Sakuraco

Box Four - June 2021

Part One

May 19th 2021

In Japan, June is the rainy season- what a coincince! It's the rainy season in Perth too! Of course, it's only May, and the very end of autumn; we're getting colder while Japan is moving into a humid summer, where thin cotton yukata sound like a very good idea. I thought about wearing my yukata again, with it's hydrangea/ajisai motif, but I decided against it - the maple leaves are colouring and falling.

Instead, I went with a vintage chirimen kimono in light blue with 'Four' Seasons and Mandarin Ducks (at least I think it's four seasons: it doesn't have plum or cherry blossoms for spring, but it has wisteria - Three Seasons?. It's too narrow and short to wear properly (unless it's knee length) so I wear it as a light coat (being fully lined) in autumn and spring. When the wind catches it, it blows it back like a cloak and I feel like a superhero. I love a lot of things about it, but probably my favourite is the multicoloured lining.

I am wearing:

– Pale blue chirimen kimono with Four Seasons and Mandarin Duck motifs

- Black shift dress with brass buttons

– Avon Glimmerbrights stick in purple

–– Burt's Bees Lip Gloss in Pink Lagoon

– Plum blossom earrings from Lovisa (so is the scarf in the pictures later)

- TFN nail polish in 'Chez' a Good One' overlaid with 'Gold Nugget' with maple leaf motif.

Done with sticky paper cut with a maple punch.

Reasons to get a boyfriend - some one to take photos further away than arms length...

Sour Plum Mochi Martini

click photo for recipe

The table was on a slant - can you tell?

Today was a very rainy day (like Japan in June, so I'm informed), so I stayed inside.

The Box:

The Magazine and Postcard:

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but like the famous Dr. Rodney McKay, I am mortally allergic to citrus (not quite, but concentrated doses do give me migraines). So, having not spoiled the surprise by looking online, I began to go through the magazine with a slight sinking feeling and trepidation. However, with judicious planning (not eating two citrus treats together), drinking lots of water - and onboarding painkillers and anti-histamine, we proceeded. The card is a lovely dark green that matches the magazine, with a lumpy looking citrus on the front - I'm guessing it is a yuzu. In the magazine there is a spotlight on Bairindo who make rice crackers (Yes! There is a savory in this box!) as well as the season Tsuyu ('Plum Rain') as well as hydrangea flowers.

Do you like my new moomin pen?

The Obon/Tray

The tray or obon (not to be confused with the festival Obon, at least, as far as I can tell) is decorated with a four seasons motifs - Spring: sakura blossoms; Summer: butterfly, Morning Glory, Dragonfly; Autumn: Maple leaves; Winter: Temari (cloth ball for New Year), Camellia, Crane. It's a simple black plastic with a woodgrain effect, with the motifs in gold, about 17 x 12cm, which is a good size. My only criticism is the fact that dark, or clear items can disappear into it, making the food, or tray difficult to photograph. (as you can tell, I liked it so much I re-did my make-up shot with it)

So, here we go! Sakuraco Box Four - Summertime Citrus!

The Food:

Azuki Dorayaki

We'll be starting today with a doraaki. The packaging is cute and cartoony, but still has a traditional vibe - I especially like the paper/plastic feel of the wrapper. It has (what I assume is) the brand name seared on to the top pancake, which I feel is a nice decorative touch. Anko is sweet bean paste made from azuki, but this one is a little bit different - it has five colours of sweet beans (the five of them appear as the cartoon characters on the package). I'm not offay enough in my bean studies to recognise which each type are: I like to think that the first bean is the azuki who is cross that his thunder is being stolen by these Johnny-come-latelys. I tried to take a picture of the inside of the dorayaki, the pastes really are different, though subtle, colours, but the camera refused to cooperate. I feel like this dorayaki tastes less dry than the previous ones, but I can't really be sure. The strongest colour contrast is with the white bean paste, and there is a mixture of whole beans and paste. What surprised me most though was the range of flavour within. I could definitely taste three flavours (possibly five?) though which tastes related to which bean, and what made the flavours different was hard to say. I certainly like this more than flat azuki, it tastes sweeter, in a more dimensional way (Think lemon, lime and orange cake - can you really taste the differences? REALLY?). I also think the addition of the other beans makes the texture less dry (although I could just be getting used to it). I guess the best thing to say is that the flavours are definitely, but not defiantly, different.

Summer Citrus Monaka

Hyuganatsu, the tasting notes tell us is an unusual citrus fruit native to (or naturally hybridised in) Japan, and was only discovered in the 1820s. Unlike the prolific lemon trees that seem to fruit pretty much in every season around my neighbourhood (just not all on the one tree), the Hyuganatsu only fruits in late winter and early spring. I love the design on the monaka (the actual package is merely ho-hum) with what looks to me like a citrus cut down the middle, but is probably actually a chrysanthemum (or both, because never let semantics get in the way of good product design)

The smell of the monaka is a surprise - being hyper sensitive to citrus, I was expecting that to be the only thing I could smell. Instead there was the simple, bitter, rice smell of the wafers. Even when I bit into the monaka and sniffed the paste the citrus smell was still quietly humming to its self in the background, not wishing to make a fuss. I should say off the bat, that of all the citrus grapefruit is the one I least missed - bitter to mouth and nose. The Hyuganatsu had a pleasant grapefruity smell/taste, totally lacking the nastiness. What it had in spades (and sharing with the Grapefruit) was a dimesionality of taste that is totally lacking in your average one-note orange. There was also an interesting spicey note, and the wafer was definitely more bitter than usual. Holding the hyuganatsu together was white anko paste, which had an odd 'marbled' taste - sometimes the citrus was very strong, and in the next bite, it was totally subsumed into the sweek white anko

Komachi Chestnut Pie

Chestnut isn't really a flavour you encounter here in Australia much (although I am a big fan of water chestnuts in stirfry); of course, they're famous in Europe at Christmas time, so we had to try them when we were there - and I gotta say, I just don't think the roasted chestnut is worth the hype. The other time I've had them is is a festive vegetarian pie that my sister made for Christmas, and the textures just did not work together.

