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This is a general recipe for pressed sugar sweets, so what shape you put it in is what makes it seasonal. I have some 松笠 (for example, to link it to the 吹き寄せ) moulds, and they look quite pretty. This is the 淡交テキスト recipe, which adds あん — something that most recipes leave away.
👆 The sweets dry out pretty quickly, so best to seal them airtight!
- 100 gr powdered sugar (ideally with some flavour, like 和三盆 or blitzed brown sugar, if the colour is admissible). The original recipe recommends 4:1 mix of 和三盆 to normal powdered sugar.
- 40 gr あん. The colour doesn't matter too much, for the 松笠 I used ねりあん and the colour was acceptable.
- 30 gr 寒梅粉
➡️ Mix everything, crumble with fingers, then push through a sieve.
Sans 餡
- 100 gr sugar
- 50 gr water
- 50 gr 寒梅粉
➡️ This is also from 淡交テキスト, but I haven't tried it yet. They use it for 梅, so maybe for my いちご mould it might be good?
With 上南粉
- 90 gr sugar
- 90 gr 白あん
- 60 gr 上南粉 (or 55 gr 上新粉 and 5 gr potato starch)
- 30 gr 寒梅粉
The
The preparation is as above: Mix, colour, sieve; but here it's put into the 流し器, pressed down, another layer added, pressed down etc. and then pressed for some 5-6 hours with some weight. My 白あん was pretty dry, so I think it's important to control the moisture and add some more water or glucose syrup.
The example above was for March, but colours and shapes can be freely chosen. It tastes rather dry and powdery, so to add some flavour certainly isn't a bad idea. For March, obviously, powdered 桜 and 桜 leaves makes sense. Historically, mandarin peel powder (
Here's an idea of what you could do with this template for each month:
| Month | Layered Colours (top → bottom) | Seasonal Image | Matching Flavours |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | white → pale pink → green | early plum blossoms in snow | plum (ume), white sesame, kinako |
| February | white → red → pale green | plum and lingering snow | ume, shiso, amazake |
| March | pink → white → green | hishimochi, peach blossoms | sakura, strawberry, yomogi |
| April | pale green → white → soft yellow | young grass and spring sunlight | yomogi, matcha, yuzu |
| May | deep green → white → indigo | iris and fresh foliage | matcha, mugwort, black sesame |
| June | translucent blue → white → pale purple | hydrangea and rain | yuzu, blueberry, lavender |
| July | indigo → white → silver | Tanabata night sky | black sesame, kuromitsu, mint |
| August | deep blue → gold → white | summer night and moonlight | peach, melon, jasmine |
| September | gold → white → deep purple | harvest moon and bush clover | chestnut, black sesame, roasted tea |
| October | orange → crimson → dark brown | autumn leaves | persimmon, sweet potato, cinnamon |
| November | rust red → gold → deep green | maple and late foliage | chestnut, hojicha, walnut |
| December | white → deep red → dark green | winter camellia | yuzu, red bean, matcha |
Experiments
- I had tried using some red bean flour, which worked, but it didn't add too much flavour. It's probably easier to just add it as あん directly.