From The In-Laws: Shinkaen — As Seen In Japan

Feb 17

Feb 17 From The In-Laws: Shinkaen

Eriko’s parents like to send us packages, often with food inside. Here we will explore our latest package, and the goodies contained therein.

Our most recent batch of treats contained this box of Shinkaen, a set of three different sugary surprises.

These treats are themed to represent elements of the Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa. Let’s dive in!

The blue one is Kyokusui. It’s in the shape of the Gangyou Bridge over the Kyokusui River that flows through the garden.

I expected the exterior to be hard as a rock, but it was actually a quite soft layer of sugar. Inside was a bean-ish texture with a mild bean-ish flavor. The taste of the interior wasn’t enough to counteract the sweetness of the exterior, and as a result, all I tasted was sugar.

I learned how to put two pictures on the same line! Yay for me!

The red one is Kasa no yuki, or “snow on the umbrella,” and represents snow falling on the Karakasa Mountain in winter.

This one was incredibly soft, a little ball of light dough with frosting on top. Not too sweet, not grainy, not crumbly, absolutely perfect. I could have eaten 40 of these. Absolutely without a doubt the winner of the bunch.

The yellow one is Tomuro, representing the stone used for the Yukimi (“seeing snow”) Bridge and the Niji (“rainbow”) Bridge.

The Tomuro was two squares. The top one had the consistency of a marshmallow, while the bottom had the consistency of… a thick block of sugar.

I have to be honest: this one also just tasted like sugar to me. Both the blue and yellow were far too sweet, and overwhelmed my taste buds. Kasa no yuki is the only one I really enjoyed, as it’s the only one that didn’t make me feel sick with sugar poisoning. Eriko liked them all, so next time, I propose that I get all the red ones, and she gets the other ones. We’ll see if she takes the deal.