Last week you read about Wagyu fed on soy sauce sediments, sticky rice, and beer yeast. This week, we will introduce you to three more surprising ingredients in Japanese Wagyu’s diet. If you are lucky enough to try one of these Wagyu, be sure to notice the difference in their flavor!
Chinese Herbs
Miyagi is a prefecture located on the northeastern coast of Japan. Here, Wagyu farmers have created a brand called Shinsei Kanpo Gyu. The cattle of this brand enjoy a home-made recipe of 14 types of Chinese herbs: wolfberry, hawthorn, jujube, deer horn-shaped shelf fungus, adlay, sesame seeds, sesame leaves, mulberry leaves, kuma bamboo grass, buckwheat, kelp, hub tea, natural stevia herb, and rice bran.
These herbs have been used in Chinese medicine since around 200 BCE (more than 2,200 years ago!) to help naturally increase stamina and improve health in human beings. Wagyu cattle that enjoy this diet tend to have a highly floral and refreshing taste.
Charcoal
Also in Miyagi, another group of farmer are producing Hasama Gyu by mixing a small amount of charcoal in the cattle’s diet to boost their health. When consumed in small quantities, powdered charcoal is not only safe, its cleansing properties also strengthen the animals’ internal organs by assisting with the excretion of waste. The result is healthy and happy cows whose meat has a divinely tender texture and a complex and layered flavor.
Apples
As made abundantly clear in their name, the Apple-Fed Shinshu Gyu grow up on fresh apples! The cattle are raised in Nagano Prefecture, a region known for producing the best apples in Japan. In his book Steak, James Beard journalism award finalist Mark Schatzker described the trance-like experience his beloved cow Fleurance (not Wagyu) had while eating an apple as her last meal. Like other animals, cows find the sweetness and crispiness in ripe apples irresistible.
The sugar in apples fuels the Wagyu bodies and helps them gain weight without overly rely on processed feed such as corn meal, not to mention the total pleasure the animals derive from biting into a juicy and crunchy apple. These happy Wagyu cattle produce a meat that is tender and refreshing with notes of melon and cinnamon. The fat is silky smooth with an extremely low melting temperature. Only 100 of these cattle are produce every year.
Interested in trying any of these Wagyu for your restaurant or event? Check availability with one of our passionate Wagyu Sommeliers.