Ebi-imo, loved by Yasunari Kawabata, is a specialty of Iwata City that is nurtured by the fertile Tenryu River waters.

It has a curved appearance like a shrimp and a striped pattern on its skin. Ebi-imo, which gets its name from its appearance, is a luxury food ingredient that originated in Kyoto. It is in season during the winter, and since the parent potato produces baby and grandchild potatoes, it has been valued as a lucky charm for the prosperity of descendants and has been used in New Year's dishes.

The meat is fine-grained, sweet and creamy. A great writer of the past praised its taste as ``delicious and eternal.'' On the other hand, cultivation requires considerable skill and effort, and shrimp potatoes are a rare ingredient even in Japan.

Let's make future specialty products here. With this in mind, Ebi-imo cultivation began in Iwata City at the beginning of the Showa era. The Tenryu River originates from Lake Suwa and flows into the Enshu Sea in Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture. Well-drained, moderately sandy soil. The shrimp potatoes produced in Iwata City, grown on the fertile land, are delicious and now account for 8% of the country's production. In this article, we will tell you about its charm and how to enjoy it.

A luxury item originating from Kyoto, prized by the imperial family since the mid-Edo period.

The origin of shrimp sweet potatoes dates back to the middle of the Edo period. Shoren-in Shrine brought back a potato, a member of the taro family, as a souvenir from Nagasaki. It is said that Gondayu Hirano, who worked for the imperial family, carefully cultivated the potatoes, which turned out to be quite suitable and produced large potatoes. It was named ``Ebi-imo'' because of its shape and striped pattern that resembles a shrimp.

Potatoes grow in the soil from June to August. During this period, the soil is piled up by hand many times, which puts pressure on the potatoes and molds them into a shrimp-like shape. Although the weather is getting hotter, the potatoes are getting bigger day by day, so producers can't afford to make any predictions. The special cultivation techniques and time required to grow shrimp are what make shrimp a luxury product.

Until shrimp potatoes produced in Iwata City become a branded product that is recognized by the local community.

Ebi-imo was brought to Iwata City around 1927 (Showa 2). In an effort to create a future specialty product during the recession, shrimp yam, which was known throughout the country as a high-quality Kyoto ingredient, was introduced. When they tried cultivating it, they found it suited the Iwata soil well and were able to successfully harvest it.

``Ebi-imo, a type of taro, likes moisture, but if grown in soil with poor drainage, it tends to have poor growth.The soil in the Iwata region is blessed with abundant water from the Tenryu River area, but it is sandy and has poor drainage. It is characterized by a good texture. This is suitable for cultivating shrimp potatoes, and the cultivation seems to have been successful."

In the 1990s, the company began sending samples to restaurants in Kyoto in an effort to improve the quality of shrimp potatoes. However, it was completely unusable at first, and there is a record that says, ``It fell apart after being simmered for a day.It lacked the smooth texture unique to Kansai, and fibrous streaks remained in the mouth.''

From there, JA Shizuoka Keizairen took the lead in developing a fertilizer specifically for shrimp potatoes. This is an organic blended fertilizer that contains trace elements such as iron and zinc, is rich in microorganisms, and plays a role in improving soil quality. They continued to improve their cultivation methods and brought in samples many times, until they finally achieved a quality that was recognized by the local producers. Currently, JA Enshu Chuo conducts taste tests on each field, and only shrimp potatoes that have been approved as a brand are shipped.

The secret to deliciousness is to use plenty of high-quality compost and organic fertilizer.

Yasuo Suzuki retired from his job at an automobile manufacturer and started cultivating shrimp potatoes. The large field of over 900 square meters that he inherited from his predecessor is filled with lush green shrimp leaves in the summer. Thanks to careful management and numerous innovations, the shrimp potatoes cultivated by Mr. Suzuki have a reputation for both yield and quality. He serves as vice-chairman of the Ebi-imo Subcommittee, a gathering of volunteer producers, and is generous in providing technical assistance to his colleagues and successors.

“When I first started cultivating shrimp potatoes, I had a hard time.Unlike the industrial products I had been dealing with, agricultural products are a blessing from nature.I had to read the weather and work tirelessly on the fields and potatoes. I learned that you can't grow crops the way you want."

What is difficult about shrimp cultivation?

``The parent potato produces baby potatoes and grand potatoes, but the baby potatoes should be pruned so that there are five potatoes per plant. Also, arrange the baby potatoes in a well-balanced manner.The work of raking buds and ripping leaves in order to leave high-quality baby potatoes requires the experience and intuition of a craftsman.''

Mr. Suzuki says, ``What is delicious to eat is shrimp potatoes grown using mushroom beds and organic fertilizer.'' It is important to create a rich soil that is home to microorganisms, and this preparation begins one year before planting seed potatoes. It is said that 1 kg of organic matter is poured into the 300 tsubo (5 tsubo) area of ​​the compost bed, and additional fertilizer is also applied.

“My mission is to make farming fun so that more young people want to try growing shrimp potatoes.In recent years, I have been working hard to mechanize traditional manual labor.Increasing the number of producers, I want to pass on this field and shrimp potatoes that our predecessors have protected to the next generation.”

A full course at a Japanese restaurant that brings out the quality of the ingredients

At ``Japanese Restaurant Nakaya'', which has been in operation for three generations, you can enjoy courses featuring shrimp and sweet potatoes (reservations required from December to February). The owner, who trained at a famous restaurant in Kyoto, picks up each ingredient of the day one by one and offers a masterpiece that brings out the deliciousness of the shrimp and sweet potato.

Ebi-imo is a sweet potato that goes well with oil. It has a creamy taste that is different from taro. We recommend frying it in oil so that the outside is crispy and the inside is melty. ``Ebi-imo Fried Snow Crab Ankake'' (reservation required) is an indescribably luxurious dish with battered shrimp yam and crabmeat-filled bean paste. The rice cooked with sakura shrimp and shrimp sweet potato, combined with the umami of the shiitake mushrooms, is the perfect dish to end the dish. We also recommend the sweet and spicy boiled shrimp that brings out the quality of the ingredients.

Water from the Tenryu River passes through the mountains of the Southern Alps and reaches the fields as a blessing. Well-drained, fertile soil. Why not enjoy authentic shrimp and sweet potato dishes while experiencing the magnificent nature of Iwata?