Hello! This is the tourism association staff. Now, the wild vegetable season in Shinanomachi has reached its final stage, and the bamboo shoot season has begun! What are “bamboo shoots”? They are the young shoots of Chishimazasa. In snowy regions the weight of the snow often bends the shoots at their base as they grow, so they are called "nemagari-take" (root-bent bamboo), and in Shinanomachi they are called "bamboo shoots." In and around Shinanomachi they are often eaten as "bamboo shoot soup." It is a miso soup with bamboo shoots and ingredients like potatoes, and one indispensable item for bamboo shoot soup is canned mackerel (boiled in water). If you think canned mackerel in miso soup sounds strange, please try it if you can tolerate it. You will be surprised at how delicious it is. (^^♪) There is no need to remove bitterness, but be sure to remove the tough nodes and perform fushi-nuki (node removal) before eating. (Although a crude illustration, it shows peeling and node removal for reference.) Because they are a gift from the mountains, daily harvest and shipping quantities vary. If you find them at direct-sales stores, please pick some up.