Japanese Fruit Desserts: Then and Now

The tireless efforts of the Japanese people to create more flavorsome and beautiful fruit has also resulted in the production of various kinds of fruit desserts. Let us now take a delicious dive into the world of Japan’s fruit desserts, following them from their ancient beginnings to the Edo Period (1603-1868) and through to today.

The founding of Japan’s oldest fruit specialty store

In 1834, near the end of the Edo Period, Japan’s first fruit specialty store, Sembikiya, was established as a ‘mizugashi shop’. Ushio Oshima, Executive Director at Sembikiya’s main store in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi, looks back on the store’s history and Japan’s ‘fruit culture’ from the Meiji Period (1868-1912) through to the Showa Period (1926-1989).

“The store was founded during the latter part of the Edo Period during a period of years known as the Tempo era when there were many food shortages and fruit was regarded as a luxury item, more than it is today. It was a time when sugar was still unusual to find and sweet foods were rare. In those final days of Tokugawa rule, fruit from Sembikiya was presented as tribute to the shogunate; the fact that high-ranking political figures such as Takamori Saigo (who later went on to help lead the Meiji Restoration) and those of high cultural standing were regular customers tells you how highly-regarded fruit was at the time.”

After diplomatic relations with other countries grew during the Meiji Period that followed, fruit from overseas, such as apples and peaches, began to be brought to Japan. Sembikiya quickly started stocking these unusual foreign fruits, with representatives even going to Yokohama Port to barter with disembarking sailors to get their hands on what was coming off the ships. It soon became known as a luxury fruit store and saw patron numbers climb.

A sign of growing westernization: the ‘Fruit Parlor’

Following the increase in quality and diversity of fruit during the Meiji Period, a new culture emerged as a way to enjoy eating it. This came in the form of the ‘fruit parlors’ and in desserts that were made from fruit that they sold. With the introduction of western culture and technology during the push to modernize in the Meiji Period, a longing for all things foreign was born. Against this backdrop, Sembikiya opened its ‘Kudamono shokudo’ (fruit dining hall), the predecessor to its famed ‘Fruit Parlor’.

The Fruit Parlor was a restaurant serving western-style dishes and fruit-based desserts. Gorgeous fruit punches and sorbets lined its showcases and due to its novelty and stylish atmosphere, it became a huge success.

Soon enough, many imitators started popping up, mainly in urban areas. Fruit desserts were considered cultured and refined — a symbol of a ‘high color’ lifestyle, to use an English loan word from the era that meant ‘fashionable’. The colorful menus that come to mind when people think of Japanese desserts such as fruit sandwiches and fruit parfaits come from these early fruit parlors.

Giving the gift of luxury fruit

With society becoming more prosperous during the period of rapid economic growth in the decades following the Second World War, fruit became a more affordable item for the masses. However, the custom of giving luxury fruit as a special gift has persisted down through the generations to today. For example, a gift that has become synonymous with Sembikiya is the beautiful muskmelon sold in its own special box. Despite the high price tag, with a single melon sometimes fetching more than \10,000, this Sembikiya staple is a popular gift item.

The evolution of creative modern fruit dessert ideas

Fruit sweets are now being found in an ever-increasing number of places in Japan. Popular bistro kiki harajuku in the Tokyo neighborhood of Harajuku continually comes up with dishes that incorporate generous amounts of seasonal fruit. Using these ingredients, the restaurant fuses a Japanese essence with a French cuisine base.

Owner and chef Yuki Noda trained in France before returning to Japan to open kiki harajuku in 2011. As he uses many seasonal fruits, Noda changes up his menu every one to two months. A glance at past menus shows such original dishes as fig tempura, strawberry and tomato water terrine, and a tartar of cherry, beetroot, and white trevally.

“For our sweets menu, I often like to use jam or fruit that is boiled or processed in some way. But, I want to use fruit that tastes great just the way it is where I can. Fruit grown in Japan in particular has a delicate taste and I feel that so many of them have such a high degree of perfection in the way they taste,” explains Noda.

“I tried combining some weird and wonderful things back when we first started. Fruit can have quite strong sour or sweet flavors, so they have a bold presence when they are incorporated in a dish. That is why it’s a lot of fun to try and combine them with other ingredients to get just the right synergistic effect. It has been almost ten years of repeated trial and error whenever I come across a new fruit I’d like to use. I feel that I now have formed a core style as to how they are used.”

Most of the fruit Chef Noda buys is directly sourced from growers around Japan. He says that in addition to those from the fruit industry, he has made many personal connections with those who produce vegetables and herbs, too.

“These days you are seeing an increase in the number of growers who have backgrounds in art or music, and I often meet many of my own generation who have a creative sensibility. I encounter a lot of really unusual foods through my connections with them. They also have a great sense of speed and dynamism about them, such as wanting to be the first to cultivate some rare variety from overseas that hasn’t been grown in Japan yet.”

“Recently, I’ve been doing some training on my days off at a Japanese restaurant. One day, I’d like to try my hand at running a Japanese restaurant that has Japanese-style dishes that use fruit,” Noda continues. “Japan has so much fruit available at all times of the year and you can see that research into creating new varieties is flourishing. You come across a new fruit every day — the possibilities for creating new dishes are endless.”

Thanks to researchers, growers, sellers, and people in many different fields, Japanese fruit has evolved with the development of society. With a new generation of creative chefs and producers, Japan’s fruit culture is sure to head in exciting and bold new directions in the years ahead.