Natsukanto Citrus Jelly - Served

Oimatsu is a famous shinise confectionary in the Kamishichiken geisha quarter (hanamachi) near Kitano Tenmagu Shrine in the Nishijin area of Kyoto and their natsumikan jelly is perhaps the most famous of all in Kyoto. I like the Kamishichiken neighborhood very much, it is more friendly and humane than the Gion area hanamachi. I like several of Oimatsu’s other famous confections, so I decided to give their jelly a try and I enjoyed it very much!

Oimatsu’s Natsukanto 老松 夏柑糖
Oimatsu, the shop name means ‘old 老 pine 松’.

The product is called natsukanto; natsu 夏 means summer, kan 柑 means citrus and to 糖 literally means sugar. Natsukanto had a surprising amount of sweetness to it, it was very well balanced between bitter and sweet. I had expected more bitter than sweet, but this is Kyoto, something unexpected is expected!

Natsukanto Citrus Jelly - Package

The package consists of a simple paper bag and inside that is the jelly enclosed in this plastic bag.

Natsukanto Citrus Jelly - Unwrapped

The natsumikan always seems like a fruit that time forget. It is not a very handsome citrus, it is deformed and uneven in shape, the peel is pockmarked and discolored and the peel seems needlessly thick. This seems like citrus must have been like in centuries past, before modern agriculture. The rustic quality of the fruit comes through in the honest and straightforward presentation of the jelly.

Natsukanto Citrus Jelly - Opened

Natsukanto Citrus Jelly - Served

Natsukanto Citrus Jelly - Served detail

How Did Natsukanto Taste? Refreshing!
In addition to taste, in Kyoto the look and feel, the full sensory aspect of a dish must be considered. The point of this jelly confection is respite from the sultry summer heat. Japanese love kanten jelly in summer as its translucence makes one think of ice.

I put the natsukanto in the freezer for about an hour until it was as close to frozen as it could be with out being frozen. More than this, I put the serving plates in the freezer for about 3 hours. Ideally the plate would be like one of those frosty beer mugs, I thought. I like the idea that the plate is intensely cold to the touch. Kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto would serve this dessert on a bed of crushed or shaved ice.

Also on the visual, the natsukanto comes with a fresh, deep green natsumikan leaf. This also plays on the idea of freshness and to Japanese refreshes the heart.

Ingredients for natsukanto are just three: natsumikan juice, sugar and kanten (agar).

There is no pulp in the juice used to make the jelly so it is translucent and though yellow, not cloudy.

The taste is pleasantly bitter yet is balanced and filled out with a good dose of sugar. Being in the peel, with the pith, adds a great deal of zing to the flavor and fragrance. The citrus bitterness is the perfect antidote to the hot, muggy Kyoto summer and this confection really does refresh body and soul!

My only complaint is that the opening on the top is quite roughly cut and lacks the kind of finish and attention to detail that is expected to be authentically ‘Kyoto’. I would think that this could be improved quite easily.

Availability and Price
Natsukanto is available from April until mid to late August. Availability depends on the season. This is handmade and not made with just any old natsumikan. The price is 1,250 yen which is not too expensive for this ‘in the peel’ jelly.

Natsukanto Citrus Jelly - Cross Section

Oimatsu Storefront
Oimatsu has two locations in Kyoto, Arashiyama and Kitano (Kamichiken). There are also small stores in two Kyoto department store food courts: Daimaru and Isetan.

Oimatsu Storefront in Kamishichiken

Oimatsu Interior - Kamishichiken Maiko Fans

In each of the hanamachi geisha quarters of Kyoto, the maiko (training geisha) give fans with their hanamachi name and the maiko’s name on it to restaurants that they like and frequent. The maiko fans are a source of pride and displayed prominently, usually in the entry area. From the number of fans, it looks like Oimatsu did a  (These fans are usually, but not always, an indication that the place is good.)

Oimatsu Interior

Oimatsu Interior - Wagashi Forms and Molds

These are the wooden forms and molds used to make some varieties of wagashi.

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English
English menu/signage: none

English website: none

Service/Staff: so-so

Price: 800 – 2,000 yen
Location and Access: Oimatsu is located just east of the gate on the east side of Kitano Tenmagu Shrine. The nearest municipal bus stops are Kitano Tenmagu-mae and Kamishichiken.

Address: Kyoto-shi Kamigyo-ku, Kitano, Kamishichiken 
(京都市上京区北野上七軒)

tel: 075-463-3050

Near Sightseeing Spot: Kitano Tenmagu Shrine

Map

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Oni-ni-Kanabo 'Demon Roll' - Package

Oni ni Kanabo Mushi-pan Roll from Sentaro 京都 仙太郎 鬼に金棒
This confection is called Oni-ni-kanabo 鬼に金棒. Oni is a demon in Japanese culture and kanabo 金棒 is a metal pole that the demon carries around. It comes from a Japanese saying. Demons are very strong and scary and the metal pole (beating stick), in the hands of a fierce demon is very strong combination indeed. To be in the ‘oni-ni-kanabo’ position is to be stronger than strong, is to have an unbeatable advantage, a double advantage, unbeatable combination. That is the background on where the name and shape comes from. So, how about the taste?

