eautiful layers of white cream adorn a fluffy cake with plump strawberries on prime—this has lengthy been the enduring picture of Japanese Christmas confectionery. Nonetheless, its Christmas cake historical past goes a lot additional again than many individuals understand.
Christmas truffles had been first bought in Japan in 1910, and the ever-present ichigo shotokeki (strawberry shortcake) solely hit cabinets in 1922. It wasn’t till the postwar interval, in 1952, that the strawberry shortcake Christmas cake turned extra accessible to most of the people and cemented its place in Japan’s Christmas imagery (and stomachs throughout the nation).
To know the historical past of this tasty custom, we should delve into the previous of Fujiya, a storied Japanese confectionery maker.
Introducing Christmas Cake To Japan
For Everybody To Take pleasure in
Introducing Christmas Cake To Japan
Picture: iStock: fazon1
Fujiya, now with branches nationwide, is a patisserie that was initially primarily based in Yokohama. In 1910, Fujii Rinemon opened his first store in Motomachi, the upscale neighborhood adjoining to the Yamate and Kannai districts the place the overseas inhabitants of Yokohama lived and labored. Because the Meiji period dawned, the Motomachi space blossomed. The streets had been quickly dotted with cafes, clothes shops and bakeries. The Fujiya retailer was on the vanguard of this explosion of Western tradition in Yokohama, the place many abroad customs and wares unfold to the remainder of the nation.
Certainly, in December of the identical 12 months, Fujiya provided the primary Christmas cake bought in Japan. Organized merely with silver ball decorations, the cake was a single-layer glazed with white fondant frosting, made by mixing sugar and water. However the distinction with at present’s decadent recent cream concoctions was not merely aesthetic. The cake was not a Japanese sponge cake—recognized now because the shortcake—however reasonably a fruit cake, steamed within the oven and fabricated from plums, dried fruit like raisins and alcohol.
1921 was a very bustling Christmas and a fateful one for Fujii. With enterprise booming, thanks partially to a craze that 12 months for embellished truffles, he opened a second retailer. To his shock, his buyer base was additionally shifting from overseas prospects to Japanese ones. In 1922, Fujii developed a particular cake to promote at his two outlets, impressed by his research overseas in the USA.
The Strawberry Shortcake
Picture: iStock: muuuu
Whereas stateside, he tried a dessert known as a shortcake — two scones full of cream and recent fruit and named for the shortening used within the biscuit dough. Fujii felt fascinated by the flavour however believed the crunchy scones wouldn’t go well with the Japanese palate.
As a substitute, he selected to make his shortcake out of a sponge cake. He drew inspiration from the ever-fashionable castella cake, one other native interpretation of a Western (this time Portuguese) dessert which emerged within the late 1500s. His ensuing creation, mixed recent cream and American-style strawberry shortcake with a softer, spongier cake, making it the primary strawberry shortcake bought in Japan.
Many individuals consider the kouhaku (purple and white) coloration mixture — historically used for celebrations and shared with the hinomaru (rising solar) nationwide flag — helped drive the recognition of strawberries and cream because the nation’s signature Christmas cake model. Nonetheless, nonetheless, within the Nineteen Twenties, these truffles had been exceedingly extravagant. With out fridges in most properties, their potential for the astronomical fame that awaited would stay dormant till the postwar interval.
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