Sakuramochi
Tokara (above)
Umai-do (below)
Sakuramochi is named for the pale pink blossoms of the cherry tree, and like those blossoms is only around for a short time each spring.
In Japan, there are two regional variations on sakuramochi. Both types have a core of smooth koshian red bean paste and are wrapped in a brined cherry leaf, but the middle layer differs. In the Kanto region around Tokyo, the bean paste is rolled in a tiny pancake made from pink-tinted rice flour. In the Kansai region (which includes Kyoto), the bean paste is enveloped in a ball of mochi rice dough, often made from dōmyōji-ko a "chunky" glutinous rice flour that originated at Osaka's Dōmyōji Temple; the dōmyōji-ko gives the mochi the ruffled appearance of a cluster of breeze-tossed petals.
Our Seattle wagashi makers are hewing more closely to the Kansai style. Tokara (above) makes a classic sakuramochi, with meltingly smooth koshian encased in a chewy dōmyōji pillow and jacketed in a zingy, tender leaf. At Umai-do (below), there's a homier version, with the shop's own flavorful bean paste and smooth, elastic mochi made from more widely available mochiko glutinous rice flour rather than dōmyōji-ko: a new "Seattle" style?
I have been reading your blog for a few years now. Thank you for all the infos. particularly on higashi. I recently came back from Japan on a 2 week trip of collecting higashi and learning yuzen in Kyoto. I visited some of the shops you have been to. It seemed little have changed, time kind of stands still for places like those.
ReplyDeleteI asked Toraya to make some special Oshimono.
This is my blog with a lot of photos of the higashi I carried back to Vancouver.
www.mucunabotanicalgarden.blogspot.com
Mucuna