ichigo daifuku

it's not butter, but a traditional candy served with matcha

Today I attended a class in Japanese confectionery instructed by Mr. Suzuki of Shibayama Japanese Confectioneries in the city of Takamatsu. It was hosted in the commercial kitchen of their shop. The theme of the day was Ichigo Daikufu, which is an excellent dessert featuring fresh strawberries. Traditional Japanese cooking, including confectionery, cannot rely on ovens, and is mostly created in a pot over fire or with steam in specially made appliances. The confections at Shibayama are all handmade, focusing on seasonal flavors and traditional recipes.

Ichigo Daifuku (ichigo meaning strawberry, and daifuku meaning good fortune or “big luck” literally) is made by first encasing a whole ripe strawberry in anko red bean paste. This is then wrapped inside of a soft layer of dough made with mochi rice flour (a highly glutinous rice), water, sugar, and egg white whipped stiff. The wrapping is all done by hand and since the dough is extremely sticky, it’s very difficult to get the perfectly shaped balls that the pros produce.

strawberries, anko, and mochiko flour

The anko we used is only one of a variety of sweetened bean pastes that can be found in Japan. Shiroan for example, a white velvety variety, is made from lima beans. It may be strange to some palettes to think of mashed beans as dessert food, but sweetened beans can be found in many places all around Asia. 

Thinking about it though, even pork and beans tends to have an amount of sugar in it, so maybe it's not really that strange. Many beans have very neutral flavors and absorb the flavors around them well, so really they can go either direction towards savory or sweet. The beans used in making red anko are azuki (sometimes spelled adzuki) beans, with the largest growing region in Japan up north in Hokkaido.

 

the not-so-perfect result, but delicious!

Trying it out myself, the mostly difficult part was definitely wrapping the mochi dough around the inner core. It has to be done with speed, precision, and a soft touch – as the hot dough begins to cool, it becomes less flexible and harder to pinch together to finish the seam. And if things go wrong, they go wrong very quickly - that mochi rice can stick like hot glue. Suzuki-sensei described it as not pulling, which will tear the dough, but rather pinning it down with one hand and pushing with three fingers while working around the ball. The dough itself is made in a large rounded pot over a flame. First the mochiko flour and water are combined with sugar. Then, the mixture is poured into a large steaming machine and steamed so that the dough becomes super sticky. It is then returned to the pot, where the now heavy, thick mixture.is constantly stirred so as not to burn. The stiffened egg whites are folded in last.

Here are my rather imperfect results, which were none-the-less extremely delicious. I have developed a healthy appreciation for the pros, whose speed and accuracy in producing these perfect treats hides their years of acquired skill.

Me and Suzuki-sensei

Good times with strawberries! Oh as a last note, there is a variety strawberries of strawberries here known as Sanuki Hime - the Sanuki Princess strawberries - and they are excellent. Deep red and deeply sweet, this local berry is a real treasure. Bigger is not always better!