千の手間をかけて芋を越冬させる、奇想の島発酵
土地のほとんどが山間地で、稲作が困難だった対馬ではサツマイモが主食として重宝された。しかし南国の作物サツマイモは対馬の冬の寒さに耐えきれず腐ってしまう。サツマイモを越冬させるために生まれたのが、発酵の力を使ってイモのでんぷんを取り出す「せん」だ。生のまま砕いたいもを水に浸け、野外に取り出してカビをつけ、さらに水で何度も洗いながら発酵を続けてペーストにし、それをお団子にして野外で干して保存する、まさに「千の手間をかけて」つくる備蓄食の究極系だ。

A fantastic fermenting idea for making potatoes last through winter through “thousands of hours” of effort
In the mountains of Tsushima, where rice cultivation was near impossible, the sweet potato was prized as a dietary staple. But in the harsh winters of Tsushima the sweet potato, hailing from warmer climes, would quickly rot. In order to make sweet potatoes last through the winter, the sen was invented as a way to extract the starch from the tuber. By soaking the crushed sweet potato, leaving it outside to develop mold, and washing it over and over, the fermentation process proceeds until the potatoes become a paste. The paste is then formed into dumplings which are dried outside to preserve them. The result is an extreme example of a long-lasting food made with “thousands of hours” of effort.

どう作って食べるか / HOW TO MAKE & EAT

❶収穫したサツマイモを生のまま砕いて、水に浸して1月ほど発酵させる。
❷イモを水から引き揚げ、袋にくるんで発酵させて柔らかくする。
❸柔らかくなったイモを団子状にして野外に置くと、カビ類や細菌類がつく。
❹カビが付いた団子をまた水にさらし、灰汁を取り除きながら熟成させていく。
❺熟成が進んだ団子を濾してでんぷん質を沈殿させ、でんぷんを小さな団子状に成型しなおして軒先で乾燥させる。

❶Crush raw, freshly harvested sweet potatoes, then soak them in water for a month to ferment them.
❷Take the potatoes out of the water, wrap them in a bag, then soften them by further fermenting them.
❸Form the softened potatoes into dumplings and rest them outside, allowing them to develop mold.
❹Soak the now moldy dumplings in water again, and allow them to mature while removing the lye.
❺As the dumplings mature, filter them to settle the starch, reform the starch into small dumpling shapes and leave them to dry on a windowsill.

お湯で茹でてお団子にして食べる
パスタ状にして食べる（この麺をロクベエと言う）
Boil in water and eat as dumplings
Form into pasta (these noodles are referred to as rokubee)

▶食べられている地域 / Regions where it is eaten
対馬
※長崎本土でも同じ名前のものがあるが、サツマイモを挽いただけで発酵していない
Tsushima (There is a dish of the samename on the mainland of Nagasaki, but this refers to sweet potatoes that have been ground, not fermented)

▶微生物の種類 / Types of microorganisms
謎の細菌類、カビ類、乳酸菌類など
A diverse array of unknown bacteria and mold, lactic acid bacteria, etc.

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