Early spring is when the Amao strawberries reach their harvest peak
"The Amao festival" was held in Fukuoka.
The event was thronged with people who shared an enthusiasm for Amao strawberries.
Amao strawberries: full of love and passion from local growers
The Amao festival saw a great turnout even as early as the morning. Some of the Amao strawberries on sale at the booth are so large that you almost let out a cry of surprise!
They also had various sweets and foods featuring Amao strawberries on sale.
JIMOTO Pocky took part in the Amao festival!
Glico also had its own booth at this event! Many people came out and sampled our JIMOTO Pocky featuring lots of Amao strawberries!
Everyone, from small children to adults, smiled from ear to ear when trying them!
The JIMOTO Pocky, with rich flavor packed into every one, left everyone satisfied.
It looks poised to become a new staple souvenir for Fukuoka.
The Fukuoka Umakamon Ambassadors even gave it their seal of approval!
We spoke with the three Fukuoka Umakamon Ambassadors, who do PR for the prefecture.
What was the reaction of these ladies, who are experts in all things gourmet?
Fukuoka has many delicious local specialties that make great souvenirs! One popular sweet is the Hakata Torimon, but I’ll definitely be recommending this JIMOTO Pocky now!
I’ve always loved Pocky since I was young. I’m so happy to see there’s an Amao flavor now!
Nevermind souvenirs, I want this for myself!
If you want to know about sweets in Fukuoka, you would do no better than asking the local girls!
We gathered up some sweets featuring Amao strawberries and held an impromptu “Amao Girls’ Talk.”
My favorite sweets!
There are quite a few local sweets that make use of Amao strawberries!
We took this opportunity to chat with participants in detail about what makes these sweets great.
- Ezaki Glico Product Development Lab
Kanako Tsuyama
- Ezaki Glico Kyushu Sweets Unit
Hana Ueda
JIMOTO Pocky: Amao Strawberry is chock-full of juice from local Amao strawberries and makes a perfect gift! It contains large pieces, too, so has a great texture! While there are fifteen to a pack, each one is quite large, so there is plenty in here for a workplace gift or something to bring to a gathering of the girls. We’re confident even locals will love it!
Eating JIMOTO Pocky with friends and loved ones is even more fun!
You can distinctly pick up the scent of Amao, and these Pocky are huge!
- Ayaka Mochimaru, JA Fukuoka Yame
Everyone, from children to adults, loves Amao strawberry daifuku dumplings.I recommend it as a gift for family back home.
This contains whole Amao strawberries, which are much bigger than normal ones! This makes for a huge snack! The ripe strawberries burst with juice when you bite in.
The contrast of the red fruit and white bean paste is lovely! The paste is sweet, which is enhanced by the tart flavor of the fruit.
These are so big, you need at least two bites!
- Yame Commerce and Tourism Division
Mami Arakawa
Ms. Arakawa brought an item that pairs Yame-cha tea, a signature item from Yame, with Amao strawberries: it’s a Yame-cha Amao Cake. The dough contains Yame-cha tea, and the cake is sandwiched around Amao jam! This is a hybrid sweet that features two local specialties of Yame! The next item she brought was the “Sweet Berry,” a sweet sake blended with Amao strawberry! They apparently hand it out at local events. All you have to do is mix strawberries with this sake in a mixer.
I’ve never taken to sweet sake, but this one is really crisp and easy to drink!
This sake is alcohol-free, but you could easily pair it with shochu vodka!
- Chikugo Commerce and Tourism Division
Aiko Miyazaki
Chikugo is considered the “land of love,” so there are many sweets around this theme.
Koi-dora is one, which is a traditional dorayaki bean cake with Amao strawberry cream inside. The name is cute, so ladies love it! This sweet is only sold in February, so this is a rare chance!
Stomach Beauty is a new product that just hit the market, apparently.
It features granola with brand-name wheat from Chikugo and Amao juice, as well as dried Amao strawberries and chocolate chips.
It pairs great with yogurt or milk, but Ms. Miyazaki recommends eating it right out of the bag!
I love this faintly sweet granola!
Once you start, you can’t stop!
Nakamuraya, the shop that makes Koi-dora, is a famous purveyor that has long been around and is loved by locals. You can count on this one!
- Hirokawa Town Hall Policy Unit
Minako Nonaka
The Hatsukoi Busse is a sweet that was developed to vitalize the local area of Hirokawa. Look for Machiko Hirokawa, the local mascot, as your landmark!
