Mrs.Fumi Ichihara
(Tsurugi Town)

Radishes are dried and processed as preserved food during the cold winter season in the mountainous areas of Nishi-Awa.

Mrs.Fumi Ichihara who lives in Nagase, Tsurugi town, peels radishes grown on a slope and hangs them under the eaves to dry for about a month in every December.

Expose them to cool breezes and keep them out of the rain under the eaves to dry and increase their sweetness.

Mrs.Ichihara uses a knife to thinly chop the dried radish, which is about one-tenth the thickness of the original.

The radish is cut into round slices about 2mm in diameter and dried outside once again to complete the drying process.

Mrs.Ichihara said that the sweetness and crunchy texture of radish is addictive when she eats vinegar dipped "Hariharizuke" or marinated in soy sauce and sweet cooking rice wine.

Mrs. Ichihara's dried twisted radishes are sold at the roadside station Sadamitsu Yuyu-kan in Tsurugi town from around every February.