Oni-ni-Kanabo 'Demon Roll' - Cut and Served

This novel confection is a long ‘pole’ of azuki bean paste (anko) that has been wrapped in a sheet of kokuto 黒糖 ‘black sugar’ mushi-pan ‘steamed bread’. It not only makes a convincing pole, it is really tasty! Sentaro has been mentioned a number of times on KyotoFoodie, way back in March of 2008, we introduced Sentaro’s rice flour kasutera (castella) which is otherworldly in texture and and subtlety of flavor. So, you can be sure that Sentaro has just the right touch for ‘bready’ wagashi.

I am usually not a fan of anko because it is too sweet or there is too much in wagashi confections, but the anko that makes the core of this demon roll is modest in quantity and sweetness. The kokuto mushi-pan makes it over-the-top for me. From the taste it would certainly seem that they didn’t skimp on kokuto, it has a huge and full taste of this wonderfully earthy and natural sugar and the texture of the mushi-pan made me think that it must have some kind of fairy dust sprinkled into it. As I ate it, the texture conjured up images of sylphs in fairyland, floating about, eating this impossibly light and fluffy steamed bread that is also moist and dense with flavor. Wow. That’s a Kyoto shinise for you! (A good one, that is, there are plenty of crappy ones.)

Packaging and Environment
I have complained about excessive packaging that is often synonymous with wagashi but this demon roll uses a modest (comparatively speaking, this is Japan) amount of resources in the packaging. It is just one layer of plastic wrap for hygiene and one piece of paper for the label. The paper the label printed on is white, I suppose they could have used unbleached paper.

Reference and Links
Discussion of the meaning and various translation of Oni-ni-kanabo on Proz.com

Map to Sentaro

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Two years ago I was introduced to Hisagozushi’s Setsubun Onimaki, literally ‘demon roll’ by Miwa. I had eaten this shinise’s sushi several times but I had no idea of their magical and very visually appealing eho-maki. Last year, I really wanted to eat one again but we were too late and Hisagozushi was sold out.

Seven Lucky Ingredients for Hisagozushi Ehomaki Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

This year, not only did I make a reservation the day before and schedule the pick up in the a.m. not the p.m., I arranged to do a short interview and get some photos of the master, Chef Ujita making my demon roll!

I knew that Hisagozushi must sell an insane amount of these delightfully decorated and very tasty sushi rolls on Setsubun but I assumed that they had some kind of fantastic machine that just cranked them out – they are a small shop!

The day before Setsubun, and two days before spring, I got to speak with the owner and head chef and he said that he and the staff we going to be up all night making ehomaki and working all day on Setsubun to fill orders. However, as I knew from my experience last year, they would not be able to meet the demand. And, everything is made by hand, no fancy machines!

Seven Lucky Ingredients for Onimaki 'Demon Roll' on Rice and Egg Sheet

Seven Lucky Ingredients for Onimaki 'Demon Roll' on Rice and Egg Sheet - detail

About Hisagozushi and Onimaki
This morning, February 3rd, I went over to Hisagozushi (ひさご寿し) to take some photos of my Oni Maki (鬼巻, demon roll) being made and to learn first hand about this foodie product that has fascinated me for a long time. By the way, I know from the KF access stats that this product is among probably the top 3 that have appeared on KF! Visually, it is a very compelling piece of sushi. As someone with a background in design and currently doing product and brand development, this is a product that I often recall.

The master was looking rather tired at 10 am this morning when I arrived and he still had a long, long day ahead of him! Chef Ujita gave a quick demonstration of how they make their Demon Roll. First you have to understand that 7 is the luck number in Japan and you want to have a lucky year ahead. So, the eho-maki has 7 ingredients rolled up inside rice and the egg wrapper. The ingredients are sliced shiitake mushroom simmered in sweetened soy sauce, kanpyo (dried gourd strips), chopped grilled anago eel, sliced takuan tsukemono (pickle), shrimp, cucumber and atsuyaki-tamago (thick egg omelet) strip. And this is all wrapped up inside that wonderful demon branded sheet of egg.

As Chef Ujita had a long day ahead of him so I asked the Okami-san 女将さん (proprietress), literally ‘woman general’, about the history of Onimaki and Hisagozushi.

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

"And here is Michael's Onimaki for 2010!"

Hisagozushi opened for business in 1945, the store has been in its current location since opening and now has counters in both Takashimaya Kyoto and JR Kyoto Isetan department stores. Hisagozushi, located in downtown Kyoto, is a small shop and uses lots of eggs in their various sushi offerings. Hisagozushi doesn’t have the space to cook eggs in addition to making sushi, so for 60 years they have been collaborating with a famous Kyoto egg shop. Hisagozushi is quite well known for their chirashi-zushi, which uses a lot of egg.

As I spoke with the Okami-san, I found myself beside myself for not picking up on this. First off, I have to say that this sushi roll is just the most compelling that I have ever seen. And, I didn’t realize how ‘Kyoto’ it is. The Okami-san was very understated about it, inarticulate almost. I distinctly felt that she might not be fully aware of how epic this was as she told me the story. “Well, about 10 years ago we and our egg maker were talking about making a new eho-maki. The egg maker suggested that we could make a wrapping with egg and we never liked the ones wrapped with nori because nori is rather hard to chew, and just quite plain.” I mean, every eho-maki in the land is wrapped with nori, right? Yes!

