More Autumn Akebi Attempts

    A few years back, I wrote a blog post about this weird vegetable I found and the few things I managed to try to make out of it. The outside was a bit like a slightly more bitter, thin eggplant but condensed into a rind rather than a vegetable with a skin. The inside, sweet but with a snot-like texture, I found harder to use. Freezing it didn't solve any problems for long and turning it into tea meant that the now flavorless snot-like chunks floated about while the water accepted a thin flavoring of vague sweetness.

Not as pretty as last time but significantly more plentiful and for the low low price of free.

    This year, gifted with a bag of the weird produce, I have decided to put a bit more energy into it, breading and frying the outside while saving the inside for a later recipe.

    The akebi is an autumnal vegetable in the Tohoku mountainside, translated for some reason as "chocolate vine" though the plant has nothing to do with any plants that make chocolate and the inside is significantly less sweet than the name would imply. Many natives refuse to concern themselves with the plant, thinking of it about the same way I might consider squirrel stew -- fine for the very poor who live in the middle of nowhere, but not really something I'm willing to make, use, or eat.

    This is how I attempted to make breaded, fried akebi using just the outer layer.

    First, I rinsed and dried the akebi before slicing it down the seam lengthwise. Opening it up, I removed the white squishy innards that came free of the sides fairly easily. You can discard this or save it for later separate recipe options.

    Then I slice the rest of the rind into spears and repeated this process through the rest of the akebi.


There were a little brown with age but were still edible. Feel free to trim away any damaged spots.


Try to keep them similar in size so they cook at the same speed.    

    Using an eggwash and seasoned breadcrumbs mixed with powdered cheese, I breaded the spears and baked them in the toaster oven on a greased aluminum foil sheet at 1000 watts for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown, turning once.




They should be a crispy brown when you’re finished. If they are fully cooked, the bitterness will be mild and I found these would go well enough with some salad dressings but I didn’t actually prefer them to the eggplant version of this recipe. My husband, an actual Japanese person from Miyagi, couldn’t stand to eat more than a couple of spears and would not even try the pan fried, unbreaded version which I freely admit was significantly less enjoyable .



    I also tried to fry these in oil on the stove but found it difficult as the breading would start burning before the bitterness was fully cooked away. Baking was definitely the best of the cooking options I attempted with akebi.

    So is it worth it to seek out this weird vegetable? If you really don't mind bitter food and want to try something new, it is usually not too expensive despite its rarity.