It's time to taste the homemade fruit liquor! 先月クイーンズタウン在住の友人のカズコさんが、ご自宅の庭で収穫されたサクランボで作ったというチェリー酒を 『テースティングどうぞ！』 と我が家に持ってきていただいて、美味しくテースティングしました。 Beautiful cherry liquors which I got from my friend, who made with her garden harvest of cherries in December!
How about my Ume-shu (Ume-plum liquor)??? それに影響され・・・ さて、うちの梅酒はどうなってるかな??? I made it in December (early summer), it should be checked now. 昨年12月初め（初夏）に漬けた梅酒
ガレージ内の棚の中で静かに眠っていた梅酒を出してみました。 Here are the ones after 6-months. They changed the color deep and beautiful, I should taste!!! 半年後の５月下旬（晩秋）の梅酒 同じ順番に並べました。 左にもう一瓶増えたのは、梅干しにするつもりで熟成させた黄色い梅を、あとから一部梅酒作りに変更したものです。
******************************************************* Ume-plum + dark Rum + crystal coffee sugar: 青梅に、ダークラムと、コーヒー用のクリスタル・シュガー：
（右）ダークな液体になりました。 ラムの風味自体が甘いので、甘みの強さ、そしてコクを感じます。
(Right side) It became dark colored liquor. Deep sweet aroma.
Ume-plum + Shochu + yellow rock sugar: 青梅に、芋焼酎（薩摩白波）と、黄色い氷砂糖：
薄い琥珀色の液体に。 Great strong Sho-chu flavor, but well matching with sweetness and acidity from Ume. おおお～！ 芋焼酎の強みが前面に出ながらも、甘酸っぱくて美味しい！ 素敵なコンビネーションが病みつきになりそう！
Matured yellow Ume-plum + Sake + rock sugar: 熟した黄色い梅に、日本酒と、氷砂糖： 梅干しにするため熟成させてた梅ですが、分量が中途半端になってしまったので、余った分を梅酒にしました。
Delicious sweet aroma of matured Ume! The taste is gentle and round. 梅の芳香が一番感じられ、まろやかな味わい（酸味ひかえめ）。 梅酒は青梅で作るものと思っていたけど、熟した梅で作るとまた違った美味しさが味わえます。 個人的には大好きな味。
It is said that Ume-shu the taste become delicious in the whole one year, that means, it's still developing. I need to wait for further aging, then will let people taste at the workshop.
静かな晩秋のワナカより The planning of Ume-shu workshop makes me very excite while watching scenery of winter.
Ume arrived! I pre-ordered both "Ao ume" (un-matured firm ones for making plum liqueur) and "Jukushita ume" (slightly matured ones for making Ume-boshi pickles) at YUMESATO FARM in Christchurch.
After washing, I soaked the fruits in water for a half day (6-7 hours) to remove harshness. Look at the ume in water, which were coated by air like in a small capsule! 洗ってから、半日（６～７時間）ほど水に浸けてあく抜き。 最初に水を入れたとき、梅の周りに薄い空気の層が見えて神秘的です。
Ginkgo nuts from up North, sunny Bay of Plenty! I enjoyed the taste, and intrduced one of the recipe in my winter cooking classes. It seems to be often used for Japanese and Asian dishes, but this soft texture and complex flavour is good for Western taste as well. By adding ginkgo nuts, a casual soup or rice becomes a dish with a special winter feeling.
Ginkgo nuts can be purchased through here ： www.ginkgo.nz
********************************************************************************** There are ways of "cooking with unshelled" and "cooking after remove the shell and inner skin". Microwave is a handy way as the unshelled cooking method.
殻付きのまま加熱まで一気にするなら電子レンジが簡単。
After making a crack into the shell by spanner, I put 15～20 nuts in recycled envelope with holding the edge to seal, then heated it with microwave. I stopped it when I heard popping sound couple of times which was 40 sec. Removed the shell and skin. It can be eaten straight away, or can be used as a topping/decoration of dish. 15～20個くらいを紙の封筒に入れて口を3回くらい折りたたんで、電子レンジで加熱。 30秒くらいでポンッポンッ！と大きな破裂音が聞こえ始めたので40秒あたりでストップ。 1分だと加熱しすぎで中身も破裂している可能性があるので注意。 （ニュージーランドの一般的な電子レンジ使用） 予めスパナで殻にヒビを入れておくと、破裂音が多少和らぐかも。 加熱後、殻を剥いて（塩ふって）そのまま食べられます。 料理の仕上げに散らすなら、これがお手軽な方法ですね。
Finishing touch of creamy soup of leek and mushroom. The nuts fits deliciously adding unique texture and flavor.
モーニング・スープの浮き身に。 クリーム系の味にもよく馴染みます。
Traditional side dish "Shira-ae" (salad dressed with mashed tofu). We cooked it in the cooking classes using ginkgo nuts and vegetables. Gentle taste mixed with aroma from sesame seeds, and pleasant crunchy texture of ingredients. So healthy!
