From the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | |
| Ego: egusa seaweed | 50 g |
| Igo: egusa seaweed | 50 g |
| Seasonings and liquids | |
| Ego: water | 900 ml |
| Igo: water | 1,000 ml |
Egusa is said to have been carried by traveling sellers from fishing villages on the Sea of Japan to mountain villages in Shinano. People eat ego mostly in the area along the “salt road,” from the Daihoku area to the Nagano Nishiyama area (Shinshu-Shinmachi, Ogawa, Nakajo, Nanaai and others). It is eaten in most areas except the south.
When there were no refrigerators, in Nagano, which has no sea, long-lasting seafood was a precious food for getting nutrients that people tended to lack. Ego is thought to have been eaten by the end of the Taisho period, and was carried for many days from the coast of Niigata. The egusa that came from Niigata sold out in the Hokushin area and hardly reached big towns like Nagano City and Matsumoto. This is why it took root mainly in the north of Nagano.
Near Iiyama, egusa is melted as it is and called “ego,” and eaten with mustard soy sauce, mustard vinegar-miso or mustard. In Kijimadaira and Azumino, egusa is wetted, dried in the sun to whiten it, and then melted. This is called “igo,” and it is eaten with sansho-pepper miso, soy sauce with shaved bonito, wasabi soy sauce or mustard soy sauce.
In Niigata too, there are areas that melt egusa in its natural color and areas that whiten it first, and it is mostly passed on as an Obon food.
It is eaten all year. Ego is not only a treat at Obon but is a must for celebrations and funerals, so it has been made for those occasions.
The egusa is washed in water and soaked until it takes up enough. It is put in a pot with just enough water to cover it and heated. When it has been well kneaded with a rice paddle, it is poured into a mold and set. It is cut like sashimi konnyaku, and eaten with vinegar-miso or wasabi soy sauce.
Fewer families make it than before, but some still do, and supermarkets sell ego and egusa. In Iiyama City, ego has long been eaten at celebrations and funerals as a loved local food. In 2007 (Heisei 19) it was designated an intangible folk cultural property of the city, with three other dishes: sasa-zushi, Tomikura soba and imo-namasu.
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