Officially it is Autumn now. In the UK the clock has been set back to Winter Time so that morning starts in darkness and the Sun sets very early. The weather has been becoming more and more wet and miserable. On the contrary in Japan Autumn is described as for 1. Sport, 2. Appetite, 3. Arts, 4. Reading Books and then 5. Great Autumn Colour and more!
The reason that “Autumn is for Appetite” is simply because there are so many tasty food that become available during this season. They are Mushrooms (including super Mushroom ‘Matsutake‘), Fruits (such as ‘Kaki’ Persimmon), Sweet Potatoes, Ginkgo Nuts and so on …
However, the delicacy we enjoy the most of all is ‘Kuri’ – Sweet Chestnut. Everybody loves Sweet Chestnut in Japan. I have to say that it is almost like “Kuri = Autumn” for Japanese. We make lots of sweet with Kuri Chestnut and we cook even rice with it.
So inevitably I chose Sweet Chestnut as the material for the sweet of November.
Kuri – Mochi Sweet Chestnut
I was also inspired by seeing a brilliant version of Sweet Chestnut on my fellow blogger’s ‘The Door into Promised Lands’. I hope the writer Rotwein Wanderer wouldn’t mind that I used the same material for making a similar sweet.
Yes, they look quite similar but the material I chose to make this sweet is different. The outer layer of my sweet is ‘Uiro‘ that is ‘Mochi’ (Rice Cake) type of sweet made of Rice Flour and I flavoured it with Chocolate.
I have to say this Chocolate flavoured Uiro was a great success! It is tasty and goes so well with Sweet Chestnut! 😀
The centre of this sweet is ‘Shiro-An‘ sweet White Bean Paste and I added lots of chopped Sweet Chestnuts with the syrup which the chestnuts were cooked in. Every Autumn when I see Sweet Chestnuts in green groceries I always buy some and cook them in syrup. I keep it in a jar for later use.
It is Free from Gluten, Egg, Oil & Dairy.
I heard that not many people eat Sweet Chestnut any more in the UK and some people who saw my sweet could not recognise what it was. That is a great shame …
However, whatever people say Sweet with Chestnut is the ultimate Autumn sweet for me.
This ‘Mochi Chestnut’ has been served at Wasoukan Cafe (Notting Hill, London) during November.
Have a lovely warm Tea-time! 🙂
Sakura Junction 
No no, I don’t mind at all cos it was from a shop!!
Wow, your works are brilliant – so lovely and looks yum!! Chocolate flavoured Uiro sounds really tempting! Well done!
I have cooked Kuri Gohan with some chestnuts I gathered at Warwick Castle, it was awful LOL. The nut tasted completely different from Japanese one…. rather bitter, hard texture (not “hokuhoku”) etc!! Besides and somehow, they turned bluish when cooked….. How strange…..
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Phew, thank you!
I hope you didn’t mistake Sweet Chestnuts with Conkers (Horse Chestnuts)?? They look a kind of similar but conkers are not edible. People use it medicinally.
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Oh I see…. It was long time ago and cannot remember well…. but I might have mistaken… LOL
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I know that Sweet Chestnut in the UK is much bigger and inner skin is tougher than the one in Japan. The one you had could be just a different variety. Perhaps people may have tried it in the past but had a really bad experience like you did and that is why people don’t eat it much these days??
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Yeah, it may be the reason like I did LOL Roast chestnut is very popular in the Continent. How about in the UK? Okay, I will export Japanese chestnut peelers to the UK!!
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