“So, we thought that if the wrapping were done in egg it would be more elegant — more Kyoto, and it would be easier to chew. The wrapping would be soft and tasty. And, our egg maker suggested that we could use an oni themed hot iron brand on the egg. We came up with an ‘oni’ demon design and that has been quite a hit ever since!”

This truly is one of the artifacts of Kyoto culinary culture that even in other season I often find myself thinking about.

Onimaki Box

Hisagozushi's Setsubun Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi's Setsubun Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Ehomaki - Directions for 2010 - This Year Face West by South-west

Setsubun Customs and Food
The main customs for Setsubun all involve food. Setsubun can be thought of as a kind of New Year’s celebration and you wish for plenty of good fortune for the new year and do anything possible to avert illness and bad fortune. The demon often seen at Setsubun brings bad fortune and you want to drive him out, especially out of your house.

Eho-maki – Lucky Direction Sushi Roll: Eat a sushi roll with 7 lucky ingredients facing the direction of good fortune for that year. (The direction changes every year. Eat it quietly and don’t stop while eating, wish for what you want in the coming year. (see this KyotoFoodie How to Eat Ehomaki and How to Eat Ehomaki article for more)
Mame-maki – Throw Beans Out Your Door: Put roasted ‘fukumame’ soybeans in a square wooden ‘masu’ cup and place in the ‘kamidana’ family shrine during the day on February 3rd. (If you don’t have a shrine, place in a high place, above the level of your eyes.) Between 8 and 10 pm throw beans out every door and window of the house (do the ‘genkan’ front door last) twice and say ‘Oni wa soto!’ (Demon out! 鬼は外) and close the door or window quickly and throw beans inside the room twice and say ‘Fuku wa uchi!’ (Good fortune and happiness in! 福は内).
Eat Beans: Pick up beans from the floor of the house, these are all charged up with good fortune now. This will keep you healthy and give you longevity. Eat the same number of roasted soybeans as your age, plus one. Eating off of the floor is not something normally done anywhere, least of all hyper-clean Japan. Traditionally, this is how it was done and Japanese homes have very clean floors. Now some companies sell ‘fukumame’ roasted soybeans in a hygienic sack that you can toss around your house, pick it up off the floor, open it and count out your beans, nice and clean. I have never thrown beans in the house. I just counted them out of the bag. Opps. Miwa checked various websites and this is indeed the proper way to do it. While I have never eaten off the floor, I like the idea because I am really into cleanliness. The floor in one’s home SHOULD be clean enough to eat off of – even if you do not do so in practice!
Hiiragi Iwashi – Put the Head on Your Front Door with Holly Leaves: The demon doesn’t like the strong smell of sardines, so grill one and eat it on Setsubun. The demon is afraid of getting his eyes poked. So, put the grilled sardine’s head on a holly stick with plenty of holly leaves and then put that on or around your front door. The smell will drive off oni and he will be afraid of getting his eyes poked by the thorns on the holly leaves if he were to try to come in your house. Aren’t Japanese demons easy to deal with? No magically passing through walls and so on! (see this KyotoFoodie Hiiragi Iwashi article for more)

Origin of Ehomaki
There are two competing theories regarding the origin of ehomaki. One says that merchants in the late Edo and early Meiji eras Senba (a part of Osaka) ate this special makizushi at Setsubun hoping for a new year of prosperity. Therefore this custom is more common in the Kansai region, rather than Kanto. Another theory states that a samurai under Toyotomi Hideyoshi coincidentally ate makizushi at Setsubun the day before a battle and was victorious; it then quickly became a custom. Peko likes the merchant theory best. source Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine

Here is our first Onimaki article, Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans.

Kyoto Hisagozushi 'Honten' Storefront

Hisagozushi
Hisagozushi honten (main store) is located on Kawaramachi Street just north of Shijo Street. It on the west side of Kawaramachi Street, next to OPA shopping center. The nearby Shijo-Kawaramachi intersection is the heart of Kyoto. Hankyu Kawaramachi Station is there as well as Takashimaya Department Store. The honten offers both takeout and sit down dining.

Hisagozushi also has takeout locations in the food courts of Takashimaya Kyoto and JR Kyoto Isetan department stores in Kyoto.

Hisagozushi’s sushi is good, maybe a little pricey for a budget traveler. If you want to purchase the Onimaki, best to make a reservation on February 2nd and pick it up Feb 3rd. Hisagozushi does offer some other Setsubun and Eho-maki sushi but the Onimaki is the one to write home about!

