October is here and you know what that means! It’s time to get your costume ready for Halloween, pull out that oversized sweater (except in California, where it seems we have to wait just a little longer for the weather to catch up and realize it’s autumn) and of course, indulge in pumpkin-flavored everything.
Japan on the other hand, seems to prefer something else instead of pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin beer and pumpkin donuts. Their favorite treat during the fall is something many of us never even dreamed of consuming: maple leaves.
Of course we love maple leaves, but usually we enjoy them for aesthetic purposes. We enjoy their crunch as we step on them, we enjoy raking them together in a giant pile to be jumped on and we even enjoy them as decorations. We certainly never thought of frying them as a snack.
The leaf snacks are called “momiji” or “momiji tempura” and the leaves are often found and fried in Minoh City, Osaka, Japan. Not surprising, the city is known for their Japanese maple trees.
The leaves used for these snacks aren’t simply plucked off the ground and thrown into a fryer. They are usually preserved in salt barrels for an entire year before being fried in a sweet batter until they are crisp. Apparently, the leaves themselves don’t actually taste like anything, so the flavor heavily depends on the batter.
Admittedly, we’re intrigued and we’d love to get our hands on these adorable snacks. Check them out for yourself below.
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