I have made it a point to upload and post on the same day as taking the photos in the interest of keeping accurate records so I can see next year what date it was this year that we picked and enjoyed eating our first fukinoto of the season.
It was today. They were small, and probably peed on by dogs (quite close to the road), but they were goooooooood.
Fukinoto is the first green we get to eat in the spring. Unlike the wild veggies that grow in non-snowy areas, and grow slowly as the weather warms, ours literally spring out, having been alive, but not growing under the insulating cover of snow. Once the snow melts and they are exposed to spring sun, they grow very quickly, which is supposed to make them taste better. I have never really compared them to non-snow-country fukinoto, but I like to believe it just for the sake of feeling smug as I eat this free treat every day for the next month or two.
We were also very happy that Mona is old enough to somewhat understand and participate in this once-a-year special activity. She doesn’t care for the taste, but what little girl would not like helping mommy pop off little baby flowers’ heads as they peek up out of their snow-blanket.
Those look much better than the pale uniformly shaped fukinoto we use at the restaurant. The ones we use are probably grown by your neighbor in his hot house.
Yeah, I would hate to have to go out and find enough perfectly same-sized and shaped fukinoto in the wild to source restaurants. I can assure you though that what we picked yesterday are far from sell-able and even bad by our standards. in a week or two we will not even turn our head at such pathetic fukinoto.