During later summer there is one shrub that gets lovely bluey flowers in my garden. It is the Blue Hibiscus (Hibiscus syriacus ‘Oiseau Bleu’). As I am not good at pruning the shrub lost its shape a little but after many years of neglect it still gives us beautiful flowers every summer.

There is another thing in nature that gives me huge pleasure during this season. That is the sight of the abundant crop of Blackberries in the fields. I went to pick some and by seeing its beautiful shiny crop I thought that I should use them for my sweets. The Blue Hibiscus flowers and deep reddish black colour of blackberries combined in my mind to be my next sweet design idea…

Blue Hibiscus

So that is how this creation was born. It is my Blue Hibiscus as the Japanese sweet for August.

So the colour scheme and flavour had been fixed first but how to make the appearance was still yet to be decided.

The blue colour looks best with a white background. I created the bluey petals in gradation. The slightly reddish darker purple central colour of the petals is created with blackberry juice.

The filling inside is the Sweet White Bean Paste that is of course coloured and flavoured with Blackberries. In order to maximise the Blackberry flavour I added blackberry jam in the middle.

This sweet was served at a Matcha Bar in a Kimono shop in London this month and I was pleased to hear that all the sweets went well from their happy customers.

It has started to feel autumn is coming soon to London. Let’s enjoy the rest of the summer while it lasts.