Kuwai, a seasonal vegetable for autumn and winter, is a vegetable with a unique appearance. It is an essential vegetable for Osechi dishes as a lucky charm that brings out "success" from the appearance of buds growing out of the round tuber. The most common type is the blue kuwai, which has a beautiful blue skin, a unique bitter taste, and a crunchy texture when cooked.
Kuwai has been certified as a Kyoto brand product and a seasonal vegetable of Kyoto. Its production area is said to have been around Toji Temple in Kyoto's Minami Ward, where the altitude was low and the area was suitable for kuwai production because it was a humid area where water gushed out as soon as a well was dug.
It is said that the production of kuwai began in 1591. In order to protect the capital of Kyoto from foreign enemies and disasters, Toyotomi Hideyoshi built the Odoi, which created low-lying areas, and indigo plant was cultivated in the fertile lowlands, and kuwai was cultivated as an interim crop. However, due to the emergence of artificial indigo plants and the decrease in farmland, it is no longer produced in the city, and today, only a small amount of kuwai is being cultivated in Kyoto and other places.
Kuwai is commonly used in Japanese dishes such as stewed kuwai and Japanese sweets such as kuwai rice crackers, but it can also be enjoyed fried or cooked in cream. Serve it on Appi Urushi Studio's Jubako, a traditional and beautiful lacquerware, or Moyai Kogei's Zelkova Bread Plate, which is perfect as a pastry plate as well.
Appi Urushi Studio's Jubako
https://www.shokunin.com/en/appi/jubako.html
Moyai Kogei's Zelkova Bread Plate
https://www.shokunin.com/en/moyai/
References
https://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/sankan/page/0000029308.html
http://www.the-brand-kyoto.jp/agricultural_marine/post_21.html.php
https://life.ja-group.jp/food/shun/detail?id=113