Wagashi

Attentive readers of this blog or those who are familiar with traditional Japanese food might already know about wagashi, those lovely traditional Japanese confections that are usually enjoyed with a tasty cup of green tea. For all others, here’s a picture (of the duck trying to eat them all):

Wagashi come in many shapes, textures and flavors, as this selection from a wagashi shop suggests. Because they are traditionally served as an accompaniment to green tea, wagashi are often incredibly sweet in order to counter the tea’s bitterness.
And, I have to admit, even though the duck and I love sweets, some wagashi are too much for us – even with a cup of extra-strong green tea (= tea that we have forgotten about so that the tea bag had a nice, cozy 15 minute soak).
Others, however, taste like a grandiose festivity in fairy land and a beautiful sunset united in a compact ball of sweet joy to us.
The duck and I warmly recommend trying one of those beautiful confections together with a wonderful cup of green tea (ideally in a traditional Japanese tea room) if you ever have the chance!

(Wow, so much detailed information! If you are interested in knowing more about wagashi – there are lots of great online sources, like this one or this one, for finding out more about them. Because I often end up writing long essays on how we’re bad puzzle solvers or trains when it’s not necessarily necessary, I decided to keep this post rather short.)