Tororo (food)

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For the Ugandan town, see
Tororo (Sgt. Frog). For the district, see Tororo District
.

Tororo
nagaimo, water

Tororo (Japanese: 薯蕷, とろろ) is a Japanese side dish made from grating raw yams such as yamaimo (Japanese mountain yam) or nagaimo (Chinese yam).

The flavorless dish uses ingredients such as

spring onions, to give it more flavor. It has a white and sticky texture and is also served as an ingredient in various dishes, such as being paired with various types of noodles, such as soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) and udon
(wheat flour noodles).

Its ubiquity in various dishes makes it a staple of

Matsuo Basho, artist Hiroshige, and Edo period priest Anrakuan Sakuden
.

Etymology

The term tororo (とろろ), comes from the Japanese sound symbolism of torotoro (トロトロ or とろとろ), which expresses that something is sticky, slimy, or syrupy.[1]

In

verbs with the auxiliary verb suru (する, "do"); with torotorosuru (とろとろする or トロトロする), meaning the state of a solid object turning into a viscous liquid.[2]

Production

Nagaimo (literally "long tuber"), also known as Chinese yam, a yam used for making tororo

Tororo is usually made from raw yam of either of two species, namely yamaimo (

Dioscorea polystachya).[3]

Grated tororo using a modern grater

Before grating, the yam's roots and the peel are removed to avoid itchiness from the calcium oxalate crystals present on those parts of the plant. Even though they possess these crystals, they are not present on the pith, unlike other tubers.[4]

Traditional grating uses a

pestle, can mix it by lifting it to incorporate air for a more viscous texture.[5] Many modern processes of making tororo use a grater for a faster process.[6]

Tororo is usually plain, but other ingredients such as soy sauce, dashi, and miso (soybean paste), are added for other recipes such as mugitoro (tororo over rice) and suitoro (clear soup) to enhance the flavor and change the texture.[7]

Texture

The stickiness of tororo gets prevalent during grinding, which is said to be the

proteins, which have the same characteristics when Ginkgo biloba is ground.[10][11]

Nutrition

Mugitoro gohan (tororo over rice), a dish used in the study

The main ingredient of tororo (yams) contains a high amount of vitamins and minerals such as

micronutrients such as potassium, zinc, and iron.[13]

In a study by the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the consumption of tororo lowers

blood sugar and insulin. Due to the raw nature of the food, it is more difficult to digest due to the presence of mucin, dietary fiber, and uncooked raw starch in tororo.[14]

Uses in food

Yamakake, hamachi (yellowtail) over tororo

Tororo is served cold and is consumed on its own though, the foodstuff can also be used as a side dish for other dishes or as an ingredient to other dishes. It is usually flavorless but other condiments such as

spring onions are added for flavor or for other dishes.[15]

Tororo is often used as a topping on many dishes due to the fact that many foods such as nattō (fermented soybeans), udon, and fish can be topped with tororo for a more filling meal as it is inexpensive to add. When tororo is accompanied with diced fish (usually tuna), the dish is called yamakake. Yamakake can also be used when referring to soba topped off with tororo.[15]

Soba with tororo

One of these foods is called mugitoro gohan (tororo over rice) (also known as tororo-meshi and tororo-kake-meshi when made), a dish made by pouring tororo over barley rice.[14]

Many soups, such as soba noodle soups, are paired with tororo. Tororo is mixed up with ingredients such as soy sauce, miso, and dashi before being put as an ingredient in a soup called tororo-jiru (tororo soup) to add more flavor. Mugitoro gohan is often paired up with soup, with the combination being called kotozute-jiru.[16]

Depictions in art and literature

Tororo-jiru depicted in an ukiyo-e of Mariko-juku, one of the stations in the 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō

Tororo is referenced in literary works such as the

double meaning of the word iiyaru, which can mean to say (using words) or to eat.[16]

In the Edo period, Mariko-juku, one of the stations in the 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, tororo-jiru is known as a famous local food in the area. Poet Matsuo Bashō, wrote a poem about the local specialty entitled Ume-wakana Maruko no Yado no Tororo-Jiru in his anthology Sarumino.[17] It is written as a specialty of the area in the Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige, a comic picaresque novel composed by writer Jippensha Ikku.[18]

Featured on the ukiyo-e prints by artist Hiroshige, The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, one print features Mariko-juku, the 20th station of the Tōkaidō, of a teahouse serving tororo-jiru.[19][20]

References

  1. ^ "とろろ汁" [Tororo Soup] (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  2. ^ "とろとろ" [Torotoro] (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  3. ^ "'Yamaimo': Japan's slimy mountain yam". The Japan Times. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  4. ISBN 9781462920839
    . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  5. ISBN 9780307813558
    . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  6. ^ Lapointe, Rick (9 September 2001). "Grater expectations". The Japan Times. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  7. ISBN 4000242407
    .
  8. ^ "山芋と長芋、栄養や違いを知っておいしく食す" [Know the Difference Between Yamaimo and Nagaimo, Their Nutritional Benefits, and Eating Them] (in Japanese). Kagome. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  9. ^ Tsukui, Manabu (July 2007). "ヤマイモ粘質物の性状と構造の解析" [Analysis of Properties and Chemical Structure of Mucilage from Yam]. Journal of the Japan Food Preservation Science Society (in Japanese). Japan Food Preservation Science Society: 229-236. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  10. ^ Sato, Toshio; Mizuguchi, Jun; Suzuki, Shuichi; Tokura, Masatoshi (1967). "イチョウイモ粘質物の精製および性質" [Purification and Properties of Ginkgo Biloba Mucilage]. Japan Chemical Journal (in Japanese). Chemical Society of Japan: 216-220. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  11. ^ Sato, Toshio (1967). "イチョウイモ粘質物の組成と構造 (とくにマンナンの性状)" [Composition and structure of ginkgo mucilage (especially the properties of mannan)]. Japan Chemical Journal (in Japanese). Chemical Society of Japan: 982-985. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  12. ^ "日本食品標準成分表2015年版（七訂）" [Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan 2015 (7th revision)] (in Japanese). Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  13. doi:10.1080/10942910600923296
    . Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  14. ^ a b Matsuoka, Tsubasa; Yamaji, Ayako; Kurosawa, Chihiro; Shinohara, Manabu; Takayama, Ichiro; Nakagomi, Hiromi; Izumi, Keiko; Ichikawa, Yoko; Hariya, Natsuyo; Mochizuki, Kazuki (1 January 2023). "Co-ingestion of traditional Japanese barley mixed rice (Mugi gohan) with yam paste in healthy Japanese adults decreases postprandial glucose and insulin secretion in a randomized crossover trial". Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  15. ^
    ISBN 9781607743965
    . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  16. ^ a b "言伝汁" [Kotozute-jiru (Word Soup)] (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  17. ISBN 9780691064604
    . Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  18. ISBN 9780231144148
    . Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  19. ^ "丸子（鞠子）宿" [Mariko-juku Inn] (in Japanese). Uchiyama.info. Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  20. ^ Lee, Hyunyoung; Woo, Yeonhee. "Meisho in Terms of Mobility and Ethical Literary Criticism: Meisho along Tokaido Gojusan-tsugi" (PDF). Interdisciplinary Studies Of Literature. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
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