Wagashi #4 Asa-Shio 朝汐

Asa-shio
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This Wagashi is called Asashio which means "Morning Tide" in English.  It is a type of Japanese sweet that are called Manjuu.  They are steamed sweet cakes that usually have an outer bun with sweet bean paste inside.
 
History and Culture
Manjuu** are originally a sweet from China that came to Japan (How long ago?).
In Japan, are is used in various cultural events, such as weddings and funerals, and are sold at the supermarket.  They are eater year-round and do not try to represent a seasonal theme, like other types of Wagashi.  
 

There are congratulatory "Kouhaku-Asashio" which are colored red and white. They are usually given as congratulatory presents.  Kouhaku is a lucky color because red symbolizes 'birth' and white symbolizes 'death or parting'.  So kouhaku means 'The Life  of Human'.  There are also manjuu for funereals called, "Aoshiro-Asashio"  which are colored blue and white.

Teijo Nakamura who is haiku poet that lived between 1900 and 1988 wrote that Asashio was one of his favorite sweets.

Roots of the name “Asa-shio-朝汐” 
 There is a story about how this wagashi got its name.
One day a person saw a view of a big wave of the Sea of Japan beaten on the face of some rocks by the northwest wind. The wave became white froth and was scattered on the beach. The person made a sweet from this scene and named this sweet; "Asa-shio".

Appearance

The appearance is white like a cloud and image is based on sea foam.

The inside color is gray. This color is from some bean paste.

Sound (name)

Asa –Shio means “Morning Tide”.

Taste

It is not as sweet as wagashi which is made for matcha, such as “Yamakawa”.

The white yam used in this wagashi wrapper dose not smell very good.

The inside is strained bean paste with a few whole beans.

The inside bean paste is smooth.

The outside is cakey and fragile. The outside wrapper is only about 3 mm thick. 

#Manjuu's Recipe
①Peel the skin of a Yamato yam and rub it.
②You get " Joushinko flour" into the bowl and put the yam rubbed on its flour.
③Knead the yam pushing out on "Joushinko flour" for ten or fifteen minutes.
④Wrap it up with the dough of ③.
⑤Steam ④ in the basket steamer for about ten or fifteen minutes.






**Manjuu
 Manjuu is a sweet wrapped a bean paste with a dough made from flour and steamed. And it is a kind of wagashi that a Mantou in China changed. Manjuu is distributed in a felicity or funeral.
 Manjuu was hand down by a priest in China in the Kamakura or Muromachi period. Then, it was not put in nothing, by the way, it was got into a sweet paste.
 After Manjuu took root in Japan, people made many  idea or the recipe of a bean paste and a dough. For example, " Sai Manjuu" was pout in the boiled vegetables , it was made in the Muromachi period. In the Edo period, there was  " Sato Manjuu" and it was used the sugar. Sato Manjuu was distinguished the normal one. The common people liked it in those days. Recently, there are a few interesting Manjuu; " Hiyoko(chick) Manjuu", " Momiji(maple) Manjuu" and " Banana Manjuu" etc.