Beautiful vegan dessert “wagashi” ideas from Japan

The number of vegans has increased in recent years. Even in Japan, soy meat has become a trend found in supermarkets. However, it is still difficult to find plant-based products in sweets such as cookies and cakes.

Come to think of it, there is a type of traditional Japanese sweets that is made without eggs or dairy products and with plant-based ingredients. That is wagashi. It is generally enjoyed with matcha green tea and comes in various shapes and textures. Its ingredients and cooking methods also vary depending on the region and season.

Ohagi

Ohagi is a small round-shaped Japanese confection usually consisting of mochi (rice cake) wrapped in anko (red bean paste). Originally, they were sweets offered to ancestors on the autumnal equinoxes. Depending on the season, it is also called “botamochi,” but both are the same thing.

The flower ohagi made by Wahana Art Food Association look like real flowers and are perfect for gifts and home parties. These are colorful looking, but all coloring is done with natural ingredients such as vegetables and tea.

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和なはアートフード協会　あんこのお花®︎ あんフラワー教室(@wanaha_official)がシェアした投稿

Yokan

Yokan is a sweet, hard, jelly-like confection made of sugar and kanten agar. It comes in a variety of flavors, including adzuki-bean, green tea and brown sugar flavors. Yokan that can be eaten by itself is about the size of a cookie, while larger yokans are cut into pieces.

The yokan from Nagatoya Inc. is photogenic and playful. Each time you cut, the pattern that emerges changes as if it were a story, with the moon changing from a crescent to a full moon and the birds flapping their wings. This goes well not only with matcha green tea but also with black tea and wine.

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会津長門屋 | Nagatoya(@aizunagatoya1848)がシェアした投稿

Daifuku

Daifuku is a soft rice cake that wraps a small round piece of smooth sweet bean paste or fruit such as strawberries inside. They are covered with a thin layer of potato starch to prevent them from sticking together. When cut in half, a cross-section of the fruit appears, giving it a lovely appearance and making it one of Japan’s most popular wagashi.

Fruit Daifuku from Benzaiten Inc. is very popular. There are common fruits such as apples, oranges and strawberries, as well as odd varieties such as figs and watermelons. In fact, it might be fun to wonder which kinds you would like to try.

If crafted in traditional methods, wagashi is a suitable sweet for vegans because it does not contain dairy products or animal-derived gelatin. Even many Japanese are unaware that wagashi is vegan. However, it is a confection with many appeals, with new versions of wagashi being created one after another to meet the sensibilities of modern people.