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Sweets Tales
Today’s tale is of a traditional festival snack, Karumeyaki.
The Yushima Plum Festival heralds the arrival of spring in Tokyo.
The various stalls in the temple grounds entertain the visitors who have come to pray or watch the plum blossoms.
Here we have Shichimi Spice.
Here is monjayaki on a skewer.
Across from that… There it is! Karumeyaki (Honeycomb toffee).
Brown sugar and water, mixed with a sweet syrup and put over a flame.
Boil some of the water off then add baking soda and stir, causing the mixture to expand.
Whoa, it expanded!
I can’t believe it happens so fast.
It may look easy, but it takes proficient skill to pull off.
It took Mr. Suzuki 3 years until he felt satisfied with his work.
I haven’t seen these in forever. “Do you want one?” No, no. I ate plenty when I was a kid.
The more elderly customers have memories of making karumeyaki as children.
The young Nana Suzuki helps out at the storefront.
She also tries her hand at making karumeyaki…
Hm…you put in too much baking soda.
They’re fun to make, and I really like experiments… looking at chemical reactions like this.
Anyone who has the skill or like this kind of thing should try.
The pleasure of biting into one is certainly worth the challenge.