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Autumn Sweet Gift Box

/ Mutsumi / 4 Comments

Just before Halloween I received an order for a gift box of Japanese Sweets. I was told that the gift was for a family with Japanese and also some non-Japanese people so that the client wanted me to make variety of sweets that could be enjoyed by everybody. I thought a lot to decide which sweets were most suitable and seasonal for this occasion.

These are the finalists for “Autumn Sweet Box Set”.

autumn-sweet-gift-in-box

The selected sweets for this occasion in the photo (↑) from right to left

  1. Matcha Ukishima Cake with Sweet Chestnut (Free from Gluten, Oil & Dairy)
  2. Halloween Jack-O’-Lantern (Free from Gluten, Egg, Oil & Dairy)
  3. Mochi Sweet Chestnut (Free from Gluten, Egg, Oil & Dairy)
  4. Japanese Maple (Free from Gluten, Egg, Dairy)
  5. Plaine Castella (Free from Oil & Dairy)

In case you cannot get a good view of them from the top these are the side shots of them which are much closer.

autumn-sweet-left

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Japanese Maple in Autumn Colour

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

Day by day Autumn is setting in here in London. First thing which comes to my mind by thinking about Autumn is colour change in Leaves. It would defines as Autumn Colours so it should be the most significant part of this season. In Japan we have four completely different seasons. Warm & beautiful Spring with lots of Cherry blossom, very hot & humid Summer, very cold Winter with deep snow in some area and then … this Autumn. Our Autumn is very between summer and winter, but it is not just that. During the transition period between two totally different seasons a significant temperature change causes the beautiful Autumn Colour in leaves. The Nature is Science. It is amazing!

Japan is a very mountainous country and the sight of mountains in Autumn colour is so magnificent. It does not get defeated by the sight of marvellous view of Sakura, Cherry blossom in spring. We even have a word ‘Momiji-gari‘. ‘Momiji‘ is a Japanese word for Japanese Maple and ‘Gari/Kari‘ means Hunting. Well, we do not hunt/harvest Maple leaves literally but it means that we go out to the countryside to enjoy the amazing view of mountains which are covered in various colours in yellow to red.

The most famous plant with the leaves in Autumn colour is ‘Momiji‘, Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum). I thought it represents beautiful Autumn the most so I made my version of it as a sweet.

Japanese Maple, Momiji

japanese-maple-all3

Yes, we call the plant ‘Momiji‘ not ‘Emoji‘. Please don’t be confused.  😀

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Mochi Sweet Chestnut – The Taste of Autumn

/ Mutsumi / 5 Comments

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

mochi-chestnut-in-autumn-colour

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Halloween ‘Mochi Ghost’ 👻

/ Mutsumi / 12 Comments

It is getting colder now in the UK. However, before Winter is coming ‘Halloween is coming!’ I attempted making Japanese sweet last year in the Halloween theme. It was … OK but I was not satisfied. So this year I tried harder and these are the result.

Mochi Ghost

I made two types of sweets for Halloween this year. First one is this Mochi Ghost 👻.

mochi-ghost-gathered

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Matcha Soy Latte with Japanese Sweet

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

So I made this Matcha Soy Latte in exactly same way as my quite recent post: Iced Matcha Tea but just change Water into Soy Milk.

matcha-soy-latte-with-sweet

There are several grades in ‘Matcha‘ Green Tea sold in a shop. I normally use average grade of Matcha Tea for baking Cakes. That is because the delicate flavour of best Matcha Tea gets kind of lost during baking. However, for this Matcha Soy Latte because it is for drinking, tasting and admiring the intense Matcha flavour, I used higher grade Matcha Green Tea Powder.

matcha-soy-latte

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My First Afternoon Tea Experience

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I have been living in England for many years. During that time I have picked up several English customs such as having toast with Orange Marmalade and a MUG of Milk Tea for breakfast or Tea-time at 4:30 often with Earl Grey Tea. I also love Scones but it has to be with Clotted Cream and Raspberry Jam. However, I have never experienced having a set of Afternoon Tea in a Tea shop … until recently.

Last week I saw a friend of mine in Central London. We decided go to Patisserie Valerie for Afternoon Tea.

afternoon-tea

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The Taste of Kyoto: Cinnamon Mochi Wrap （八つ橋ラップ）

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

Have you been to Japan? Where did you visit? I am sure one of the places you’ve been in Japan must be Kyoto. Everybody loves visiting Kyoto. It is the old Capital City of Japan with lots of temples and Shinto Shrines. You find old fashioned shops standing on narrow stone paved path. You feel like you’ve been Time slipped into 200 years ago.

There is lots of famous food in Kyoto. One sweet many people buy when they visit Kyoto is ‘Yatsuhashi (八つ橋)’. It is a Mochi type of sweet with Cinnamon flavour either soft (Nama-Yatsuhashi) or baked hard. You might think Cinnamon is very western spice but I believe we started using Cinnamon quite a long time ago. It came from China and it still has the Chinese name ‘Nikkei/Nikki‘ as well as the western name.

The famous soft type Yatsuhashi is normally cut into a square shape and folded into a triangular by wrapping sweet Bean Paste inside. The spicy scent of Cinnamon is very appetising and it goes well with Tea or Coffee as well as Green Tea.

Cinnamon Mochi Wrap （八つ橋ラップ）

cinnamon-mochi-wrap-yatsuhashi-with-tea

I made my version of Yatsuhashi in a slightly western appearance.

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Blackberry Custard Tart

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

I like foraging. Although I hardly do any foraging myself I like the idea of it. Of course I hate the recent new foragers who never consider how nature’s cycle works and remove all mushrooms they can find from the area even before mushrooms open the umbrella. It is becoming a great threat to forests in the UK. That is outrageous! Nothing remains in the forest if people keep doing this.

That is not what I do. My foraging is much more in a smaller scale … such as Blackberry Picking. However, it does not seem a good season for Blackberry this year. It might be the problem where I live but I could get only handful of them.

Anyway, there is a sweet I always make in Blackberry season.

Blackberry Custard Tart

blackberry-custard-tart-cut

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