Cheese fondue style with Camembert. I scattered cooked ginkgo nuts and toasted walnuts on cheese of sliced half thickness, then melted the cheese in MW with low power. Black pepper may be good to sprinkle on top.
When we cook raw nuts together with others, we peel the skin first. Try to soak the nuts in water for a while, to become broken the shell easily. And soak the inside part again, to become peeled the skin off easily. 生のまま調理に使う場合は、殻ごとしばらく浸水させてスパナなどで殻を割り、剥きます。中身をまた浸水。 薄皮もしばらく水につけると剥きやすくなります。
I cooked the nuts with brown rice, adding Kombu-kelp and a little amount of salt. Drizzle some Ex-V.olive oil after it was cooked, to add aroma and flavor. Feeling so peaceful!
Or, cook the nuts with being unshelled in a frying pan for a few minutes. Just applying salt while peeling a burning hot shell and skin, it is the most simple way, and it's still delicious, though there are various way to enjoy the feature.
But be careful not to over-eat at a time. Moderate consumption is advised (adults eat no more than 10 per day, and children no more than 5 per day) for maximum benefit of ginkgo which have been used as health supplements.
It reminds me of the memory that my dad roasted the nuts in cold season in Japan. There are nutritive value and medicinal properties, and it was also nourishment in my heart when I cooked those while thinking my childhood.
Thank you Graham and Mavis and the team of the orchard for producing the ginkgo nuts in New Zealand.
One of traditional Japanese sweet, Yokan. I made it with kumara (sweet potato) paste instead of azuki bean paste. The cut end is beautiful by having put dried fruits and walnut in.
Cook the kumara, make it paste, add sugar, and mix well.
クマラ餡は一度に大量に作って冷凍保存して ますが、そのうちの400gを使います。
Combine 8g of "Kanten" (powdered agar agar) and 500ml of water. To dissolve the powder completely, mix well by whisk while it is boiled, and continue for 4～5 min on boiling. (Important part!) Add kumara paste (400g), mix well, add sugar and maple syrup to adjust the sweetness.
I prepared dried fig, dried apricot, and walnut as the contents. Sprinkle a little rum and hot water over the dried fruits if it's needed to soften. (as for the hard apricot particularly) Crack and remove the husk of walnut. **This preparations of dried fruits & nuts should be done before the agar-work which I wrote up there. (sorry, the order is reversed)
Pour the one-third of kumara-kanten mixture in a container or cake tin (I used 23x8cm tin), place the half of dried fruits in and put some walnut in the gaps. Spread another one-third of mixture on it. Place the remaining fruits and walnut there. Then top the remaining mixture, flatten the surface.
(23x8cm の型を使いました）
TIP: The Kanten (agar) works well and the mixture becomes to be set (harden) soon at the room temperature. So the layer-work should be done quickly. You can keep the pan of mixture on very low heat beside you during this work.
～～ Cover with wrap and cool in the fridge for a half day or overnight ～～
I got Yuzu (Japanese citron) this winter again, from Tanja who was a local chocolate maker. She purchased Yuzu from North island to produce "Yuzu chocolate" which was so popular among the local people as the sensational flavor.
Fragrance from Yuzu, beautiful... This time I gave up the "Yuzu-yu" (the bath in which those are put and set afloat), which is one of pleasure of Japanese winter custom though. Then I made sugared peels and marmalade.
YUZU MARMALADE: After remove the peels and keep the peels in water, I used all the left parts for marmalade making. Squeezing the juice, chopping all remaining white parts finely, putting seeds in a tea-bag, then I simmered all together with sugar and water. It got all the extract from Yuzu, nothing to throw away! 皮の浸水中に、マーマレード作り： 絞った中身、ジュースとして採れるよりも、ワタ・種など の部分が多いですが、これも使わない手はないです。 白いワタの部分は刻んで（黄色い皮の端っこも追加） ジュースと共に砂糖で煮ます。 種はペクチンが豊富ですからお茶用の紙パックに入れて、この鍋に投入、一緒に煮出して最後搾りきる！ これで柚子のエキスを残らず摂取。
Yuzu marmalade, completed!
あっという間にマーマレード完成。 瓶詰め。
SUGARED PEELS: Parboil the peels twice to remove the excess bitterness. Add 30% of sugar for the weight of the peels, then heat up gently.
To vaporize the moisture a bit more, I put them in oven for 15min with lowest temperature 75 degrees (with fan), then coated with sugar. Nice texture and delicious with bitterness when chewing it!
I pre-ordered both "Ao ume" (un-matured 
I cooked the nuts with brown rice,
One of traditional Japanese sweet, 
Cook the kumara, make it paste, add sugar, 
I prepared dried fig, dried apricot, and walnut 
Let's cut it!
Fragrance from Yuzu, beautiful...
Parboil the peels twice to remove the excess 
To vaporize the moisture a bit more, I put them 
It was a great hit!
Yuzu peel which has a beautiful aroma