ホモテナシ

  • Normal tea sweets are not that explicit, but this one is what it is: a strawberry in もち dough
  • I like to make a pun on the homophone 一期, quite useful for presentations where you can't bring a scroll.
  • For the smaller Extra strawberries you can get from Migros (about 10 gr each), I find 15 gr あん and 20 gr もち perfectly fine
  • I added a few drops of balsamic vinegar to the あん here (about 2% by weight). It hides well behind the あん flavour, but it makes the strawberry flavour pop a lot, so I think it's worth it!
  • The problem with fruit もち in general is water migration. So the あん also acts as a buffer to prevent the fruit moisture dissolving the もち layer. Hence the strawberry is wrapped in あん.

Sogginess

  • You can sprinkle the strawberries with sugar, which draws out moisture, and then pat them dry
  • You can use an agar film (1% agar, heat to dissolve, cool to 50°, dip fruit into it)
  • In European sweets, you'd abricotiner or use cake glaze or pectine

Ideas

  • I tried coring the strawberries and piping the あん in them. This works and tastes more balanced (because you use much less あん), but you have an issue with sogginess.
    • I tried dipping the cut end of the strawberry in white chocolate, but I was inpatient and didn't wait for it to harden before wrapping them. I think this approach might work, leaving them for 1 hour in the fridge after dipping.
    • However: The hard chocolate is a bit unexpected in the normally soft 大福. So you need to warn people. I think the approach with agar is more promising.
    • Also: The shape is a bit odd; the strawberries peek out if you wrap them from the tip. In one presentation I said it looked like the morning sun kissing the snow-covered mountain top, but it looked a bit amateurish.
      • One way might be to decide on a front side and start the wrapping from there?
      • Sometimes, the もち are cut and the strawberry inserted à la minute. This could make sense for presentations, but it looks very un-tea.
  • Pomegranade molasses instead of balsamic
  • Make もち dough with milk, yoghurt or coconut water.
  • Liquorice or anise seed in the dough (it's a nice pairing with the strawberry and balsamic あん)! I tried it with very few anise seeds, and that didn't do much. Next time, try 1 gr for a batch.