What is the best Japanese sweets made with chestnuts? I answer without hesitation, "Kuriko-mochi". I think there are a lot of people who answer the same way. If you like chestnuts, you should definitely try this Japanese sweet at least once. This time, I will talk about my "love" for chestnut-flour rice cakes as much as I want.

Impressed when I ate it for the first time

What do you look for in a chestnut confectionery? Not many people eat chestnut cakes with such thoughts in mind, but when I took a bite of the chestnut flour rice cake, I strongly thought, "This is the chestnut sweet I have been looking for! I strongly thought!”

As you can see from the photo, there is a piece of Gyuhi (it’s kind of rice cake) between the chestnut paste and the red bean paste. It is quite thin, but just one piece of Gyuhi adds a soft and chewy texture and width to the chewy chestnuts paste.

Generally speaking, chestnut sweets are usually simple in order to make the most of the ingredients. The only ingredients used are chestnuts and sugar. This may be a proof of the high quality of chestnuts, but I felt it was a bit lacking. If you are going to go to the trouble of transforming them into sweets, you might as well give them a twist.

In this respect, the chestnut-flour rice cakes make the most of the goodness of the chestnuts while adding depth to the flavor with a sheet of Gyuhi and anko (red bean paste). The sweetness of the bean paste inside is not too assertive, and the extremely thin Gyuhi brings out the full flavor of the chestnuts. Every year, when I take a bite of the chestnut-flour rice cake, I am somehow even thankful that we were able to produce delicious chestnuts again this year.

Toraya's commitment to chestnuts

Toraya's website describes their commitment to chestnuts. The climate of the year may make the chestnuts different, but the taste and sensation is the same no matter how many times you eat them, so they must be using a slightly different blend of ingredients.

【Our commitment to chestnut confections】
Since the quality and characteristics of chestnuts vary from year to year, we visit the chestnut producing areas every year and actually taste the new chestnuts to check and judge the strength of flavor, color, consistency, size, etc. before using them in our confections. We will start selling chestnut confections as soon as high quality chestnuts are available, so the sales period may vary. Please note that the product lineup is subject to change depending on the availability of chestnuts.
(description by Toraya )

By the way, I have heard that it is difficult even for professionals to make such a beautifully glazed sweet bean paste. I once made kinton (sweet dumplings) in a Japanese confectionery class, but when I tried to make them fluffy, they fell off and crumbled when I held them down to keep them from falling off. We usually eat them without thinking about it, but there is a lot of skill put into making Wagashi (Japanese sweets ).

Delicious chestnut confections other than chestnut-flour rice cakes

Other than chestnut flour rice cakes, my favorite chestnut confectionery at Toraya is "Kuri - Anmitsu". We can eat this from October.

By the way, speaking of chestnut wagashi, there is also chestnut steamed sweet bean jelly. I have not been able to find the best one here. About three years ago, I was impressed with chestnut steamed bean jelly in Higashiya, but I have not been so impressed with the quality in the past one or two years. I have tried some of the famous ones, but my quest for more will continue.

▼ Toraya's "Chestnut Steamed Sweet Bean jelly"

Toraya is famous for Japanese sweets

TORAYA is a confectionery shop famous for its Japanese sweets. In addition to chestnut wagashi, other delicious wagashi are also available for sale, so be sure to visit when you come to Japan.

Thanks for reading!