We’ve already seen sake-flavored Kit Kats; now we have sake-flavored karinto crackers, made with sake cake from the highly coveted Dassai!
The karinto is a traditional deep-fried cracker/cookie like snack that has been around in Japan for nearly 200 years. It’s considered a simple, old-fashioned treat, but Tokyo based confection maker Eitaro Sohonpo have teamed up with sake brewer Asahi Shuzo to give the snack a unique twist. They’ve actually added sake cake (sake kasu) from the brewery’s famous sake Dassai to the karinto!
The sake cake, a byproduct of the sake making process, is mixed into the syrup that is poured onto the karinto to coat the surface of the snack, which is cooked to a light, crunchy texture.
▼ This is what the sake cake, or sake kasu, which is the lees left over from producing sake, looks like.
Now, the sake kasu may be what’s left behind after the actual sake is made, but in this case, it certainly comes from some good stuff, since Dassai is a premium daiginjo sake produced from quality Yamada Nishiki rice with 50% or more of the outer grain milled away.
“Sake Kasu Karinto” is available for 260 yen (US$2.50) per 90 g (approx. 3 oz) bag at convenience stores and supermarkets first in the Kansai, Chugoku and Kyushuu areas and later across the country, as well as Eitaro Sohonpo’s main shop in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. According to the product information, the karinto contains roughly 0.1% alcohol and they do advise caution for anyone extremely sensitive to alcohol, but the light texture and slight aroma of sake should make for an enjoyable snack and also a tasty, fun souvenir for visitors. We imagine this could be a very interesting merging of two traditional Japanese tastes!
Source and images: @Press press release
Reference: Eitaro Sohonpo website, Asahi Shuzo English website