Strawberry (2004-03-03)
Oddly enough, the high season for strawberry in Tokyo is winter from December to February, stretching a bit through March. It must have something to do with its red color. You see, red is THE color for Christmas here, therefore strawberry becomes the fruit of choice in making Japanese style Christmas cakes. One of the most common type of cakes sold around Christmas is sponge cakes filled with layers of cream and strawberries topped with more strawberries.
Just like so many things that the Japanese excel other countries in
doing or making, fruit is easily one of them. Strawberries here are
big, fragrant, flavorful and sweet. In the height of the season when
the crimson fruit is at its best, you can leave a packet of
strawberries out and the fruity sweet scent perfumes the whole room. If
you ever come to Tokyo in January, don't forget to try some. Choose the
really big red ones, they are luscious.
There'll be more fruit to talk about as the year rolls on. Seasonal
fruits are, well, seasonal. For example, I can buy watermelon all year
round in Sydney, but you only see them in the summer here. But what
they lack in quantity they certainly make up for quality.
Winter is also the season for mandarins. Our neighborhood
supermarket carries mandarins from different regions of Japan. They are
placed on the shelves according to their place of origin. Each batch
has a label displaying their sugar content percentage clearly, fair and
square. 10% is considered sweet; mandarins with a 12.6% sugar content
is super sweet which are the ones I always shoot for. Just another
minor detail put forth by the Japanese to make life sweet (pun
intended).
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