The Secret to a Great Tofu Dessert

Delicious fruit & gigantic flowers in the Minami Alps

Su Stori May 09, 2014 - 2 min read

<p>From the farm directly into the kitchen, to give birth to an amazingly sweet yet delicate tofu dessert</p>

<p>We didn't eat all of the fruit... some was still not ripe enough</p>

<p>Not very far from the Yama no Kajyu-en we found a vast field of gigantic sunflowers, all restlessly facing the late-July sun. It looked like if they were in worship</p>

<p>The yellow plums were very juicy, their taste reminded me of my grandfather's produce when I was a child</p>

<p>After the sunflower field we also found a place where they grow chrysanthemums. The flowers were almost our height (not that we are the tallest ones in the world, but still...!)</p>

<p>A little visitor we met at the entrance</p>

A few years ago we paid a visit to Yama no Kaju-en fruit farm in Yamanashi Prefecture. The owner there talked to us with deep passion about his different fruit trees, and when we tasted the peaches... WOW! For an instant I was brought back to my childhood, when my grandfather would come home with his own produce, always so full of flavours and aromas.

The plums and peaches we brought back home gave me the inspiration for a new tofu dessert, which I prepared for a friend who is allergic to dairy. The result was really surprising: the intense yet natural sweetness of the fruit made this dessert quite special and soon it became very popular also within my cookery classes.

*Note: There are many fruit farms in the area that are members of a co-op called Kudomonogari. This is one of the farms. Follow this link for driving directions in pictures (Sorry, Japanese only). FAX 055-227-5454 TEL 080-3400-6796

Su Stori @susanna.stori

My passion for Japan started when I was three, and this brought me to travel and live there for 20 years later in my life. At first I studied and worked as a language teacher, then as a translator and interpreter, but after a few years I discovered the Washoku (Japanese food) cutlure and its heal...