Good morning guys!
Today we are here with Mr. Kuramochi-san!
Hello!
And we are at Kuramochi Strawberry Farms
where we're going to be picking some fresh strawberries
and then we're going to be making some ichigo daifuku with them!
Which is a Japanese treat!
Which is fresh mochi, with a strawberry inside
It's super delicious, it's gonna be amazing!
And today Natalia is helping us out with translation
Hello!
Just so you guys can see that even if you don't speak a word of Japanese
that okay, because there will always be a translator around to help out
Let's get started, I cannot wait!
Today is quite warm, so I think the strawberries
in the shade will be more delicious
Maybe around here?
This area here?
Yeah I think around here is good
These ones look nice!
These ones are small, but I think they'll be tasty
Put your fingers around like this
And don't pull it, but
take them off like this
Take it with your two fingers but not pull
And twist up
Oh wow! You're good!
You're a natural!
Here's our first strawberry of the day
Shall we try it?
Itadakimasu! (said before eating)
Yum!
Tasty, so tasty!
They're so sweet, and juicy
Yeah!
Kuramochi-san found some good strawberries
Wow! Nice find!
The shape is bad but they'll taste good I think
Not so beautiful but it's gonna taste good!
So big
There, yeah
They come off so easily when you pick them like that!
Oh yeah, I wanted to ask him
One time I did ichigo-kari
and they said: take off the green part
and eat it from this way
instead of from this side
which one is better?
Yeah they say that eating it that way is delicious
But I think you can eat them however you like!
Kuramochi-san told me that
You can eat it like this by taking off the green part
and eating it from the top instead of from the bottom first
And he said that's a delicious way to eat them
However you can eat them however you like and that's fine as well
So they have two kinds of strawberries here
The ones on the lower level are called akihime
and these ones are called benihoppe
Apparently the lower level strawberries are slightly sweeter
But they're all really delicious!
Ooo what about this one?
This one looks nice
Yeah!
I think that one's ready! Yeah looks good.
Is it the same taste?
So good
Same taste?
No, it is different
They're both really sweet, the lower ones are sweeter
And something about the upper ones tastes like apples to me
I don't know why
So Kuramochi-san told us that the strawberries with the pink flowers
which seem to be kind of rare, we've only seen a few plants
in this greenhouse that have pink flowers
He told us that those are the most delicious ones
So let's try them
I have located a pink flowered plant
So let's find a strawberry on here
Maybe this little one?
This one is pretty small but I think we'll be able to tell the flavour still
Something about it tastes like tea
Mmm it's really good yeah
Okay those ones are good, he was right
He's definitely right
Just cause it's pretty
These ones are pink right?
Maybe this one?
You gotta try some! It's so different!
Without these honey bees
they wouldn't become nicely shaped strawberries
The strawberries that are poorly shaped
are that way because they weren't properly pollinated
Oh no way! I didn't know that
That's so interesting
Look here
Come on bees! Do your job!
When this yellow part is properly pollinated
it will become brown
and we'll end up with nicely shaped strawberries
Since we're going to be making some strawberry daifuku later
We need to find some good strawberries
Nice shape, nice colour, nice size
So let's look for those ones now
We made a pretty big one, and we want it to be kinda roundish
So that it'll look nice when it's covered in the mochi
Ooo what about this one?
Aw maybe it's not red enough
Close... close...
Ooo yeah
Nice work
It's time to start the mochi pounding
I've got the kine, and the usu
And this is where the mochi rice is gonna go
Which they are cooking right behind us over here
It's so good guys
This is so much better than regular rice
It's chewy and sweet
and it's gonna make the best daifuku ever!
Only 30 more minutes of this
Oh my god
You are a strong woman, remember!
It's looking good, It's getting there!
The hardest part is over, we're done the mochi pounding
and now we're gonna take the mochi and make our daifuku!
Get some water on your hands
It's not as beautiful as the ones in the store
But it'll taste good!
Not bad! It's pretty round.
We have finished our daifuku!
They're not as beautiful as the ones you see in the supermarket
but the ingredients are the same, so they should be really good
This one we put kinako powder on, that is optional - it's totally up to you
That's a powder made out of soybeans
It's really delicious, you see it in lots of Japanese desserts
I'm gonna try that one first
Let's get my fingers a little wet because these are super sticky
Itadakimasu!
It's so chewy
The mochi is still warm
It's really hard to talk with it in my mouth
The fresh, sweet strawberries in the middle
are such a good balance to the simple taste of the mochi
and the kinako powder actually gives it a slight salty taste which is nice!
I had a blast today, I hope you guys enjoyed that!
If you would like to participate in this strawberry picking
and ichigo daifuku making adventure yourselves
I will put the link down below where you can sign up!
We are in Kashiwa city today, which is about a 30 minute train ride from Tokyo Station
Thank you for watching, and I'll see you guys again soon!