Japan’s closest reply to mulled wine might be o-toso, a sake infused with spices, herbs and dried fruit, and typically calmly honeyed. The beverage is historically drunk as a toast to well being and longevity throughout New Yr celebrations.
Recipes for o-toso range, however they often comprise a medicinal mix of herbs that ties in with the drink’s salubrious connotation. Some generally used spices embrace sanshō Sichuan pepper to enhance circulation, benihana safflower to combat irritation and fennel to help digestion.
The recipe beneath makes use of the flavors of o-toso to spice a matcha tea cake. Its mix of medicinal spices additionally recreates a few of the notes you’ll discover in a standard Christmas cake: cloves to enhance liver perform, dried ginger to appease drained muscle tissue, cinnamon for coronary heart well being and dried mikan mandarin peel powder to decrease ldl cholesterol.
