In Japan, in spring, you will have the opportunity to discover pastries called daifuku, especially ichigo daifuku, strawberry pastries.
- Ichigo daifuku, a typical Japanese pastry
- Ichigo daifuku, with spring colors
- Ichigo daifuku in Japan
- The variations of daifuku
Ichigo daifuku, a typical Japanese pastry
Ichigo daifuku イチゴ大福 are Japanese pastries of the family of mochi. They are also made with glutinous rice flour. The word daifuku means “great luck” and“ichigo” strawberry. The ichigo daifuku is made of glutinous rice paste with anko (sweet red bean paste) and a whole strawberry inside. Around it is kinako, roasted soybean powder. This sweet pastry has a very soft, gooey, sweet texture contrasted by the whole strawberry which brings acidity and sweetness. It is very refreshing! You can also find our ichigo daifuku matcha recipe!
Ichigo daifuku, with spring colors
You can also find some with matcha inside instead of anko. We advise you if you are in Japan, or in a Japanese bakery in France to buy them fresh. The products sold in the shops are good but the homemade one will always be better!
What surprised us in this pastry is the whole strawberry inside, and sometimes the daifuku is split so that the strawberry is sticking out. Visually it is very appetizing! You will find white ones, pink ones, green ones… The colors that we find during the hanami (cherry blossom festival) in Japan. The ichigo daifuku is eaten cold with japanese green tea, the essential drink of Japanese people.
Ichigo daifuku in Japan
In Japan, we advise you this pastry shop osumi tamaya very famous in Tokyo and which won many awards especially for these ichigo daifuku.
You can find ichigo daifuku everywhere in Japan and sometimes sold in small tiny yatai. I still remember the ones I bought from an old lady in a subway station in Kobe. A delight…
The variations of daifuku
Basically, daifuku are mochi pastries filled with anko (sweet red bean) and recently new flavors have appeared such as strawberry, matcha, melon, pumpkin, even iced… Success guaranteed in Japan!
