Nov 272011
When Japanese maple turns red shopkeepers in tourist destinations prepare “momiji tempura” – maple leaves deep-fried in dough.
Unlike real tempura which extracts the taste of food, in “momiji tempura” the leaf has no taste and lends only the shape to the final product. Taste depends on the dough and differs depending on a place, but basically is similar to many crispy snacks that go well with a drink.
But don’t count on finding this snack everywhere. I have seen them being prepared in destinations famous for maple leaves viewing, but those a little bit on the countryside with some nostalgic feeling to them. Like Takao (高雄) in Kyoto or Mino (箕面) in Osaka.
I feel like my “catching up on blogs again” is turning out to be very educational!
Somehow I’ve managed to miss the existence of these.
Thank you for your comment. It reminded me that I was determined to write more posts.
Momiji tempura is not that ubiquitous, but I have seen it in places like Minoo in Osaka or Takao in Kyoto.
I’ve never seen these before! Probably because there aren’t many maples in Okinawa. Would definitely be fun to do a tasting comparison between the different varieties.
Benjamin, but you have cherries, right? So at least a chance for sakura-mochi.
I had some of these when I visited Mino near some waterfalls, they were yummy.
[…] But this dish surprised me more than just about anything else: […]
[…] and the practice has supposedly been around for almost a thousand years. The maple leaves themselves aren’t supposed to taste like much, which makes sense because they’re usually preserved in salt barrels for about a year, and […]
[…] and the practice has supposedly been around for almost a thousand years. The maple leaves themselves aren't supposed to taste like much, which makes sense because they're usually preserved in salt barrels for about a year, and then […]
these look great. i`d love to try at some point. thanks for sharing such cool post;)