Hisagozushi website: www.hisagozusi.co.jp (Japanese only)
English menu: Yes, with photos and easy to understand.
telephone: 075-221-5409 (probably no English spoken)
Address: Kyoto-shi, Nakagyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori Shijo-agaru, Shioya-cho 144 (京都市中京区河原町通四条上ル塩屋町144)

Hisagozushi Kyoto Takashimaya Department Store Location - Waiting in Line for Ehomaki

Map to Hisagozushi Honten

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Toraya's: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger'

Eto: Twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals and Japanese New Year’s Confections
According to the Chinese Zodiac cycle there are 12 animals and each year is associated with one of the twelve. 2010 is the Year of the Tiger and most wagashi companies and stores in Japan have Eto themed wagashi. The tora in Toraya also happens to mean tiger, literally tiger shop. So, I have to imagine that they went all out for 2010! Every year Toraya creates a unique Eto namagashi for New Year’s which I first discovered last year, the Year of the Ox. The design combines a fairly modern abstract sense the Japanese ‘kawaii’ cute.

Many of Toraya’s wagashi designs are centuries old like the frosted red plum blossom from 1699 but this one is a first timer. Toraya holds an internal competition soliciting designs for some of their namagashi, including this Sachi Tora. The design competition is open to all employees, from paper pushers in the office, store and cafe waitstaff to the wagashi craftsmen in the ‘workshop’. This year’s winner, the proud creator of Sachi Tora, was a male Toraya ‘veteran’ wagashi maker.

Toraya's: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger'

About the Design of Sachi Tora
The staff member at Toraya I spoke to about Sachi Tora said that it is intended to express a tiger face in a cute way and bring a year of much happiness and good fortune.

I asked about the cinnamon, assuming that it is brushed on as powder but that is incorrect. It is first dissolved in a syrup and then painted on wet. Interesting!

I like the design a lot. I definitely see the brown cinnamon ears at the top, but the ‘stripe’ mark in the middle throws me off a bit as it reminds me more of a tigers back than the face.

Whatever your visual interpretation, I think that you would have to agree that it is a very charming and novel tiger!

Construction Detail: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger' - side

Construction Detail: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger' - back

Construction Detail: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger' - cross-section

How did Sachi Tora taste?
Namagashi (生菓子, moist confection) is for the tea ceremony, so the taste is intended to contrast well with bitter maccha. That means that namagashi are very formulaic in taste — they all taste the same. If you are a regular reader of KyotoFoodie you probably know that I think that some more adventure and ‘kaizen’ is required in terms of namagashi taste. Sachi Tora uses cinnamon as a visual element and that does add some complexity to the flavor profile and that is welcome by me!

Availability: December 29, 2009 to January 15, 2010

Toraya Ichijo Storefront

In Kyoto, people like sweet miso soup and the miso soup for O-shogatsu, or Japanese New Year, is especially sweet, surely the sweetest miso soup in all the land. The soup is called o-zoni and this article is about Kyozoni, or Kyoto-style o-zoni. The source of the sweetness is not sugar, but rice, which produces a rich and mellow natural sweetness. The miso paste is called saikyo shiro miso and it is made with more rice and less soybeans than usual. This is the taste of miso from the Kyoto Imperial Court of antiquity.

My Colorful Rendition of Ozoni (The snowman is a sake bottle label.)

Saikyo White Miso
This year I ordered a few containers of Honda Miso’s Daiginjo Saikyo Shiro Miso (大吟醸西京白味噌) for my New Year’s Day ozoni miso soup and to give to a few friends. This daiginjo miso is very special because for several reasons; it is made with heaps of rice, it has little salt, it is only fermented for several weeks and is not pasteurized. Honda Miso only makes a small amount of this miso every December and it sells out in just a few days with many families having a standing order every year. If you are into Japanese sake you will probably know the term daiginjo as the finest quality sake. Saikyo means ‘west capital’ (Kyoto), this is Kyoto-style miso.

This miso is usually the lightest color miso that you can find in the miso section of a store and is ground into a very fine texture. Sakyo miso paste can also be used to make an excellent marinade for fish and chicken.

The staff at Honda Miso kindly gave me their recommended recipe for their daiginjo miso, which I improvised upon. The idea is that all the ingredients in the soup and the soup itself all be white as white is the color of celebration in Japan. Having this for breakfast makes for an auspicious start to the new year.

The ingredients are two kinds of taro (karashi imo and ko imo), nezumi daikon (a short, rat-looking radish) and round white mochi. I used ebi imo, regular daikon, kintoki ninjin carrot, green yomogi and yellow awa mochi and a few nanohana rape blossoms. So, mine turned out very colorful and festive.

Like all o-shogatsu food, the vegetables in the classical Kyoto recipe have symbolic meanings: having smooth human relations, having many descendants, being promoted in the world, not to become jealous or petty and to put down strong roots.

As I was having my soup, I was thinking that this daiginjo saikyo shiro miso would make an excellent ice cream flavor. I wish I had an ice cream maker to try and make some!

Usually miso paste is quite pungent as it is fermented, it is also quite salty. Honda Miso’s Daiginjo Saikyo White Miso paste itself is a treat to taste. It is buttery in fragrance and has no whiff of ferment. The taste is lightly bean-like and quite buttery, even with a hint of caramel. The texture is completely smooth. The ingredients are simply rice, soybeans and salt. There is no koji and the salt content is about one-tenth that of regular miso. The cost is about 1,500 yen ($15) for 500 grams. Now that is some expensive miso! I highly recommend that you ring in the new year with some daiginjo saikyo white miso if you can get your hands on some.

