Nosh of the Day: houjicha soft-serve, houjicha.. and soft-serve

Yum! As some of you already know, I'm slightly obsessed with Japanese desserts, and matcha (green tea) products in particular. Japanese desserts have a tendency to be less sweet than Western desserts - sometimes even neutral, or a bit bitter. And this comes into play pretty well when tea is used as the flavouring. 

Houjicha (or hojicha) is actually green tea, which has been roasted differently - so it's no longer green, and has a more bitter, smoky, woody, flavour. And my favourite matcha outlet in Singapore, Kyoto's 'Tsujiri', has just introduced a soft-serve ice cream* made from it. 

I chose to add genmai (crunchy toasted rice) as a topping to mine.

The Verdict: 
Very nice! OK, if you're expecting a sweet, Ben & Jerry's type experience, you won't get it. This is a smooth, creamy dish - with that delicate bitter, woody, smoky flavour. Unusual for a Western palette, perhaps, but the overall experience feels (and probably is) a lot healthier! I particularly love genmai, btw - they are not sweet either, but neutral / smoky and very crisp. A much more natural option from all the chemically treated and coloured toppings you might find at another ice cream outlet.

* Soft-serve I think comes from an American idea, but seems to be a very popular form of ice cream in Japan. It is extremely smooth, creamy, ice-cream served out of a 'piping machine'. In the UK, the nearest thing would be 'Mr Whippy' or similar products - which are smooth and creamy (and usually vanilla flavoured) but also renowned for being unnatural and a bit like fast food. A famous UK soft-serve snack would be the '99' or '99 Flake' - which adds a Cadbury's chocolate flake to the cone.

A UK '99' ice cream

Japanese soft-serve is often a lot more authentic / natural, and it comes in more flavours. I know some outlets pride themselves on selecting exactly the best kinds of fresh milk and ingredients to make their soft-serve, and the experience is quite different from the British one! 

For Japanese soft-serve, visit: http://tsujiri-global.com/ 

And FYI, since I'm so obsessed with Tsujiri - there is now an outlet in London, on Soho's Rupert Street, for any Brits wishing to try out matcha drinks and pudds :)