Using the basic description and recipe (for Banana-Ginger Ice) in the Kitchen Culture blog post, try making different flavors: Kuro Goma (Black Sesame), Matcha (Green Tea), and Ichigo (Strawberry) are especially tasty.
KANSHA (pg 230) has a recipe for Brown Sugar Ice (Kuro Mitsu Aisu) and WASHOKU has a recipe for Black Sesame (pg 298) and Ruby Grapefruit, Strawberry, Apple and Honeydew Melon flavors, too (pg 297).
Throughout the world, oysters have been a popular food source since ancient times. Archeologic evidence in Japan, in the form of kaizuka (shell mounds), dates to the Jōmon period (14,000-300 BCE). Oysters had been abundant for millennia and harvested in their natural...
In most parts of Japan, kagami mochi is on display for several weeks, by which time the omochi rice cakes have dried out and begun to crack. KAGAMI-BIRAKI, the ritual smashing of the dried out omochi, is performed on January 11, this date having been fixed in the 17th...
At New Years’ time, the Japanese decorate their homes with a special display called KAGAMI MOCHI. There are many regional variations on the theme but typically two large rounds of omochi rice taffy are stacked with a daidai 橙 (bitter orange) on top. The arrangement is...
Because pine trees are hardy evergreens, they are a symbol of longevity and resilience in Japanese culture. As such they are a key motif used at New Year’s. Various foods are configured to evoke the image of pine needles (matsuba 松葉 ) and pine cones (matsukasa 松笠 )....