Ubatama (via Gourmande in Osaka)

Photo and shape could be better. It's an experiment + we have totally awful dark days of typhon. Not enough light for photos. I'll do some again, nicer. It's a wagashi (Japanese sweet), great for Summer. it looks like a truffle caught in ice. They are very refreshing. Ubatama is the name of the peyote cactus. So maybe the shape comes from that… or the cactus was named after the sweet. Tama is ball. Uba may mean "bird wing", like black crow wing … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

Green tea time : kashiwa maison (via Gourmande in Osaka)

Yes, kashiwa mochi, the wagashi Japanese sweet wrapped in oak leaves. Home-made this time. I had kept the leaves. They dried. I soaked them and miracle they revived ! They could bring their chlorophylle flavor to the sweets. I prepared a small amount of koshian, the sieved azuki bean paste. Making kashiwa-mochi (from joshinko rice flour) After adding the syrup. Isn't that silky ? Like those from the shop ? kashiwa mochi from the shop (click on te … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

From the shop : kashiwa-mochi, oak leaf sweet (via Gourmande in Osaka)

Lucky ! You've found a pearl in your oak leaf. This sweet is eaten in this season, and particularly on May 5th , for the Children Day. This one is bought. That's why it is more perfect than mines. Hey, baker is a job and you don't get the professional skill overnight. It's really shiny, and harder in texture than daifuku mochi. The recipe is different. Use the little wood knife to cut it… It's filled with koshi-an (smooth anko bean paste). Good … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

Strawberry daifuku mochi

My grand-parents produced strawberries for a living, so I know the beast well enough to be sure it is not a Winter fruit in the Northern hemisphere. But in Japan… they heard there was Christmas in other countries and that seemed fun. So they all wanted to Santa and dress in red. And eat read fruits… like strawberry. Now it’s part of the totally kitsch Japanese kurisumasu…

If you want to see where they come from, and discover those I’ll eat next year probably, visit the Shizuoka Gourmet.

So I know it’s bad, not ecological… and they are not really good. They are sour… Well, I’ve bought a few, a handful.

The trick is to hide them in ball of anko (azuki bean sweet paste).

Prepare mochi.

Wagashi Saga : Photo-menu of all Japanese sweet posts, and recipe posts.

And make ichigo daifuku mochi. OK, the shape is… artistic today. They were delicious anyway.

They go well with a bowl of foamy matcha ceremony green tea… unceremonially served.

1 daifuku :
Cal 137 F0.4g C30.2g P3.3g