Nanohana, Ebi Imo, Daikon Radish, Kintoki Ninjin

Yomogi Mochi (mugwort) and Awa Mochi (millet)

Simmered Vegetables and Lightly Grilled Mochi in Bowl (This is about 2 servings worth.)

Honda Miso’s Daiginjo Saikyo Shiro Miso

Saikyo White Miso and Normal Miso

Kyozoni Served
The ingredients that I used are all O-shogatsu, with the exception of nanohana. Nanohana heralds the coming of spring and New Year’s Day is the beginning of spring, so I thought it appropriate. Also, the bitterness of the nanohana is the perfect contrast to the sweetness of the white miso.

This was really good!

My Colorful Ozoni Served

How to Make Kyoto-style Ozoni
Making this ozoni will take about 25-30 minutes. If you can get saikyo white miso and some kind of taro like ko imo, you should be able to get the authentic taste.

Ingredients

• mochi 4 round, bite-sized pieces
• karashi imo 4 pieces
• koimo 4
• nezumi daikon
• hana katsuo threads
• water 400 ml
• saikyo white miso 140 g
• serves 4

Preparation
1. Peel the imo and cut into bite-sized pieces if need be. Simmer about 20 minutes until soft. (Use water reserved from rinsing rice to simmer vegetables. The authentic recipe for Kyoto-style ozoni is to simmer the imo with some uncooked rice as this will make the imo slightly gooey on the surface.)
2. Gently heat the water and dissolved miso paste into it.
3. In a separate pan, simmer the mochi until soft.
4. Add vegetables and mochi to miso and simmer gently for a few minutes, enough time for the daikon to cook.
5. Serve in lacquer bowls and garnish with threads of shaved katsuo.

＊The bowl should not be overfilled as mine is in the photo above. It should be about three-quarters full.

After rinsing rice, use the water for boiling vegetables.

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Honda Miso is about a 3 minute walk from the west side of the Imperial Palace.

Map to Honda Miso Honten

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This is miso flavored gyuhi mochi from Honda Miso and it is a masterpiece! In addition to the novel and exceptional taste, this is a foodie souvenir that you ought to be able to take back home with you when you visit Kyoto. Even if you are not into wagashi confections, you might still like this as it is similar in taste and texture to caramel — but even better!

Miso Chigiri Mochi Package - Wrapped

Miso Chigiri Mochi Package - Unwrapping

Miso Chigiri Mochi and Wasanbon Sugar

How Does Miso Chigiri Mochi Taste?
While miso and mochi together are not unheard of, before sugar was widely available miso was often used to flavor mochi sweets in Japan, this is different. This is reminiscent of caramel in taste and feel yet without a trace of actual caramel in it, which I find very intriguing.

It is made with gyuhi mochi which is mochi with air whipped into it, so the texture is bubbly soft rather than firm like mochi used for cooking.

The fragrance is pronounced and includes the pungent punch of miso, but not too much.

The taste is quite extraordinary. The combination of sweet, miso and mochi come together in a really novel and delightful way. The flavor is not at all understated, it is a pretty huge flavor for any wagashi. I think the miso gives it a lot of body. It is very caramely and ‘misoy’ and has a hint of butter too. The miso paste that is used is Kyoto’s famous white miso (Saikyo shiro miso) which has little salt and is not as pungent as darker and longer fermented miso varieties.

The mochi comes in two colors; brown and pink. The brown ones are miso flavored and the pink ones are plain gyuhi mochi. The miso flavored pieces account for about 8 or 9 in 10 of the total. I think that the pink ones add a real ‘Kyoto’ touch of understated sophistication to it. If they were all miso flavored it would be monotonous and if the pink ones had their own flavor, that would be excessive and lack harmony of flavor.

This gyuhi mochi is packed in light brown colored wasanbon sugar. Wasanbon is the powdered sugar that is native to Japan. It is usually steamed, kneaded and pulverized several times. Wasanbon is somewhat caramely in flavor with a slight burnt sugar flavor to it, yet it is extremely delicate. The pieces of mochi have a generous coating of wasanbon on them which you can brush off a bit for a different flavor variation.

Miso Chigiri Mochi and Wasanbon Sugar - detail (The pinks ones are not miso flavored.)

Where to Buy
I think that this product is only available at Honda Miso Honten. The location is just west of the Gosho Imperial Palace at the intersection of Ichijo Dori and Muromachi Dori streets. In the neighborhood is the famous Toraya wagashi confectionary and Sawai Shoyu Honten soy sauce brewery.

Honda Miso also offers white miso caramel which is also very good.

Honda Miso Honten Entrance and Noren Curtain

Honda Miso Honten Interior

White Miso Caramel

Samples are available just to the left of the entrance.

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Recently I have noticed people lining up in department stores to buy rasuku (ラスク), that’s rusk, in English, I realized. This is the toasted biscuit that I cannot recall ever seeing or eating back in Minnesota. I have tried several rusk here over the past year and never been able to understand what people are waiting in line for. It just seems to be bread, crunchy dry, that is flavored either sweet or salty.

