Egraphsen
Stephanie Cullingford
Theatrical Design
Sakuraco
Box Two - April 2021
Part Two
March 29th 2021
It's beginning to feel a lot like Autumn, with bright, sunny, cloudless days followed by chilly cloudless nights. I think I'm enjoying this box a bit more than the first': it may be that I'm at least familiar with what matcha is supposed to taste like, so I'm not wandering totally without a map. Or, it could be that this box has a lot more doubles (including the Baumkuchen, which was a very pleasant surprise), so you could either a) share with a friend or b) take them to work - guess what I did! Now, without further ado: the thrilling conclusion to my review of my second Sakuraco Box...
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Here are some of the doubles
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Slowly building up my picture gallery
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Not sure about that Hippo though...
or my ability to hang pictures straight!
The Food (part two)
Matcha Senbei
I love these senbei for several reasons. Firstly, there's a lot of them, 11 to be precise (and since they taste good, this is a good thing). Secondly, they weren't what I was expecting. After the fishy flavoured senbei (Sebeis? Senbeii?) of box one, I pretty much assumed that a senbei was a savory (or neutral) flavoured cracker, probably suitable for eating with cheese. Apparently not! This is very much a sweet cracker, although biscuit - or biscotti - would be the most accurate. They're very thin and very brown all the way through (occasionally, there's a slight hint of green, but that's rare. Thirdly, they're also large, which means you can eat one without the urge to eat more (which mean they last longer). They have a crisp, caramelised flavour, that's crunchy all the way through. What they don't have is any hint of matcha. If the tasting guide didn't say they were supposed to, I would have assumed they were like 'Rich Tea Biscuits' i.e. perfect for serving with rich tea/ matcha. There is a slight bitter taste, but no greenness or tea taste, and quite frankly, I could eat these all day! White girl approval. One thing I do find very strange is the picture on the package shows an oak-leaf design on the cracker, whereas they actually have vine-like swirls (karakusa, I believe)
Sakura Karinto
There's a typo in the tasting guide ('karito'), but a karinto is a deep-fried sweet knobbly tube (like a very crunchy, sweet twistie - ok, it's not VERY like!) "The slightly salty flavor [sic] of the sakura mixed in with the sweetness of the cracker aims to recreate the flavour of sakura mochi" - says the guide book. "Say what?" say I. The tasting notes make a great deal more sense when you realise that sakura mochi is a very specific wagashi (sweet) - they feature on the package but I, not realising their import, took a photo where the sakura mochi is pretty much entirely obscured by shine (... wouldn't have been as bad on a matte plastic, is all I'm saying ...). Essentially sakura mochi is a ball of azuki paste, wrapped in a ball of pink sweetened rice, wrapped in a (brine) pickled cherry leaf: Frankie magazine has some good pictures here. Now we know, and knowing, I'm told, is half the battle.
Firstly, there's the look. And it's not an appetising look. The most charitable way I can describe it is mouldy twisties. With the green and the shine - it's just not a good look. May be it's just me (with my interesting childhood) but they kind of looked like deep fried witchetty grubs (if you don't know what that is - it's got 'grub' in the name). All karinto look like this, so I really shouldn't pick on these ones in particular.
Then there's the taste. And it's not a bad taste - they are, in fact, very moreish. There's a sweet and nutty cinnamon smell, and they taste like buttery cinnamon toast. Occasionally with a hint of banana. My mum once made a walnut, cinnamon and strawberry cake and that tasted like bananas, so the way tastes come together can be very tricksy. Some are very banana-y, and some have no hint (I don't like bananas BTW). There is a slight fruitiness (besides the banana) but it's not cherry. Of all the flavours that are supposed to have inspired these, I can't seem to find any, perhaps a hint of saltiness, but that's hardly surprising. Sakura mochi seem like a thing that needs to be prepared fresh and not transported, so it makes sense that the box would include a sweet inspired by this classic wagashi (maybe it could be shipped as a DIY kit?) - I just don't think this was the way to do it.
Gold Plum Tea
On the face of it, it seems kind of weird that the tea in the Matcha box is not actually matcha. However, I understand that the preparation of matcha does require relatively specific utensils, so presumably that wasn't practical (I assume Japanese people drink matcha on a day to day basis, not just at a tea ceremony)
The picture in the guide is pretty much to scale
The Gold Plum Tea comes from Wakayama province which features in a Spotlight in the guide. I probably should have payed more attention to the fact that, while the article mentions ramen, it doesn't mention plums or tea... In What Katie Did Next when her charge becomes ill in Rome she has beef-tea made for her... and this tastes pretty much what I imagine that to taste like (one of the other reviewers suggested chicken soup.) And it's such a shame. The packaging is beautiful, the colour of the tea delightful - there's just nothing that I would classify as any kind of fruitiness. It also has those mini-Rice Bubbles which I fail to see the point of (I hate crispy things when they're soggy!) I think I will use the remaining bag as stock. Apricot Chicken maybe...
