April has approached with the fresh soft breeze. The flowers of plum, peach, cherry blossom have started to bloom and here comes the perfect season for Hanami or flower viewing. The history of Hanami Dango, one of the common snacks for hanami is believed to start at Daigo-no-Hanami, the famous Hanami which was held in the mountain of the temple Daigoji, Sanpo-in by the shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598. It is said that there are around 700 cherry blossom trees were transplanted and about 1,300 guests were invited to the party and the Hanami Dango in 3 colors were served there. There are various sayings about what these 3 colors represent such as seasons: pink for cherry blossoms in the spring, white for the snow in the winter, green for greenery in the summer and the lack of autumn, “Akinai” in Japanese, is to wish for people to never get tired of eating (Akinai) the dango so that their business (also Akinai) will be successful. There is another saying the colors bring good luck as pink is for lifting your luck, white is for purification and green is to get rid of bad luck. Some people believe that the colors represent the life of a flower: pink for the bud, white for the flower and green for the leaves after the flower fell. It may be interesting to think of all the saying about Hanabi Dango that we would never have thought about before. Our pair of seasonal canelés for this month, “Cherry Blossom” and “Honey and Cheese” are available from April 1st. Cherry blossom canelés have the smooth bean paste put inside of the cherry blossom dough and decorated with cherry blossom paste, pickled flowers and snowed with freeze-dried mochi rice cakes. They have a delicate flavor just like the image of fragile flowers. Honey and Cheese canelés are decorated with handmade cheese crumbles and paste of cream cheese mixed with honey is squeezed inside. Please enjoy the sourness of cream cheese, the mellow sweetness of honey and a hint of saltiness.

やさしい風が吹き抜ける爽やかな4月がやってきました。梅、桃、桜と次第に綻び、お花見のシーズンの到来です。花見の席に持ち寄られる花見団子は、1598年豊臣秀吉によって催された「醍醐の花見」ー京都の醍醐寺三宝院の山麓に700本の桜を移植させ、1,300人を招いた盛大な花見の宴ー の際に、お茶菓子として振る舞われた三色団子からはじまったと言われています。色や並びにも諸説あり、ピンクは桜の咲く春、白は雪の降る冬、緑は新緑が生茂る夏を表し、秋がないのは「飽きない」と「商い」を掛けた食べても飽きない商売繁盛の意味があるとか。また、ピンクは紅白の紅で運気を上げ、白は浄化を表し、緑は邪気を払うとされ、縁起のいい食べものを表しています。上からピンクの蕾、白い花、散った後の緑の葉桜という順番で桜が咲く様子を表しているともされ、今までパクパク食べていた花見団子を今年はじーっと見つめてしまいそうです。4月の季節のカヌレは「さくら」と「はちみつとチーズ」が4月1日(金)よりお目見えです。「さくら 」は桜生地の中にこし餡、上に桜餡と桜の塩漬けをのせ、氷餅をふわりと落としました。繊細で淡い桜のようにやさしいお味に仕上がっています。「はちみつとチーズ」はクリームチーズとはちみつを合わせたものを絞り入れ、手作りのチーズクランブルをのせました。チーズの酸味とはちみつの甘さとほんのり塩っけがくせになるお味です。