Reviewed by
Mary
The autumn season means cooler weather, delicious food, and of course all the beautiful colours of fall!
This month’s Sakuraco is celebrating the season with a colourful tribute to the culture, flavours, and colours of Kyoto.
The menu booklet has a wonderful menu of all the items in the box. There are pictures and descriptions (including an allergy guide) and they also tell you about the significance of the shapes and flavours. You can also learn about some of the fascinating history of Kyoto, as well as some of the artisans who create the beautiful treats inside. The booklet is a superb companion to enjoying the goodies inside the box!
Kyoto Arare are a selection of seven different types of arare, crackers made from glutinous rice. These include seaweed, sesame, soy, and other traditional flavours. Yuzu Dorayaki are flavoured with the Japanese citrus, similar to a lemon. A dorayaki is a delicious little confection that is a little like a whoopie pie, but much more fancy! It consists of two soft flat sponge rounds which are sandwiched with bean paste, in this case white bean infused with yuzu. The texture and flavour are just beautiful, a wonderful treat with a cup of tea. The third treat here is another flavour popular in Japan, Sweet Potato Pie. These are little bites of flaky puff pastry filled with a sweet potato paste. Sweet potato is often used in sweet cakes and pastries, and the richness goes very well with the light pastry.
Soba Boro are one of the treats showcased in the menu booklet. It’s a traditional Kyoto specialty, made from buckwheat and baked until crisp. The producers specialise in this delicious cookie, making several varieties, and they are considered one of Kyoto’s most loved products. Matcha is another of the flavours showcased this month, first in these Matcha Cream Roll Cookies. They are hollow rice cracker tubes filled with delicious matcha cream. The Matcha Chocolate Crunch are another take on this delicious flavour, this time matcha mixed with chocolate, adzuki beans, and puffed rice for delicious crunchy bites with that distinctive bitter edge from the matcha.
Fried Ginkgo Nuts are a delicious savoury treat. They have a light salty flavour with slight sweetness, and are a great snack to go with (maybe!) beer. Soybeans are a core ingredient in the Osodefuri Soybean Okaki, which are salted rice crackers that contain soybeans from Hokkaido. Nikko Yatsuhashi are a simple but delicious biscuit. They are very crisp and have a distinctive spice cinnamon flavour, and the curved shape is based on that of the traditional Japanese harp.
Kitsune Senbei are one of those beautiful snacks that are almost to beautiful to eat! These beautiful rice crackers are made as a souvenir from a renowned shrine in Kyoto. The kitsune is the fox spirit of Japanese folklore, and is shown hold either a key (as is mine) or a jewel. Both these items are treasured by the gods, and the symbolism and significance of this representations is very significant in Japanese culture.
Another exquisite confection is the Momji & Chestnut Wagashi. Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets, and these are produced by one of the foremost confectioners that has been in business since the 60s. The little round sweet is the chestnut, combiningg two layered types of bean paste. The Momiji (maple leaf) has a sweet jelly outer layer around a centre of yokan, a slab of sweet red bean paste.
Finally we have Matcha Pudding, which as it sounds is a delicious smooth and rich pudding flavoured with matcha.
This month’s homeware item is this beautiful Floral Kamon Yunomi. This is a Japanese tea cup, perfectly sized to fit in the hand with beautiful floral illustrations.
By Evelyn 
