Day 27: Today's Pick — A Japanese Candy I Smuggle Home Every Trip

I have flown to Kyoto five times. I have, all five times, returned with my carry-on bag mostly full of yatsuhashi. The customs people in Newark have, by now, seen the box and waved me through.

This is the candy that I am most evangelical about. It is also the hardest to recommend, because the texture is so different from Western candy that some people don't like it on first try. I am going to try to recommend it anyway.

What yatsuhashi is

A Kyoto specialty: paper-thin sheets of mochi-like rice flour dough, lightly cinnamon-flavored, folded into a triangle around a small dab of sweet bean paste, matcha, plum, or chestnut filling. The texture is soft, slightly chewy, slightly slippery. The flavor is gentle: sweet, but never aggressive, and grounded by the cinnamon in the wrapper.

There is also a baked version — crisp, almost like a thin cinnamon cracker — but the soft (nama) version is the one to seek out. They are different products.

What it tastes like

Imagine a delicate cinnamon-flavored mochi the size of a fingernail, with a small filling. The cinnamon is real cinnamon — soft, rounded, warming, not the punishing cinnamon of a Red Hot. The filling is barely sweet by Western standards. The whole thing is gone in two bites.

The texture question

This is the part that determines whether you'll love it. Mochi-style textures are unfamiliar to most American palates: soft, slightly slippery, very different from a baked sweet. People who love mochi will instantly love yatsuhashi. People who find mochi uncomfortable will find yatsuhashi uncomfortable.

If you've never had mochi, try a piece of yatsuhashi as your introduction. The thinner sheet and the cinnamon spice make it gentler than a chunk of plain mochi.

How to actually buy

In Kyoto: every train station and tourist shop. The major brand is Shogoin Yatsuhashi, founded 1689 (yes, really). They make the best traditional version.

In the U.S.: Japanese grocery chains (Mitsuwa, Marukai, H Mart Japan section, Nijiya) sometimes carry boxes. Online via specialist Japanese-import sites. Shipping makes the price meaningfully higher than buying in Japan, but it's still under $15 per box including shipping.

The shelf life is short — about 10 days after the date stamped on the box — so don't bulk-order.

What flavors to start with

The original Shogoin assortment box has cinnamon-only, matcha, sweet bean, and plum. Try that first. If you love them, expand into seasonal flavors: cherry blossom in spring, chestnut in fall, sweet potato in winter.

A small confession

I keep a stash in the freezer (which works, weirdly, with no quality loss) and pull pieces out for friends visiting the apartment. This is one of those foods where introducing someone to it feels like sharing a secret.

Tomorrow: a Brazilian houseplant I am pretty sure is cheating, part 2.