Beans to the Rescue...What is a Summer Sweet in Japan?
Our friends at PingMag in Tokyo always come up with interesting stories that give us an inside look at the local culture and traditions.
Yesterday Ryoko offered us her take on Summer Japanese Sweets to Cool You Down. A generic term for Japanese sweets is Wagashi.
A common ingredient in them is Azuki bean jelly. These sweets tend to be relatively healthy as they are rich in vegetable protein according to Kitchoan where I gleaned some of this facts.
One of the oldest makers of sweets in Japan is Toraya Confectionery whose site offers much information on the topic of Wagashi and illustrations of the creativity that goes into it as illustrated by the picture displayed here.
They also mention The Art of the Five Senses.
Makes me eager to taste some of these but where in my corner of New Jersey?
Related Japanese stories: Italian-Japanese Food anyone? Umami (the Fifth Taste) is part of the Mix