Nagori or the delicious nostalgia of the season just passed

Fruits from fallen branches to cook in jellies ... © RFI / Clémence Denavit

By: Clémence Denavit Follow

6 min

Did you know that there are not 4 but 72 seasons in Japan?

The movements of time operate a form of fascination close to addiction.

The same goes for haikus - these very brief poems all attached - whose constraint is to always be attached to a season, as there are flowers and fruits, of the living, evolving mainly at the option of 3 seasons: what runs (Hashiri), blooms (Sakari), leaves the imprint of its waves (Nagori).

Publicity

Nagori is the expression of this nostalgia for the season which has just left us, a sort of " 

Japanese-style

saudade

" which, however, carries with it the happiness of having lived this moment, the tenderness of memory, without sadness, and with the awareness that the seasons will return.

But, exactly, what are we talking about when we talk about the season?

We who live in very different latitudes.

What seasons for a fruit?

What season for a love, what season for Man and life?

With Ryoko Sekiguchi

, poet, writer and translator.

The cover of Ryoko Sekiguchi's book © RFI / Clémence Denavit

Nagori

, published by POL Ryoko Sekiguchi is also the author of

Sentir

, published in January 2021 by Jean Boite editions, D

u Japanese curry in 10 recipes

by éditions de épure, a book written with the help of Roellinger spices.

For further

Haiku.

Very short, highly codified poem, systematically attached to a season.

Lebanese mezze

 : anthropology of culinary knowledge by Aïda Kanafani-Zahar

Mummies and jars of jam - method of mummification and preservation of food in Italy

.

From Ryoko Sekiguchi, theme of her residency at the Villa Medicis in Rome.

The last leaf

by O. Henry

The 100 ingredients dinner

The menu :

  • Appetizers: ricotta nuts, Moroccan carrot salad, rosemary tomatoes, fried olives, smoked curry crostini.

  • Veloutés: cucumber and squash oil.

    Red pepper and tomato.

  • Salads: variation of fruit salad.

    Strawberry and cherry.

    Apricot, mozzarella and basil.

    Mango, carrot and ginger.

    Chicken with " 

    vitello tonato

     " and pear.

    Cooked and mashed eggplant salad.

  • Fish: Anchovies with

    panzanella

    .

    Fried calamari salad.

    Sea bream carpaccio.

    Yuzukoshô fennel salad

  • Frying: Sage.

    Zucchini flowers with ricotta.

    Asparagus.

  • Smoked foods: Nuts, almonds, eggs, liver.

  • Meats: Japanese-style duck.

    Okinawaiian pancetta.

    Polpette with lemon leaves.

    Manzo mainé with sake marc.

    Katsuibushi apserge, seafood couscous, Iranian rice (dill).

  • Cheese: Accompanied by passito jelly and father's mostarda.

    Sgroppino.

  • Desserts: assortment of jellies (persimmon alcohol, coffee pomegranate alcohol, lemon), melon marinated in Capari, candied amalfi citron, frosted grape.

    Rosemary ice cream, bitter orange ice cream, Watermelon coated with coconut milk.

Ryoko Sekiguchi's Ingredient and Utensil

The utensil is a grater for dried bonito,

Katsuobushi.

And the ingredient,

its mother's

salted plums (

umeboshis

).

Music

Here comes the sun

- The Beatles

Hélène's song

- Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider - in

The Things of Life

, by Claude Sautet.

IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES

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Like never in a single season, never in a single separation.

When you think about the time of each product, life is richer.

Thinking about the season is also thinking about the life of this product, imagining smelling the song of the olive trees, smelling the scent of the leaves ...

The recipe

:

Fruit jelly that has fallen from the branch.

Persimmon is one of these fruits.

Harvested in winter, it is said to have frozen to be mature, and naturally associates with the other fruits of the season.

Preparation:

30 min


Cooking:

40 min


Rest:

2 hours

For 3 jars of 250 g


1.5 kg of very ripe fruit (persimmon, apples, pears, quinces ...) 1 lemon, 1 kg of sugar.

  • Rinse the fruit.

    Remove the tails.

    Without peeling or seeding them, cut them into large pieces.

    Put them in a jam bowl or in a casserole dish.

    Cover with 1.5 liters of water.

    Boil the water.

    Let simmer for 30 min.

    Filter the cooking juice by squeezing the fruit lightly.

  • Pour this juice (1 l) back into the basin.

    Add the sugar and lemon juice.

    Bring to a boil over high heat.

    Leave to cook for 10 minutes.

  • Check the grip: a spoonful poured onto a cold plate flows slowly.

    Skim and put in pots.

    Wait 12 hours before tasting.

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