Ice walnut rice cake from Kanbukuro, a Sakai specialty that has been available for 700 years.

In the hot summer, I miss shaved ice.

I visited “Kanbukuro” in Sakai, Osaka, which I have known and loved since I was a child.

It is located a short walk from Terajicho Station on the Hankai Line, where Japan’s oldest streetcars also continue to run.

Sakai prospered as a fishing port in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and as an overseas trading center in the Warring States period (1467-1568), and is famous as the hometown of Sen no Rikyu.

Here, there is a popular “ice walnut rice cake” that people in the know stand in line for every day.

The name “Kurumi Mochi” comes from the fact that the rice cake is “wrapped” in red bean paste, not walnuts.

The taste of the red bean paste has been a secret of the shop for 27 generations.

The color is a vivid greenish-yellow.

There is no indication of the name of the ingredients, nor do we know how it is made…

Maybe.

It seems to be a mixture of ground white kidney beans, white bean paste, and matcha powder…

It was named “Kanbukuro” after Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The ice walnut is simply a walnut rice cake topped with ice.

The ice is shaved very thin, so it disappears as soon as you put it on your tongue. The shiratama rice cake is also soft and tender.

It was a happy day for me to be able to enjoy such a delicious sweet taste this summer.