Hararyokaku Seven Spice Rusk Biscuit

How did Hararyokaku Seven Spice Rusk taste?
Gion Hararyokaku’s kuroshichimi (black seven spice) is far and away the best Japanese spice for me. It has to be tasted to be believed. I buy bread Shinshindo once in a while and I am usually underwhelmed.

As much as I like Hararyokaku’s kuroshichimi, this Kuroshichimi Rusk just didn’t do anything for me. The taste of the kuroshichimi just wasn’t there for me. I want to taste what I am eating, not just know it is in there somewhere. If I hadn’t known what it was shimichimi flavored, I think I probably would have figured that out, but I would not have realized that it was the greatest shichimi on earth, that is for sure. So, I think that this product is a failure. It could have been any kuroshichimi, any shichimi, I thought.

I sprinkled some Hararyokaku kuroshichimi on the rusk to try to improve it, but that just tasted like kuroshichimi.

My conclusion is that rusk is junk and just shouldn’t even be made. If kuroshichimi from Hararyokaku cannot make rusk taste good, I think that it is a hopeless cause. Turn the page on rusk.

Am I being too harsh? Are there some flavor combinations that just don’t work, some foods like rusk that really are just hopeless?

Hararyokaku Seven Spice Rusk Biscuit

Hararyokaku Seven Spice Rusk Biscuit

Hararyokaku Seven Spice - Detail

About Shinshindo

Shinshindo was founded in 1913 in Kyoto Japan. The founder was Hitoshi Tsuzuki who is known as the first Japanese baker to visit Paris, France to learn authentic French baking in 1924. He traveled around France and other European Nations for about 6 month and brought back the real European recipes and tastes to Kyoto. The European bread which Hitoshi started baking was enthusiastically welcomed by cultural and academic oriented people of Kyoto.  source: Shinshindo website

Shinshindo currently has 12 locations in Kyoto and a few English pages on their website.

About Gion Hararyokaku
Hararyokaku has been in business since 1704 and makes spices such as kuro shichimi (black seven spice) by hand. The recipes for their original products were developed with a Japanese that studied Chinese medicine in China. Hararyokaku’s kuro shichimi is probably my favorite spice on planet earth, it is that good! Hararyokaku is located in Gion and is a great place to get some tasty souvenirs to bring back home. (See this article for details and map.)

Hararyokaku Seven Spice Rusk Biscuit

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Tonyu Soy Milk Doughnuts

Tonyu Soy Milk Doughnuts

How do soy milk doughnuts taste?
These doughnuts are a bit more chewy on the inside and slightly crunchy outside than the average ‘non-Kyoto’ doughnut. They are slightly sweet, the taste is natural, straightforward, quite ‘Kyoto’ in style. While not overtly sweet I find them completely satisfying due to the richness of the soy milk.

Again, these should be eaten hot. Don’t buy them already bagged from the stall in the Nishiki Market street, go around to the side of the shop where they cook them and get them right out of the oil. Usually there are some customers standing around gobbling up hot donuts. If you take them back home or to your hotel, try reheating them in a toaster oven.

Perhaps these are a bit pricey because a bag of 12 (mini) doughnuts cost 300 yen. I suppose they use plenty of high quality soy milk but still, at this price point I expect Fujino to be selling doughnuts for a long, long time to come.

Even if you are not into the more challenging Japanese food, raw fish, fermented beans … fermented fish, and so on, these doughnuts are a healthy and natural Western inspired treat that are quite ‘Kyoto’ in taste. If you are passing though Nishiki Market, don’t miss these! You will probably smell the shop before you see it.

Soy Milk Doughnut Shop

Properly this shop is called Konnamonjya, a really dreadful and un-Kyoto name, in my opinion. It is owned by Kyoto Tofu Fujino, a Kyoto tofu shinise that also makes a lot of new and inventive soy based products. They have a tofu cafe near Kitano Tenmagu Shine were you can try everything from tofu roll cake to tofu hamburgers.

– More Shop Photos and Map Coming Soon –

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Chestnut Shaped Egg Yolk Anpan Sweet Bun

An egg yolk filled anpan sounds really good, and ought to be, especially from a shinise like Miki Keiran. However, I was a little disappointed. It was by no means bad, but the combination has the potential to be quite amazing and it wasn’t. Too bad.

Egg Yolk Anpan Sweet Bun - Egg Yolk Bean Paste Filling

How did it taste?
The bread is soft and just average in taste as far as Japanese bread goes, the egg yolk glaze is quite nice, quite thick and sticky, and fragrant too. There are white (and a few black) poppy seeds adhered to the glaze at the bottom, to create the visual effect of a chestnut.

The filling is egg yolk and smooth and creamy white shiroan bean paste. If you didn’t know it was bean paste, you probably wouldn’t guess it by the taste or texture. The richness of the egg yolk appropriately comes to the forefront.

One variety of this anpan contains a chestnut, which is fine, but with the addition of the whole chestnut, the richness and delicacy of the egg yolk gets overpowered. I tried just the egg yolk bean paste mixture and it was very, very good.

In the end, I think that there is too much bread to filling and the presence of the chestnut muddled the taste.

