Yuzu White Chocolate scratches the surface of what lies beneath Japanese society.

There’s a word in Japan that gets used quite often, and that word is “gohoubi“. Translating as “reward“, gohoubi is typically used to describe treats and luxuries that you reward yourself with after doing something difficult or strenuous, and for many the word is commonly used in reference to ice cream.

With its higher price bracket and luxurious flavour, Häagen-Dazs can be thought of as the king of reward ice creams, and for our reporter Saya Togashi, her gohoubi of choice is the brand’s Crispy Sandwich.

So when she heard of a new release called Yuzu White Chocolate, she immediately sat up and paid attention. Then, when she heard it was the third release in the “Japan Mind” series, her interest piqued even further and she decided it was gohoubi time, because hey, she’d been working hard through the exhausting summer heat.

▼ So she went out and picked up not one but two of the new ice creams.

Resisting the urge to crack into them straight away, Saya took a minute to admire the packaging, where she got her first hint of what was so “Japan mind” about the series.

▼ The design features a traditional Japanese pattern of interlocking circles called “Shippo”, which represents the Buddhist concept of “Seven Treasures”, symbolising eternal harmony and peace.

Then there’s the flavour, which promises to deliver a blend of chocolate with yuzu, a very Japanese citrus that’s currently gaining attention worldwide. As a lover of yuzu, Saya had high hopes that she would fall head over heels for the ice cream, so she opened one up for a taste test.

Slicing it in half for a proper look, Saya found she could actually see yuzu sauce glistening from within the sandwich.

This put a big smile on her face, and that smile widened even further when she delved in for a bite. The first thing to win her over was the crispiness of the wafer, which reminded her of monaka, a traditional Japanese wafer, ticking off another “Japan Mind” box in her Japanese mind.

▼ Light and crispy, just the way she likes it.

She didn’t have to worry about the wafer crumbling and making a mess as it stayed intact, even after biting into it. Plus, the thin and crispy layer was exactly the right amount for adding the perfect contrast to the rich and creamy ice cream.

Though Saya has tried chocolate with Western-style citrus fruits like orange before, this was her first time trying a yuzu-chocolate combination, and she absolutely loved it. It was refreshingly tart, with a slight bitterness distinctive of yuzu, and the smell of the Japanese citrus fruit was strong enough to fill the room. This was all thanks to the pockets of special yuzu sauce within the cream, made with dried fruit, yuzu juice and oil extracted from the peel, using domestically sourced fruit for maximum flavour and aroma.

The yuzu helped to neutralise the strong flavour of white chocolate that some people tend to dislike, allowing just enough sweetness to come through for added richness.

▼ Plus, the thin, crunchy chocolate coating around the ice cream makes it rich, aromatic, and multilayered.

In Saya’s eyes, this skill in delivering just the right amount of multilayered deliciousness is what makes Häagen-Dazs not just the king of ice creams, but the ultimate form of gohoubi. The new “Japan Mind” release picks up on the tradition of gohoubi and adds even more Japanese-ness to it with traditional patterns on the packaging, a very Japanese flavour, and, perhaps best of all, a harmony in all things that belies the Japanese spirit.

Whether you have a “Japan Mind” or are interested in learning more about it, this new ice cream is a delicious way to discover what lies beneath. In this case, it’s a whole lot of beauty and layers of surprises, and you can find it at stores nationwide, for a limited time.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]