Matcha Pudding
I quite like the packaing - it's done in three layers, clear lid, folded paper lable and then a clear peel-back layer, though I do wonder if something a little more environmentally friendly could have been found (I wonder if you could use the lid and tub together)
Note: get less ugly spoon next time
Well, it is smooth and silky. It's very much a pudding, not a jelly - I really do wonder if I'm supposed to refrigerate these things, (it had a very thin layer of 'separation', like what you would get if something is too warm) to bring it down to Japan spring time room temperature. It's very soft. It has that strong, lingering grassy bitterness that I associate with matcha. It has that dried herb almost-but-not-quite mint taste again. I enjoyed this more than the pudding in box one, but I can't say I would want to eat a whole one in a hurry!
Matcha Mochi
Cards on the table, this is what I was really looking forward to, a sweet totally alien to my experience, forget cakes and crackers, I've been wanting to meet mochi! And this matcha mochi did not disappoint. I'm not sure if it was because I'd eaten the pudding just before, so my tastebuds were acclimatised, but I really enjoyed this sweet, it felt really traditional. On the packaging, I especially liked the little tea-picker lady with her sunhat. Inside the packet is a wrapping of corrugated plastic to stop the mochi getting squished. Inside that is dark green soft and squishy bar, covered in corn flour/icing sugar and wrapped in what looks like cellophane.
I tried to unwrap the cellophane, but I quickly came to hope that this was old fashioned, edible/disolvable cellophane (actually, you know, made with cellulose!). The cellophane quickly shriveled up, drawing moisture from my lips (which is a very odd feeling) - certainly hope I'm supposed to eat the wrapping! It has a similar taste to the pudding, but not as bitter - the guide says to eat it slowly as it will get sweeter. I'm not sure if it means the bar as a whole or each mouthful. Either way, I'm not certain if it gets sweeter, but the tea taste does get stronger. I just sit here, chomping away reading Doctor Who - Snow Globe 7 (4 stars, if you're interested). Like the yamecha monaka, it felt very normal.
Matcha Azuki Waffle
As the guide suggests, I heated the two waffles up in a toaster to make them crispy-crunchy and had them for breakfast (not pictured)
I'm glad I did, cold waffles always have that slightly sticky feel. Out of the toaster they are lovely and crisp, and they smell - like waffles. They taste like waffles too - there's a little 'greenness' in waffle one and a bit 'minty-greenness' in waffle two - I ate waffle one plain and waffle two with butter, so I wonder if it's the salt bringing out the flavour or whether it was a little cooler, allowing me to taste the flavour more. However, I never noticed either taste or texture of azuki.
That's all Folks, the Box is done, and I give it 10/10, for taste, satisfaction, beauty, value for money, all those good things. In fact, since I gave that score to Box One, and I think this may be better, perhaps it's actually 10.5/10? Or perhaps I should go back and change it to 9.5/10?
Nah, let's not
The two boxes are very different in their style of contents - for example, box two had no savories and no Sakuraco Exclusives. Box One had 16 'items' while Box two had only 13 - but had more double-ups so the total items received was roughly equal.
Time to wrap up my box and take it home.
See you in April!
~ Steph
*Edit*
Today is the first full moon after the Autumnal Equinox, which makes this the Harvest Moon.
And since the moon has more to do with Rabbits than Easter (and because
I don't have the self control to keep chocolate for six months)
I thought I would have my own Tsukimi
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Bunnies from Koko Black
Plate bought in 2009 from Canberra Potter's Society Inc., artist unknown
At first I was quite annoyed - after 20 days of clear skies the east is cloudy!?
Not a puff in the west, but the east is freaking cloudy?!
And then the sunset turned into really beautiful mackerel skies (only in the east - the west is boring yellow)
I think that star is Antares
On a related note: this is a sculpture of the moon at Meika Place at Elizabeth Quay that I took last winter at half-moon: as you view it from different angles you can see how the phases of the moon 'work' - Meika means 'Full Moon' in the Nyoongar language.
