Sweets

Yes I have a sweet tooth- several actually. While on a shopping trip with our friend Patricia, ostencibly for Pashmina scarves and sheets, we ended up at Yu Gardens. Not anyone's fault really; since it is still in the first week of the new year, many of the shops were closed and so we tried our luck for other things that she needed to take back to San Francisco with her. One of those gifts for her colleagues happened to be sweets/candies. She took us to the largest candy shop that I have seen here. We probably spent 30 minutes looking around and buying many of the bulk candies that they offered. I fear that this might become a bad habit. Thankfully, it is not all that near to the house and so at least my visits might not be that often (although I do have to go back in the next couple of days to take night photos of the place- it was phenomenal- and so I might be tempted to purchase more- for your education of course).


I thought that I might share with you some photos and tasting notes of the sweets that I have purchased. I'm not sure that there are enough to become a regular weekly feature on here, but I have a few that I can post over the next weeks. I may even do tea pairings with them!!



I have no idea what these are called and what makes that delightful jelly like substance that first caught my eye. When you hold it up to the light, it is golden with red highlights. I bought a version with pine nuts and one with sesame seeds. Yesterday, I tasted the ones with pine nuts. The jelly is not very sweet (good for those of you who don't like things overwhelmingly sweet) and the pine nuts give it a smoky flavor. It is very sticky- I had some on my hands that took a considerable amount of scrubbing to remove. It is best eaten from the wrapper; trying to cut it to eat small bites at a time, is a waste of effort. They don't really taste like honey or some sort of fruit- they are really a sticky, slightly sweet jelly like candy with nuts for texture. I expect the same with the sesame seed one. I ate it with a cup of the Jasmine tea and thought that to be a fine match. Lots more flavor in the tea.

Would I eat this one again? Well... if someone bought one for me, then I would. I would not likely purchase this one again. A Very pretty candy, but not much flavor.