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Do you always want to taste the signature dishes of a new land whenever you travel to a new place? Let's explore the exquisite and rich traditional sweets of beautiful Japan in this article!
Wagashi of Japan – It's not just sweets, it's a refined art
Japan is famous for its long-standing and diverse culinary scene, where traditional sweets of the land of cherry blossoms are irresistible to travelers from all over the world.
Japanese people craft these exquisite and masterful cakes with great delicacy and skill (Photo: Internet).
Wagashi is the Japanese term for traditional sweet cakes, often enjoyed with a cup of green tea. They come in various shapes, textures, and consistencies, with incredibly diverse ingredients and preparation methods.
There are countless varieties of sweet cakes creatively crafted by the Japanese, offering a rich and diverse selection (Photo: Internet).
Some types of cakes are always available in every region throughout Japan at any time of the year, while others are only made seasonally in certain specific areas.
An essential ingredient at the heart of creating various wagashi types is sweet red bean paste, known as anko in Japanese. After boiling, the red beans are mixed with sugar and mashed to create a smooth paste called koshian or a coarse paste known as tsubuan.
Red beans are a key ingredient used as fillings for many Japanese cakes (Photo: Internet).
Additionally, various other ingredients are used in Japanese confectionery recipes such as rice flour, glutinous rice cakes (mochi), Japanese agar (kanten), sesame flour, peanuts...
Japanese agar kanten is highly favored in many dishes for its visually appealing texture (Photo: Internet).
When traveling to Japan, you can enjoy wagashi in cafes, restaurants, temples, or parks, where green tea is often served alongside these sweets. Alternatively, if you want to buy some to take away, you can visit grocery stores, supermarkets, shopping centers, convenience stores, or even street food stalls that offer this popular treat.
Kyoto, the ancient capital, is home to many confectionery shops, while Nakamise shopping street in Asakusa's old town is an ideal spot for sampling traditional Japanese sweets when visiting Tokyo, the capital city.
Below are some of the most common wagashi you'll encounter while strolling the streets of the land of cherry blossoms. Get ready to both crave and be dazzled by the beauty of these sweets!
Namagashi (生菓子)
Literally translated, this name means 'living cake,' perhaps symbolizing the life of all beings in nature.
Namagashi cakes are shaped like seasonal flowers (Photo: Internet).
This is the traditional sweet cake that comes to mind most often when talking about wagashi. Namagashi is made from rice flour with a sweet red bean paste filling, then expertly hand-molded to reflect the characteristics of the seasons. Japanese people often use this type of cake in tea ceremonies.
Imagine the scene of unwrapping one of these lovely little cakes - that's an experience worth trying!
Furthermore, namagashi can also be creatively transformed into new and unique shapes, like the fish shape in the video below:
Daifuku (大福)
The name of this cake means 'great fortune,' symbolizing luck and happiness for diners who have the chance to enjoy it.
Traditional daifuku cakes are quite simple with red bean paste filling and rice flour outer shell (Photo: Internet).
Daifuku is made of two parts: the outer shell is made of sticky rice cake mochi wrapped around a filling of sweet red bean paste or other ingredients molded into small round shapes. The outer layer of the cake is then coated with a smooth potato starch to prevent them from sticking together when stacked in a box.
Strawberry-filled daifuku cakes look very appealing (Photo: Internet).
Variations of daifuku cakes can use different ingredients such as strawberries, beans, or even ice cream. If you have the chance to enjoy these cakes, you should eat them quickly, as they will harden if left out in the air for too long.
Dango (だんご)
Dango resembles meatballs but is made from rice flour (Photo: Internet).
Dango is small, round, chewy balls made from rice flour and steamed until cooked. They are often skewered onto sticks in sets of three or four and topped with sweet sauce or soybean powder.
Dango can also be used in other desserts like anmitsu and oshiruko. Similar to daifuku, these cakes are best enjoyed fresh rather than left for too long.
Dango is added to the mixed dessert dish anmitsu (Photo: Internet).
