For example, Beni-imo is a purple colored sweet potato that is often used for stuffing pastries. Sataandagi, sometimes known as Okinawan doughnuts are always a favorite. Then there’s the old standby cane sugar. This is often squeezed or milled to extract the juice and then cooked down to the raw sugar. It’s often used as a treat by itself or to sweeten other treats.


There’s another popular Japanese sweet treat that makes use of the azuki bean called the zensai. This is made from cooked azuki beans and mochi. First the beans are soaked and soften then cooked. Mochi is rice that has been pounded and kneaded into a doughy consistency and then these too are cooked. The two are then served together in a dish.

In mainland Japan, this dish is usually served while it’s still hot. In Okinawa, it’s already plenty hot so what the locals do is let the concoction cool and then cover it with shaved ice. That my friends is how you cool off on a hot summer’s day, “Okinawan” style!
This is my submission for Travel Photo Thursday for June 2nd, 2011. To see all the great places, just follow the link!
Interesting article, thank you :)
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious :)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have guessed that the beans could serve as a sweetener.
ReplyDeleteThis is very intersting about the Zenzai and nice photos to go along with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a bean paste fan of any sort, but if I came to Okinawa I would definitely try this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting to Travel Photo Thursday.
I love that Japanese cooking uses natural sweeteners instead of all the refined white sugar we tend to use in North America.
ReplyDelete