This is one interesting confection to me and one that I would like to redesign! This anpan cost 150 yen, that is not expensive at all for any anpan in Japan. And, this is Nishiki Market. No one goes to Nishiki Market looking for a bargain! If there were tons more filling I think this would have worked better. Just double the price and double or triple the amount of filling and this anpan would be out of this world! I am not sure what to do about the chestnut but they definitely need one to offer one without the chestnut. This is a shinise egg shop, I think that they should focus on the egg aspect rather than try to make it conventional with a chestnut.

Egg Yolk Anpan Sweet Bun - Egg Yolk Bean Paste Filling (notice chestnut chunk at bottom of paste)

About Anpan
The meaning of anpan comes from ‘an’, anko bean paste and ‘pan’ the adopted word in Japanese for bread. This now ubiquitous confection was developed in 1875 by Yasubei Kimura, a samurai who had recently lost his livelihood as a result of the Meiji Restoration. This was a time of rapid Westernization of Japan but bread hadn’t really caught on in Meiji era Japan. Yasubei, in need of a livelihood based his confection on the traditional manju confection, replacing the mochi with bread but keeping the sweet bean filling. This proved a winning combination. Yasubei was recruited to make an imperial anpan for the emperor and his bakery thrives today in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district.

About Miki Keiran
Miki Keiran was founded in 1928 and the Honten (Main Store) is located in the Nishiki Market. Miki Keiren also has stores in several department stores in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. Miki Keiren only makes Kyoto-style dashimaki tamago omelettes for take out. Dashi means broth and much of Kyoto cuisine starts with broth. Miki Keiren uses the finest eggs for their omelettes but the dashi costs even more money than the eggs. That is Kyoto! Miki is a family name meaning ‘three trees’ and keiren means ‘chicken egg’.

Miki Keiren’s dashimaki is a must have for New Year’s in Kyoto. Kyotoites have to reserve theirs in advance and then they come to a different location on a nearby street away from the narrow Nishiki Market shopping street to pick theirs up at an appointed time a day or two before New Year’s. In Kyoto, dashimaki is serious business!

– Shop Photo and Map Coming Soon –

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Japanese Hard Candy: Shoyu Ame

Sawai Shoyu Honten Soy Sauce Candy 澤井醤油本店 醤油の飴
Sawai Shoyu has been in business in Kyoto since 1879 and makes the premium quality brand of Marusawa Soy Sauce. The immediate neighborhood smells nearly oppressively of fermenting and brewing soy sauce and the old wooden store houses can be seen at the back of the site.

I have used Marusawa shoyu and ponzu for several years but when I stopped by the other day to get my favorite grapefruit ponzu I spotted this hard candy flavored with soy sauce. I have seen this kind of candy before but I don’t recall ever eating it so I picked up a bag.

The sauce that is poured over mitarashi dango grilled mochi dumplings is sweet and shoyu based. I don’t much like it but it is very popular with Japanese and this confection was invented in Kyoto centuries ago.

Award Winning Soy Sauce: Marusawa Brand Shoyu

Award Winning Soy Sauce: Marusawa Brand Shoyu

How did soy sauce candy taste?
It hardly tasted of soy sauce. It tasted like hard candy with this, hmm, what is that taste in there? If I hadn’t known that it included shoyu, I doubt that I would have caught it, it was that subtle. Actually, I think that the taste was a bit too understated. Obviously, a little shoyu goes a long way — with anything, especially candy! However, my tongue wants to know what it is that I am eating. It is not enough for my eyes to just read the label and know.

There is a concept in Japanese cuisine called kakushi-aji, literally ‘hidden taste’. A hidden taste is what it sounds like. It is there, you pick it up but it is not quite pronounced enough for most people to be able to isolate it and identify it. For example, in Kyoto-style sushi, quite a bit of dashi broth is used to make the sushi rice. If you just taste the sushi rice, you can’t miss it. By the time it becomes sushi, it isn’t a prominent taste but it does add depth and complexity to the overall flavor.

I see the shoyu in this candy as fulfilling the function of a kakushi-aji but it is billed as the main event on the package. I doubt that was the makers intent, but that is how it comes off for me. Whatever the case, it is a contradiction. I think that if they doubled the amount of soy sauce they put in, it would be just right. But, I could easily be wrong! I think this is a tough combination to get just right. But this is Kyoto, it has to be just right!

There is a shinise that makes salt flavored hard candy that I sometimes but, it isn’t from Kyoto. It is out of this world, and I don’t even like salt! That candy is subtle and delicate yet you know you are eating salt flavored candy. So, I think my ideal is possible.

Nevertheless, I like this shoyu ame candy quite a lot and it would make a novel and tasty omiyage souvenir to bring back home.

Shuyu Ame Package

This is a very lame package design with lots of plastic waste. It needs some serious kaizen. Too bad.

Marusawa Shoyu Honten Machiya Facade

Marusawa Shoyu Honten Sign

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Map to Sawai Shoyu Honten

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Hyuganatsu is only available in Kyoto for a few weeks in the late winter and early spring and most Japanese have never eaten it. This spring I was inspired to some truly exquisite marmalade with hyuganatsu.

