The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and tempura fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at tempura fun facts.

Tempura Fun Facts: Tempura is a Japanese dish of seafood or vegetables that have been battered and deep fried.

• The recipe for tempura was introduced to Japan by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries particularly active in the city of Nagasaki also founded by the Portuguese, during the sixteenth century (1549).
• Though etymologists are not absolutely certain, it is likely that the word ‘tempura’ came from the Portuguese ‘tempêro’, which means ‘seasoning’.
• January 7th is National Tempura Day.
• Tempura generally does not use breadcrumbs (panko) in the coating.
• Tempura is either eaten with dipping sauce, salted without sauce, or used to assemble other dishes. Tempura is commonly served with grated daikon and eaten hot immediately after frying.
• Vegetable oil or canola oil are most common; however, tempura was traditionally cooked using sesame oil.
• Oil temperature is generally kept between 320-356 F, depending on the ingredient, to preserve the natural flavor and texture of the ingredients.
• The most popular seafood tempura is probably ebi (shrimp).
• To help the batter stick even better, you can sprinkle the item to be fried with a little bit of kosher salt before dredging it.

Tempura Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed any tempura fun facts in the comment section below. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Tempura.

There is a National Food Holiday for almost every day of the year. Don’t miss a single one! Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.