Sweet Seasons/October 2005 - Cosmos -

As has been written by many, wagashi (Japanese traditional confectionery) is known for its beauty that reflects the changing seasons in Japan. It does not necessarily mean using ingredients in season like baking blueberry pie in summer. Those traditional sweets are actually shaped and colored to depict various seasonal features. There is no doubt that tea ceremony played a crucial role in the history of wagashi. In this highly ritualized preparation and drinking of tea, seasonal themes must always be reflected on everything: equipments used for preparing/drinking tea, hanging scroll picture on the wall, flowers in a vase, and wagashi served before drinking tea. To meet this need, Japanese confectioners have been making great efforts to creatively represent seasonal themes with their wagashi. Starting this month, I’m going to post at least one wagashi entry a month, coupled with photos of what it represents, such as a flower, leaf, fruit or scenery…plus some trivia about Japanese sweets. In twelve months, my work will turn into a lovely sugary calendar with my own wagashi photos ;) (I take photos of wagashi myself, but I don't make the wagashi myself.) ***** Read More Cosmos (Mexican Aster) This is nerikiri in the shape of an autumn flower, cosmos (Mexican aster). Nerikiri is a type of wagashi made mainly from sweet white bean paste. A mochi -like ingredient called gyuhi (made from shiratamako, sugar and water) or sometimes yam is kneaded into the bean paste to make it softer, smoother and moister. It not only makes the texture of the paste pleasant to the tongue but also makes it easier to handle and suitable for molding. Also the nerikiri paste can be colored easily. In a sense it seems similar to marzipan craft, but while marzipan is often used for decorating cakes, basically nerikiri is not meant to be used for decorating other sweets, as far as I know. The name “nerikiri” probably came from the kneading work. In Japanese neru means “to knead” and kiru “to cut.” Very often, nerikiri has sweet bean paste filling inside, thus the sugar content is not very low. However, a good nerikiri never tastes overly sweet for me; the sweetness is not heavy but by no means too light or tasteless, which goes wonderfully well with bitter and flavorful matcha (green tea served in tea ceremony). * Mochi --- Rice cake. * Shiratamako --- A type of rice flour. The rice is soaked into water and milled as in water (not drained), pressed to get the water out and dried into solid, then made into powder. A finer flour than mochiko. *Wagashi from OGASAWARA 3-4-6 Honmachi, Kochi city, Kochi