetails

日本[にほん]は今[いま]、春[はる]です。いろいろな花[はな]が咲[]いています。そして、つくしもあります。

It is spring in Japan now. You can see all sorts of flowers and apparently it is the season of tsukushi as well.

つくしを知[]っていますか。このブログにつくしの写真[しゃしん]があります。今[いま]、辞書[じしょ]で調[しら]べたら、つくし=a horsetail と書[]いてありました。Horsetail って変[へん]な名前[なまえ]! 日本[にほん]の食[]べ物[もの]の本[ほん]で調[しら]べたら、以下[いか] (= the following)の説明[せつめい] (= explanation)がありました。 

Tsukushi: spore-bearing shoot of a plant called sugina. These shoots appear in spring and are a feature of sansai ryori. After blanching well to remove the bitterness, they are prepared as aemono, sunomono, and o-hitashi. (Hosking, 1996, pp. 162-163)*
 
NB. Sansai: mountain vegetables, aemono: cooked salad, sunomono: salad dressed with vinegar, o-hitashi: soused greens
 
[]どものとき、田舎[いなか] (= the countyside)に行[]って、つくしをとりました。そして母[はは]に料理[りょうり]してもらって食[]べました。とてもおいしかったです。また食[]べたいなあ~。
 
Have you ever heard of tsukushi? You can see a photo of tsukushi in this blog; the third photo shows tsukushi. In English, this is apparently called horsetails. What a strange name! I have no idea why it is called in that way. It does not look like a horsetail at all. I checked with a book of Japanese food and it gives  the above explanation for tsukushi.
 
When I was young, I went to the countryside, picked tsukushi in the field, and got mum to cook it. That was yum. I wish I could eat it again!
 
* Hosking, R, 1996. A dictionary of Japanese food. Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle.

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