The dessert consists of dough, cream, and lots of Amao strawberry juice. It’s like biting into a strawberry. You can eat this dish at room temperature, but Nonaka highly recommends freezing it and then letting it thaw for a chilled concoction, with the whipped cream slightly firmer. Allow to thaw for thirty minutes, and it’s ready to eat.
Every bite is bursting with the flavor of Amao strawberries!
The dough is super fluffy!
The gentle texture means you’ll want to eat more than just one!
Amao strawberries are such a familiar part of life in the region that when they are in season, almost everyone has them in their refrigerator. They are even distributed as prizes to people taking part in local marathons! (That came as a surprise!)
Leftover strawberries can be frozen for later enjoyment! People eat them as a frozen confection, or mix them up into smoothies or alongside pancakes.
Discovering new twists on the Amao strawberry at a party!
After sampling sweets made with Amao strawberries, it was time to try a special menu developed by a food coordinator!
This led to new insights about Amao strawberries that even the locals had not hit on yet.
- Naomi Goto, the food coordinator who prepared the recipes
After working at an office, Ms. Goto shifted to the photography industry. She styles photography for accessories and interior goods, tabletops, and more, while also being a longtime food fanatic. She currently focuses her energies on styling shots for department stores and food manufacturers and providing them with recipe ideas.
For this installment, she gave us a recipe that draws on the sweet-and-sour qualities of Amao strawberries!
The combo of cured ham and fruit should almost go without saying!
Feel free to use readily-available cured ham from the supermarket.
Amao strawberries have a distinctive tart flavor, so they lend a nice accent to a salad. The note of salt that comes with the cured ham pairs with the sweetness of the strawberries, and then the accent of the watercress or arugula add a bit of kick.
The dressing consists of mustard, vinegar, and honey, mixed to taste. Your usual salad becomes more stylish and more enhanced with this recipe.
Red Amao strawberries are placed atop vivid green pesto sauce. Though it looks like haute cuisine, it’s very easy to make!
Use off-the-shelf pesto sauce and cook some pasta.
After thoroughly straining the pasta, top it with the sauce and then mix in the strawberries. You can add a sliced lemon to give it a crisp feeling. Girls love the light taste!
Add salt or lemon juice to taste.
Everyone was a bit hesitant about whether this new pairing would work. All it took was one bite for everyone to express cries of delight!
When chilled, the pairing with fruit is even better!
This Amao sandwich has a lovely appearance that is sure to tickle the fancy of the girl within you. This is no ordinary fruit sandwich.
Get this -- the dough itself contains strawberries! If you have a baking machine at home, the trick is not using water when you knead the strawberries into the dough.
Instead, add a bit of rum to enhance the flavor.
The sandwiched cream is mascarpone cheese. This sandwich is not too sweet and is just right to satisfy the tastes of sophisticated ladies!
This calls for...
a selfie opportunity!
Our members couldn’t resist pulling out their phones for a pic. This sandwich is so tall, you can’t even fit it in your mouth in one bite! The dough gives off a faint whiff of strawberries!
We always have more room for sweets! Let me at ’em!
“Amao-chan” is a little girl you can create by hollowing out part of a strawberry, filling it with apple syrup, and then using a chocolate pen to paint a face on!
Any compote-style syrup will do!
Place ice in a glass and then add the chilled JIMOTO Pocky and Amao-chan. That’s it!
Party desserts have to look good!
Putting this twist on JIMOTO Pocky creates a photogenic dessert in an instant!
The large Amao strawberries allow for customizing them a range of ways. Children are also sure to love it!
Time for a party chock-full of Amao! Not only does it lend an accent to the table,
Amao strawberries are charming, through and through! A treat for both body and mind!
Through these dishes, we learned just how versatile the Amao strawberry really can be.
It subverted our notions of this fruit as only for desserts, and even the group of local ladies,
who have been eating Amao for years, had surprising new discoveries to make.
For your next spring event, don’t hesitate to put Amao on the menu!
I, too, became an ardent fan of the locally-beloved Amao!
At the Amao Festival, they distributed Amao strawberries to the first 200 guests. There were lots of people lined up from early in the morning. People of all ages and walks of life love Amao strawberries -- truly they are the king of fruit!
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Fukuoka is a kingdom of fruit! When you see the Amao strawberries lining store shelves, you know spring has sprung.
As soon as I opened the JIMOTO Pocky bag, I was amazed to get hit with the scent of Amao!