Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Sea shell for sweets!?


In the tea lesson this week, sea shells were brought in front of me.   Sea shell for sweets!?  The guests smiled as they were looking at them.  I’m often surprised with the beauty of confectionery, but this time I was surprised with its unpredictability, the playful idea.



I opened the shell.  There was not any actual meat inside, and it was filled with golden jelly.  I scooped it by using the other empty shell and put it into my mouth.  It was indeed sweet.  Its flavor stimulated a Japanese pure caramel candy.  The dark brown part in the center gave a change in the flavor as I tasted it.  It is miso, fermented bean paste.  The slightly salty and distinctive flavor of miso harmonized the roasted sugar flavor from the beginning.  



It was very interesting and unique confectionery that I had ever tried.  It is made in Kyoto.  Serving this type of sweets might not be common in the tea ceremony, but I love the idea to give your guests a bit of surprise.  Have you ever tried any confectionary that amused you with a surprise?

7 comments:

  1. Wow! I have never seen anything like that -- sounds great!

    There is a sweet kind of jelly that comes in a tube, and you push it out of the tube through something that has holes in it, and the jelly becomes like noodles. It comes with a sweet syrup to pour over it. I think it is a common sweet, but the first time I saw it I was very amused =)

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    1. Is the one you had Japanese sweets? I have tried something similar. (http://everyonestea.blogspot.jp/2009/07/sweets-of-day-jul-22.html) The action to push the sweet out from the tube is interesting, isn’t it?

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    2. Ah yes, that's the one! Yes, it was from a Japanese sweet shop.

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  2. What a lovely sweet! I wish we had the variety of sweets available here that you do in Japan.

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    1. Please visit Japan someday and try our sweets (^^)

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  3. So beautiful! What a great idea.

    My favourite surprise was a dark chocolate that had cinnamon and chili inside, it's a wonderful flavour combination.

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    1. Cinnamon and chili! That's so interesting and I don't think I can find that kind taste in Japanese sweets. I want to try that chocolate.

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