I like the packaging, with the papery/plastic and the inkbrush, almost abstract, design. The pie is kept safe from squishage and breakage by a pattypan, and the top is a beautiful gold - in the tasting guide it looks like a crackle, but it's just how the pastry expanded during cooking. The tasting note mentions that its an exploration of manju, which according to my research: is a sweet inspired by mochi - using a different starch (such as wheat), usually with a azuki bean paste, but fillings and styles vary region by region. The pastry smells good, and tastes sweet with just enough salt. Usually pies use a shortcrust or puff pastry, so it is crumbly or flakey. This one, I think, is a hot water pastry (most commonly found around a pork pie), so it rips instead of breaks. The chestnut puree is white, quite sweet and dry - but not floury. I kept expecting a nuttiness in the flavour, even though chestnut really isn't. It's just sweet and simple, maybe with a touch of vanilla added. The texture is similar to azuki, but dryer, almost crumbly. I really like this one, and it does, indeed '[blend] Japanese and western culture wonderfully'

Summer Fruits Jelly

Again, the packaing is well designed, simple and thoughtful - there is clearly a grape and a citrus segment in jelly in the offering and what more do I need to know? The makers stamp is really cool. Like the guide suggests, I plate up the jelly and as you can see it's quite juicy slipping and sliding across the tray.

There's just soming about peeled grapes that makes them look so vulnerable! The smell is generically fruity - pear? apple? Its probably also sweetened with grape juice. There's also a hint of perfume which might come from lychee, but definitely no citrus. I started with this one one for it's low citrus quotient, so hopefully it won't sneak up on me. Terrible as this confession must be, I much prefer it to kuzu mochi - the jelly really melts in your mouth.

SakuSaku Seaweed Rice Cracker

The first savory item since Box One makes a nice change. Bairindo, the company who made the cracker, did, however start as a sweet shot 157 years ago - there's a highlight on them in the magazine, which has four pages devoted to it. What I especially like about the highlight is they show various different products (or rather, flavours of the rice crackers) and the pakaging, so that we get a glimpse of the range. They all appear to use the same print, in different colours, of a slightly abstracted rice cracker (or what we'd call a rice cake) with bubbles and voids. The seaweed cracker is a pale, almost shadowy, green.

The papery-type packaging has a beautiful pearlescent sheen, which I just couldn't quite capture (but I did get the cute camellia in the corner). The rice cake (made of miniscule puffed grains) is the first casualty of June Box, and is very broken - but held together with it's little casing. It's bright green with a slightly fluff top, no doubt from the shredded seaweed. It smells like the sea from a long way off (or a long way from land) - very clean and ... people always use the term 'iodine' to describe smell of the sea, an inorganic, non-salty smell. That's what it tastes like too, with a slight saltiness that slowly develops a delicate fresh fish smell. The cracker is super crispy-crunchy - not styrofoamy at all! We have seaweed rice crackers here, and they're not nearly so nice.

No way Tenkei Confectionary is going to get sued for false advertising!

Fresh Orange Cake

Orange cake is orange!

Really, I could leave it at that.

The packaging is shiny gold-orange, it smells like oranges and there is visible orange peel in the cake (and the cake is orange). it smells like a crate full of whole oranges, warmed by the sun, not that slightly acidic, almost artificial, smell you get when you open a bottle of orange juice. The cake is sweet, but the peel is bitter which makes for a well balanced combo. I'm not sure if this is a castella or not (I assume it would be called that) but it does have a similar soft, moist sponginess - though the top does stay on, and that's a first (if it is a castella) - perhaps it's not quite as sticky.

Matcha Taiyaki

Here we have a cute little Taiyaki, which to me, kind of epitomises Japanese street-cool. I've seen pictures of 'Rainbow-Nutella Taiyaki' and I just don't think they look appetising! I'd love to have a savory version, and more than that, a hot one on the street (we can dream, right?). Until then, here is my little fishy (I may, or may not be channeling The Cat from Red Dwarf...). The packaging is simple but effective - except for that horrible shine when you try to photograph it! I assume the green lable in the corner lets you know this is not your classic azuki taiyaki. The batter smells matcha bitter, with a hint of grapefruit pith (or is it's just contamination from the plate?). The batter is dry, foamy-dense and eggy. The filling has a floral grassy smell, and the pale green paste is very smooth. It's soft and silky, almost like a face cream or a fondant or ganache. No, it's really nice!

I'm going to eat you Little Fishy!

I think I've found the way to enjoy matcha: with lots of sugar! Oh dear. It's not very bitter, just enough to classify it as bitter-sweet and I like that combo. It's a grassy sweetness, that seems to move in waves, more bitter, less bitter, but never very sharp. It does however, lack some of those deeper, more complex, herbal notes that you find in the matcha lead flavours, especially in box two's monaka. I guess that was the price paid for the smoothness of flavour

It's been a very busy week or more, what with house-sitting, diabetic dogs and kitchen renovations, that I started writing this over a week ago. Hopefully, the next installment will be a bit more timely - I'll see you then!