February 25, 2010

Sakura Manju and Sakura Mochi Made by Aoki Shoten/青木商店の桜まんじゅうと桜餅

Note: I changed the title of this post on March 3. I also made some changes because I have learned that the sakura maju were actually sakura joyo manju from Aoki Shoten, a local confectionery shop here in Shiozawa.
注:3月3日にこの投稿のタイトルを変えました。また、「桜まんじゅう」は実際は、塩沢の青木商店の「桜薯蕷(じょうよ)まんじゅう」だと分かったので、少し変更を加えました。
From my post dated March 2:
Joyo refers to yamato imo, yama imo, tsukune imo, etc. (types of mountain yam). Joyo is used as a bonding agent for rice or wheat flour. Joyo will swell when streamed, and when you use joyo with flour when making manju, the skin will have a soft, fluffy texture.
薯蕷とは大和芋、山芋、つくね芋などのことです。米粉や小麦粉のつなぎとして用いられます。薯蕷は蒸すと膨らむので、まんじゅうを作るときに粉と一緒に使うと、皮がフワフワな食感になるそうです。

Today, my wife got these wagashi (Japanese sweets) from her sister:
Top: Sakura joyo manju
Bottom: Sakura mochi
今日、妻は姉から和菓子を頂きました。
上: 桜薯蕷(じょうよ)まんじゅう
下: 桜餅

The sakura manju had sakura an in it.
桜薯蕷(じょうよ)まんじゅうには桜餡が入っていました。

Note that there are two types of sakura mochi in Japan: Kanto-style Chomeiji and Kansai-style Domyoji. I don't know why, but here in Niigata, Domyoji is the common type.
日本には桜餅が二種類あります。関東の長命寺と関西の道明寺です。なぜか知りませんが、新潟では道明寺が一般的です。

12 comments:

Tzu-yen said...

I had these triangle mochi at Kyoto. Essentially the same thing different shape?

Tzu-yen said...

I had some triangle shaped mochi in Kyoto. same thing different shape?b

Amato said...

Ohhhh....;-)
Is it already "sakura-time" in Japan?
Did you like it?
(I’m jealous, I want too...)

Kanto/Kansai style: I wanted to find out, and have read in Japanese wikipedia about sakura mochi http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%9C%E9%A4%85
But, I don’t understand it, sorry.
Google translation is very inaccurate.

Triangle Kyoto mochi would be
八ツ橋 yatsuhashi.
Very different taste, I mean most wagashi are made from various rice flours and shiro/koshian, but the taste/texture always varies.

Other question:
I would like to make matcha liqueur with shochu. The cookpad recipe calls for ホワイトリカー, this is a kind of shochu, right?
What shochu would you advise?

I finally improved my mirin post and gave you the credit you deserve, I’m sorry, it took me so long to do it.

Hiroyuki said...

Tzuie: Thanks for your comment.
Like Amato pointed out, it may be yatsuhashi, nama-yatsuhashi, to be exact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatsuhashi
Or, it may be a varient of sakura mochi if it's pink and it's sold as sakura mochi.

Hiroyuki said...

Amato: Thanks for your comments. Somehow, yatsuhashi didn't occur to me!
You are very knowledgeable about wagashi!

What do you want to find out about sakura mochi? I browsed through your website and found a mention of sakura mochi.

In Japanese (but not in English), white liquor is a type of shochu (ko-rui shochu 甲類焼酎, to be exact, as opposed to otsu-rui shochu 乙類焼酎), as you say. White liquor usually has an alchol content of 35%, and is the most recommended type of shochu for making kajutsu shu 果実酒 (fruit liqueur?) including umeshu.

Hiroyuki said...

Amato: I forgot to answer your first question.

Sakura time? Yes!
Take a look of this:
http://www11.ocn.ne.jp/~tubakiya/page007.html
AND, besides, hina matsuri is just around the corner! March 3! And, I have a daughter!

Amato said...

Thank you, Hiro...(gets red)
I always don’t know what to say if you compliment me like this…

I wanted to find out, WHY there are 2 different sakura mochi kinds.
I already wrote a whole post about sakura mochi in October:
http://wagashi-net.de/blog/wagashimaniac/2009/11/sakura-mochi/

And, WHAT?!?
Hina matsuri is already this soon???
Oh no, I wanted to show a hina matsuri cake…
Thank you for telling me!

There is a recipe in one of my wagashi books (I have plenty Japanese wagashi books)
Maybe this would be something for your daughter? I can scan the recipe for you, its all in Japanese.
(sakura mochi with domyoji-ko is very easy to make, with microwave)

Thank you for the link, I have a question again (I hope, I don’t go on your nerves with my questions)
I thought uguisu mochi is a February wagashi, not January?(made uguisu mochi 2 days ago and wanted to blog about it)

Lexi said...

I saw your post today and thought, "I want to eat Sakura mochi" but when I went to the super market--none! Then, studying at my local cafe, the owner offered me some she had just received. This is certainly a case of 幸運!

Hiroyuki said...

Amato: I don't know the exact reason. I did some googling, and found that the two versions developed in their own way in Kanto and Kansai, respectively. As you may know, there are considerable differences in food culture between Kanto and Kansai, and sakura mochi is just one example. I will provide some more detail about the differences in my blog when I have more free time.

Abut uguisu mochi: As you may know (of course, you know), uguisu mochi is associated with spring, just like sakura mochi. I'm not a wagashi expert, so I did some googling. At one wagashi shop, they sell uguisu mochi from mid-January until the end of March; at another, in January and Feburuary; and at still another, they say that sakura mochi and uguisu mochi sell well until Hina Matsuri on March 3. Obviously, there are no strict rules as to when uguisu mochi should be sold.

Forgot to say: Sakura trees are in full bloom around early April here in the Uonuma region of Niigata prefecture. They are absolutely beautiful.

I don't know why, but my daughter doesn't like an, and gave her sakura mochi to his brother!
This is very strange, since she likes an in dorayaki, taiyaki, and others...
I like sakura mochi, the combination of sweet an and the salty sakura leaf.

Hiroyuki said...

Lexi: You were lucky, if you got it for free!

Hope you have a wonderful hina matsuri where you live.

Amato said...

Dear Hiro,
Thank you so much for the great information. I have few wagashi books, and let translate 3 of them (I don’t speak Japanese) but this are mostly recipes.
There are many great stories around wagashi, so far I understand.

I think, your daughter doesn’t like shiro an, but prefers tsubu/koshian.
Many people don’t like it, including myself; it’s sometimes very "bland".I like tsubu/koshian very much.
Maybe it would be better to use koshian for the hina matsuri cake?

I like sakura mochi too, exactly the same reason like you: the sweet/salty combination is very tasty.

Hiroyuki said...

Amato: It's not that she doesn't like shiro an. She likes dorayaki, taiyaki, and similar wagashi with an in them, but she doesn't like daifuku and manju with an in them, although they all contain the same an (azuki bean jam)...

Koshian for hinamatsuri cake? I don't know. Some wagashi have koshian/tsubuan in them while others have shiro an in them.

Sakura mochi: Some people remove the salted leaf and have the mochi only, while others like me like to have the whole sakura mochi, leaf and all.