Saturday, March 14, 2015

A Seasonal Traditional Sweets, Sakura-Mochi(Cherry Blossoms Rice Cake) with two different regional styles



Japanese people always love to have seasonal sweets.


Sakura-Mochi is one of the popular seasonal s
weets for spring. Many shops sell this sweet from around February to the end of April. 


However, Sakura flowers are not used in it though it has pretty cherry blossoms color. The color is just artificial, but the leaves wrapping the rice cakes are actually real cherry leaves which are pickled and edible, so people can enjoy the flavor of a pickled cherry leaf with the pretty pink rice cake.


These two photos below look different, but they are both Sakura-Mochi. The one on the left is called "Chomeiji-Temple-Style" and it's also said to be the Kanto region Style (The region including 6 prefectures including Tokyo) , the one on the right is called "Domyoji-Style" and it's said to be the Kansai region Style (the region including 6 prefectures including Kyoto and Osaka).


They are similar enough, but the shapes and ingredients of rice cake part are different. For Kanto region Style, the rice cake part is made of rice flour, while for Kansai region style the part is made of crushed dry rice.


The Kanto Region(East) and the Kansai region(West) have many such differences. It is said that the food cultures between those places are different because they are longtime rivals.


Well, I would say "anyway, they are both very good sweets to enjoy in the spring!"


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