We’re going to share with you the popular Kyoto sweets.
We all know and love Kyoto. We’ve seen all of those gorgeous and perfect Instagram photos full of its shrines, temples, and even know that it’s the oldest capital in Japan. What you may not have known is that Kyoto is really famous for all of its traditional sweet treats. Some of them are dating back as far as the 1700s. Japanese style confectioneries to reimagined traditional favorites, Kyoto is filled with numerous delights.
Yatsuhashi
You can grab two different types of sweets. One is like a crispy cinnamon baked cookie and it’s a similar shape to a koto which is the Japanese harp. The other is more popular sweets with sweets which is the namayatsuhashi. It is an unbaked or steam sort of mochi, triangle-shaped with red bean paste. There are some types of flavor like strawberry, matcha, chocolate, and cinnamon. Namayatsuhashi is fluffy and its mochi is not so sticky that it’s like you keep chewing it forever.
Matcha
Kyoto has Uji, the matcha capital of Japan, so there are a lot of matcha sweet restaurants. You can find matcha flavored food and beverages on nearly every street corner.
Matcha and Milk Shaved Ice with Red bean, Mochi
Matcha Parfait / Matcha Icecream
It has multiple amazing layers. You should try each piece first and then it’s better to mix them. It’s a kind of bitter matcha more base on top with red bean paste that kind of balance out the sweetness.
Matcha Warabi Mochi
It ‘s like pounded mochi. The texture is so satisfying and silky and bouncy.
Traditional Japanese Confectionery
Traditional Japanese Confectionery is called Wagashi in Japanese and made from glutinous rice, red bean paste, and fruit. The confectioneries are almost made by hand. It takes a skilled artisan to craft these sweets in designs that reflect the passing seasons. Wagashi is usually served with thick Matcha green tea in a tea room. Macha can be bitter than you expected, so sweets mellow and complement the bitterness of it. Though most foreigners seem to dislike the taste, it’s enjoyable to make it at the cooking course.
水無月
Eating Minazuki sweets on the last day of June is a custom for Kyoto people. This sweet is steamed cake made of sugar and rice flour called “uirō” topped with azuki beans and cut into a triangle.
People in old age eat ice to beat the summer heat at the ritual, but it was for only bourgeois.
Citizens made the similar thing to do the same thing and it lasts today.
The triangle shape and azuki are for dispelling the evil things so Minazuki sweets is special one for Nagodhi no Ōharae.
What’s your favorite sweets in Kyoto?
Do you need more information?
You should receive such local information of Kyoto by an application “KoI APP”.
With this application, even if you don’t have Wi-Fi, you can find nearby stores and so on.
You can install the application from the following URL.
