Kanpyō (food)

Common card · No. 432096

Kanpyō (かんぴょう or 干瓢), sometimes romanized and pronounced kampyō, are dried shavings of Lagenaria siceraria var. hispida, a variety of calabash gourd. The gourd is known as yugao (夕顔) or fukube (フクベ) in Japanese. Kanpyō is an ingredient in traditional Edo style Japanese cuisine. Cooked and flavored kanpyō is commonly used in futomaki sushi roll. Kanpyō was originally grown in the Osaka region. Now it is a specialty product of Tochigi Prefecture, where it is a cottage industry. The region is so tied to the food product that it hosts the "Kanpyō Highway with History and Romance". The yuru-chara for Oyama, Tochigi is Kapyomaru (かぴょ丸), an anthropomorphized calabash. The gourd is mostly harvested between mid-July and mid-August. The white flesh of the gourd is cut into strips 3 cm wide and 3 mm thick, then either dried in the sun or dehydrated. Over 200 tons a year of dried kanpyō are produced per year. Kanpyō available in the United States is sometimes chemically bleach-dried to a very white...

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