Mid-September, and on the akebia vine climbing the fence, one fruit has split lengthwise. Inside the purple skin, soft white pulp shows through, black seeds set in neat rows. Slide in a spoon and take a bite: the sweetness comes first, the fragrance faint. The fruits that haven't opened yet I leave alone; I pick the ones that have split.
The Donguibogam recorded this vine as tongcho (通草)
In the herb section (chobu) of the Donguibogam, the classic Korean medical compendium, akebia appears under the name tongcho. Its nature is called neutral, though the text elsewhere calls it slightly cold. The taste is pungent and sweet, and it is described as non-toxic. The physical description is quite detailed: it grows in the mountains as a vine, about as thick as a finger, with two or three branches at each node and five leaves at the tip of each branch. Count the leaves in the garden today and there are five — and quinata, in the botanical name Akebia quinata, means five.
There's a passage on the fruit, too. The fruit is like a small quince, the seeds black and the inside white, and sweet to eat — and that fruit was given its own name, yeonbokja (鷰覆子). The text also left a way to pick out good stems: a good stem has a fine channel running through it, so that if you put one end in your mouth and blow, air comes out the other. Harvest in the first and second months of the lunar calendar, it says, and dry the stems in the shade. This is a record from an old medical text and differs from the conclusions of modern medicine. You can read the original passage and a translation at the Homiclub Donguibogam entry for akebia.
The same name doesn't mean the same plant
The same entry carries a word of caution. In Gangwon Province, it notes, there is a different vine called moktong (木通), yellow in color and bitter in taste — a separate thing altogether. It adds that some people also call it mokbanggi (木防己).
That distinction still earns its keep. Several different plants have circulated on the market under the name moktong. Among them, birthwort (Aristolochia) and Manchurian pipevine contain aristolochic acid, which has been reported to be toxic and is now banned from use. So when you're buying dried vine as a medicinal ingredient, don't go by the name alone — confirm the source plant. Eating akebia fruit you grew in your own garden and buying a dried stem labeled moktong are two different things.
Set against today's nutrition data
The sweetness the old record noted turns up in the composition data as well. The white pulp of a split fruit contains sugars such as fructose and glucose, which account for the sweet taste. Insoluble dietary fiber is in there too. The seeds hold oil, with oleic and linoleic acid as the main fatty acids. In the vine tissue, compounds of the akebia saponin family have been identified.
There are places where the two records don't overlap. The old herbal treated the hollow stem as the medicinal material and recorded its nature and flavor; today's data covers the nutrition of the fruit and the seeds. Sweetness and fiber are where the two meet. But the uses once assigned to the stem can't simply be carried over to the autumn fruit. Eat the fruit as a seasonal fruit, and keep talk of health at the level of prevention and support.
Planting, harvesting, eating
In the Northern Hemisphere, planting time is March–April and November. Sow saved seed, or take cuttings from the stems. It will grow in partial shade, but if you want fruit, a spot with sun is better. Plant several close together and the fruit sets more reliably. The vine runs long, so put up a fence or trellis before you plant. Harvest in September–October, picking the fruits whose skin has split lengthwise.
- Straight from the spoon — For a ripe fruit that has already opened, simply spooning out the pulp is the easiest thing to do. There are a lot of seeds, and you'll find yourself sorting them out and spitting them, so try pressing the pulp through a sieve to strain them off. Strained pulp goes soft within a day or two in the fridge, so scoop it as you need it.
- Stir-fried rind — Slice the leftover rind into thin strips, stir-fry it in perilla oil, and season with doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste) to keep the bitterness in check. Soaking the strips in salt water for about 30 minutes beforehand draws out more of that bitter edge. If it's your first time, cook one fruit's worth, taste, and scale up from there.
- Blended with milk or soy milk — Freeze the pulp you've strained, then blend it with milk or soy milk for an easy drink. The seeds don't break down finely, so run it through a sieve once more after blending. If it isn't sweet enough, add a little honey.
If you head out to the garden today, pick only the fruits that have split, and scoop the pulp out the same day. Once the seeds are strained off, the pulp holds its flavor through the next day. Anything left over goes in the freezer. Planting months, harvest months, and what it pairs well with are all laid out in the akebia entry in the crop guide.