Dorayaki (どら焼き)
The legendary cake closely associated with the robotic cat character Doraemon (Photo: Internet).
Dorayaki is made by sandwiching a sweet red bean paste filling between two round pancake-like cakes. For manga fans, this cake is already famous as the favorite snack of the Doraemon robot cat character.
Modern variations of dorayaki can use fillings made from other ingredients such as rich milk cream, custard egg cream, or green tea powder cream (matcha).
Taiyaki (たい焼き)
Taiyaki cakes shaped like fish are unmistakable (Photo: Internet).
This fish-shaped cake is made from a batter similar to pancake batter and filled with sweet red bean paste or more modern ingredients like custard cream, chocolate, or cheese.
Taiyaki tastes best when freshly taken out of the oven, with the cake shell still crispy, creating a delightful sensation in the mouth.
Manju (饅頭)
Manju resembles small steamed buns with red bean paste filling (Photo: Internet).
Manju are small cakes steamed or baked with fillings such as red bean paste or other sweet ingredients.
Traditionally, they are round with a soft and smooth outer layer, but nowadays, various baked manju variations with different shapes are also popular to impress tourists. One typical example of these creative variations is momiji-manju from the Hiroshima region.
Momiji means maple tree, reflecting the shape of the cake resembling a maple leaf (Photo: Internet).
Anmitsu (あんみつ)
A bowl of anmitsu contains a variety of visually appealing and delicious ingredients (Photo: Internet).
Anmitsu is a mixed sweet dish consisting of red bean paste, fruits, a few rice flour cakes, and square-shaped kanten agar jelly cubes, all served with brown sugar syrup.
Let's take a look at the anmitsu dessert served at a renowned establishment in the bustling Ginza district, the heart of Tokyo:
A creative twist for this dish is adding a scoop of ice cream, turning it into 'anmitsu ice cream'.
The ice cream version of anmitsu is both unique and delicious, as well as visually appealing (Photo: Internet).
Oshiruko and Zenzai (おしるこ and ぜんざい)
Oshiruko in Japan is similar to Vietnamese che troi nuoc (Photo: Internet).
Oshiruko is a sweet soup-like dish made from grilled mochi balls or cooked rice cake pieces served with hot sweet red bean soup. The bean soup can be either thin and smooth or thick and coarse depending on the diner's preference.
A dish quite similar to oshiruko is zenzai, with a thicker and stickier bean soup.
Zenzai and oshiruko differ in the thickness and stickiness of the red bean soup (Photo: Internet).
Yokan (羊羹)
The beautifully flower-shaped yokan jelly pieces are not only visually appealing but also delicious (Photo: Internet).
Yokan is a sweet snack with a firm texture similar to gelatin, made from sugar and kanten agar jelly. This 'cake' can come in various flavors like red bean, green tea, or black sugar.
Yokan can be layered in a cup with different flavored layers (Photo: Internet).
Traditional yokan bars are often made in sizes comparable to sticks of chewing gum, but there are also larger bars that need to be sliced before consumption. Yokan does not require refrigeration and can last quite a while in normal room conditions.
Monaka (最中)
Monaka consists of two crispy wafer shells sandwiching a red bean filling in the middle (Photo: Internet).
The wafer shell of Monaka resembles a crispy wafer and inside is a red bean filling. The shell can be crafted into various shapes and sizes, ranging from simple small rounds to intricate and visually stunning designs.
A visually striking square-shaped monaka pastry (Photo: Internet).
One modern variation of this pastry uses cream instead of traditional red bean paste as the filling. Some places even create monaka versions with rich cream fillings and impressively shaped outer shells as seen in the video below:
The wafer shell of monaka loses its crispiness when exposed to air for too long, so you should also consume the pastry quickly!
The sweet wagashi treats mentioned above have contributed to the essence of Japanese culinary art, so if you have the chance to visit the Land of the Rising Sun, be sure to indulge in some of them to experience the sweet flavors of Japanese cultural tradition!
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Posted by: Ưng Hoàng
Keywords: When traveling to Japan, remember to indulge in these incredibly delicious traditional pastries!
