Inventive anko experts hand-craft edible sweets bouquets, offer Flower Shaved Ice too.

As you can probably guess from their name, Japanese confectioner Oh! huggy!! cares a lot about visual presentation. The reasons for the increasing exclamation points and the lowercase H aren’t clear, but the “huggy” part itself is meant as an allusion to the identically pronounced “hagi” portion of “ohagi,” the type of Japanese sweets that Oh！huggy!! specializes in.

Ohagi are normally made by covering a mound of mochi rice with anko (sweet red bean paste). They’re tasty treats, but not much to look at unless you’re already familiar with their flavor.

▼ Typical ohagi

Oh! huggy!!, though, does things differently. Instead of just plopping the anko down on top of the rice, they shape them into beautiful “Flower Ohagi.”

And with the summer heat in full force, Oh! huggy!! is now applying its artistic sensibilities to ice cream too, and is serving up Flower Ice Cream.

The anko petals, pistil, stems, and leaves of each exquisite blossoms are handcrafted by the Oh! huggy!! staff, and top a cone of matcha, hojicha (roasted green tea), or vanilla ice cream. Oh! huggy!! describes the cone as having a delicate consistency so as not to interfere with your enjoyment of the other flavors and textures.

Of course, ice cream isn’t the only dessert whose popularity rises with the temperature of the weather. The Oh! huggy!! menu is also currently featuring Flower Shaved Ice topped with anko flowers, like the strawberry version pictured below.

And if you’re worried that the flower visuals could be a sign that Oh! huggy!! is more concerned about how its desserts look than how they taste, you can set your mind at ease with the knowledge that it sources its anko from Kineya Tonomitsu, an anko maker in the town of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture that’s been in business for more than 100 years.

The Flower Shaved Ice is exclusive to the Oh! huggy!! main branch in Kobe’s Okamoto neighborhood, where it can be ordered as either an eat-in or half-size take-out version for 1,540 yen (US$10.40) or 880 yen, respectively. The 680-yen Flower Ice, though, is being offered at Oh! huggy!! branches, including those in Tokyo and the greater Tokyo area.

Related: Oh! huggy!! location list
Source: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: Wikipedia/Tomomarusan, PR Times (1, 2)
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