Directory: Senbei


Making Senbei at Home

Making Senbei at Home

It is historically recognized that the provenance of sen-bei, 煎餅, is China, specifically introduced during the Heian era. Those early continental wafers were composed of wheat flour; however, owing to the Japanese preference for kome, 米, rice,  became the primary ingredient for these sweets.   Sen-bei, 煎餅, toasted-mochi named ‘Matsu no Fū’, 松の風, Pine’s Wind, by Sue-tomi, 末富, Posterity-wealth, Kyōto. Showing both sides of the wafers. Note the outline of a square in the middle of the wafer, which is the silhouette of the small block of mochi flattened to create the senbei. Left: fuchi-daka, 縁高, edge-high, black-lacquered octagonal box with dai-fuku, 大福, great-fortune, bean-jam wrapped in...

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Sweets for Usucha

Sweets for Usucha

In Chanoyu, 茶の湯, Tea-’s hot water, there are many things that are in groups of three. They are predominantly identified with the three levels of formality: Shin, Gyō and Sō, 真行草, True (formal), Transitional (semi-formal), and Grass (informal). These three aspects have their origin in calligraphy, sho-dō, 書道, brush-way. These dry sweets, known as hi-ga-shi, 干菓子, dry-sweet-of, are a foundational component served with thin tea. Their primary substance is a sugar base, often utilizing the high-quality wa-san-bon, 和三盆, Japanaese-three-tray. When starches such as rice flour or soybean flour are added, they are commonly referred to as raku-gan, 落雁, alighting-geese. After shaping the sweet in a wooden mold,...

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