Miyazaki Citrus Hyuganatsu

Renowned Foodies in Kyoto from NYC
Marc from NoRecipes.com, a foodie blogger friend was in Kyoto this week and we finally got a chance to meet in person and ‘foodie’. He brought along Stephane from ZenCanCook.com, Stephane is a real French chef. The night of their arrival we did Japanese beef at Hiro, then sake at Nihonshu Bar Asakura then sumashi ramen at Takaraya. A few days later we did the wholesale food market and Kyoto-style sushi lesson at Kichisen with Chef Tanigawa.

Hyuganatsu Wagashi Omiyage
Marc was in Miyazaki, on Kyushu, before he came up to Kyoto and he kindly brought some omiyage souvenirs for me including Miyazaki’s undisputed meibutsu, the hyuganatsu in the form of a whole candied hyuganatsu filled with hyuganatsu flavored white yokan from a shinise in Miyazaki. It was a foodies dream come true.

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori Box and Wrapping

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori Inner Wrapping

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori

Hyuga-no-Kaori Yokan (七万石 日向のかほり)
There are a number of wagashi confections in Japanese cuisine that use a whole citrus fruit peel as a container for mochi, jelly or yokan flavored with the fruits juice. Some of my favorites are steamed yuzu filled with mochi, a cold season specialty of northern Japan and a bitter summer orange filled with jelly served chilled in the summer.

According to the Japanese Wikipedia article, hyuganatsu citrus (citrus tamurana) 日向夏柑橘 suddenly appeared in the Miyazaki garden of Yasutaro Magata in 1820. He didn’t know what the fruit was but did eat a few every winter but they were too sour for his taste. One summer a carpenter named Chibei Takazuma who was repairing Magata’s thatched roof helped himself to one of the mysterious fruit that was just left on the tree and he thought that it tasted pretty good. He took home a branch and grafted it onto a tree in his garden. From there cultivation of the fruit spread and by 1887 the name ‘hyuganatsu’ was in common use. It is thought that the hyuganatsu is a mutation of the yuzu citrus fruit.

Nanaman Goku (七万石) is a shinise in Miyazaki that developed this delightful confection in 1873. The confection is called Hyuga-no-Kaori which literally means the ‘fragrance of hyuga’. Development required 4 years of endeavor. To make it the flesh of the fruit is removed and juiced and used to flavor yokan jelly. The peel is candied and filled with yokan. The whole citrus fruit being candied makes this one rather unique, I think.

To serve, the confection is sliced into wedges reminiscent of the fruit wedges themselves.

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori - Slicing

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori - Sliced

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori - Sliced and Served

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori - Served

Hyuganatsu Yokan: Hyuga-no-Kaori - detail

How did Hyuga-no-Kaori Yokan taste?
Nanaman Goko says that they make this confection all year and with the seasons the taste changes quite a bit. I am a fiend for hyuganatsu so I was very excited to try this. It is absolutely beautiful and I felt that the packaging is certainly of a bygone and more pure era, like a Norman Rockwell painting. On the whole, I found it a little too sweet, but I was able to fix that with some Yankee ingenuity: I washed it.

There was not much hyuganatsu taste in the yokan but the peel is overflowing with flavor and fragrance. The yokan is a prefect balance to the sour of the peel. My only criticism is that it is quite sweet. Wagashi that is intended to be enjoyed with bitter maccha is often very sweet, so this is not unusual. Most of the sweetness comes from the sugar that is adhered to the candied peel. I tried scraping away some of the sugar with a knife but it is really stuck. I then tried running water over a slice for a few seconds, once to melt the sugar and a second time to wash it away. That removed a good portion of the sugar and that made the sweetness perfect for me.

Eating Hyuganatsu Fresh
You can see how to slice the hyuganatsu for eating fresh on this Sake Chat and Hyuganatsu Kyoto Diary article.

Hyuganatsu Marmalade Article Tease:
This was a beauty to behold, cook and eat! Hopefully I will get to it soon, until then..

Miyazaki Citrus Hyuganatsu

Miyazaki Citrus Hyuganatsu Ready for Making Marmalade

This meibutsu tsukmono is from Kamekura a shinise in Kameoka, a small and quaint town west of Kyoto. Kamekura is perhaps best known for its senmaizuke, a Kyoto winter favorite and favorite omiyage for visitors to the ancient capital.

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono Package

Kiku Kabura (Chrysanthemum Turnip) from Kamekura  亀蔵の菊かぶら
The white flesh of the turnip is meticulously cut to simulate the thin petals of a chrysanthemum flower and naturally dyed yellow with gardenia seeds, called kuchinashi in Japanese. The greens of the turnip are used as the leaves of the chrysanthemum. These are both pickled in a sweet brine. I was surprised at the sweetness of this pickle, but some tsukemono can be quite sweet, especially in Kyoto.

How to Eat
Like all tsukemono, this goes especially well with rice and generally as a side dish to the whole meal. Drinkers may enjoy tsukemono with beer, sake, shochu, wine, etc. However, tsukemono that goes well with drink is usually saltier than sweeter.

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono

Kabura Turnip Starts Out Looking Like This

Chrysanthemum: Not quite the right variety, but I will keep looking for the right flower.

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - detail

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - 'Bottom' of the Turnip

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - 'Top' of the Turnip

Chrysanthemum Turnip Tsukemono - Served

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