Shirayuki-no-Ume

Rice cake with an elegant combination of ume agar and gyuhi tastes sour and sweet

Choeido in Yamagata Prefecture is a Japanese confectioner with a long history more than 130 years, and is famous for their  “Fuki-mame“.  “Shirayuki-no-Ume” is also their one of products.  This is a confectionary wrapped a plum agar in gyuhi (kind of rice cake made from glutinous rice).

Speaking of plum agar, many confectioners in Yamagata Prefecture are famous for making “Noshi-ume”, a traditional confectionery, grounded ume plum and  kneaded into agar, spread thin, dried and sandwiched between bamboo bark.  Of course, Choeido also makes “Noshi-ume”, and “Shirayuki-no-Ume” is approahing a different type of plum confectionary from Noshi-Ume.

It looks like a box wrapped in silk fabric.  It is beatutiful and transparent.  We can see the plum agar inside.

Looking at the cross section, the plum agar is much thicker than noshi-ume.   The contrast between the golden plum jelly and the pure white gyuhi is beautiful.

The combination of the refreshing taste of the plum agar and the simple sweetness of the gyuhi is perfect.  It seems to be a creative rice cake to taste refreshingly sweet, sour and elegant at the same time.