Zeftu@xxxxxxx wrote (Wed, 21 Aug 1996 14:34:28 -0400):
>Hi:
>I had a dish in a Japanese restaurant using a vegetable called a Mountain
>Potato.
>It had the texture of a radish but a very bland flavor. Does anyone know what
>this is and what I would ask for in the market?
>
>Thanks
>Peggy from Detroit
>
>
It might have been jinenjo, which is also called "mountain yam" or yamaimo. I've
never had it, but in _Cooking_with_Japanese_Foods_, Jan and John Belleme
describe it as a having "slightly hairy, beige tubers...which typically grow to
2-3 feet in length, but wild jinenjo have been known to grow to 45 feet long!
Jinenjo's flavor is mild, but the flesh has a sticky, mucilaginous quality that
some Westerners have difficulty getting used to." It's usually eaten raw, mixed
with seasonings, over rice or barley. I've never seen it in a store.
If it was white, it might have been daikon (literally "great root"). Daikon is a
huge white radish that's quite mild--bland in comparision to little red
radishes. It's often served sliced or grated. You can get it practically
anywhere these days--even Kroger carries it. I haven't found that it keeps real
well, though (it gets soft), so I try to buy the smallest one available, or
break a big one into a couple of pieces.
Hope this helps,
Peggy in Lithonia
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