Green tea ice cream explained

Green Tea Ice Cream
Alternate Name:Matcha ice
Country:Japan
Type:Ice cream
Served:Cold

or Matcha ice (抹茶アイス Matcha Aisu) is an ice cream flavor popular in Japan and other parts of East Asia. Green tea ice cream is also sold in Monaka form. It has been available in the United States since the late 1970's, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets, but was becoming more mainstream in the late 1990's.[1]

Background

Matcha is powdered tea made from a special type of green tea called . Tencha is a tea grown in the shade and is one of the most expensive of all green teas, and is used in the Tea Ceremony in Japan.

Matcha is sweeter and less bitter, and is used today in a variety of sweets. In Japan, the Food Labeling Law prohibits the sale of powdered green tea made from any green tea other than Tencha as Matcha.[2] [3] Therefore, it is important to note that calling Matcha ice cream simply "green tea ice cream" may be misleading.

There is a theory that Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537 - 1598) ate shaved ice with Matcha and millet sugar added. In the Edo period (1603-1867), there was also a shaved ice called with Matcha and Anko (sweet bean paste) added.[4]

Matcha ice cream was served as at court luncheons and banquets in Japan during the Meiji era. means ground tea, i.e., Matcha.[5] For example, ice cream with Hikicha was listed on the menu of a court banquet for Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin, a member of the Italian royal family, who visited Japan in 1898.[6] In addition, a 1907 cookbook includes instructions for making Tencha ice cream. is tea before powdered Matcha.

Also in 1926, a proposal by a Japanese American living in Texas to advertise Matcha in the U.S. with a newspaper ad for "Matcha ice cream" was claimed in a Japanese tea industry report.[7]

When Charles Lindbergh of the United States flew to Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 1931, he was presented with Matcha ice cream by the Japanese tea association and was very pleased. He was the first American to eat Matcha ice cream on record.[8]

In 1958, a tea company in Wakayama Prefecture developed and sold a soft serve ice cream containing Matcha named "Green Soft."[9] A coffee shop menu book published in 1968 listed Matcha ice cream, which was already a standard ice cream served in coffee shops at that time.[10]

In 1983, a confectionery store in Kyoto Prefecture sold Matcha ice cream and soft serve.[11] In 1983, Meiji Dairies sold Matcha ice cream under the Lady Borden brand (the Japanese brand name of the American Borden Company).[12]

The amount of imported ice cream increased in the Japanese market after the import liberalization act of ice cream in 1990.[13] In 1995, Maeda-en USA in California began selling green tea ice cream in Japan. The same product was soon imported and distributed to convenience stores and supermarkets in Japan as well and it was introduced in some Japanese newspapers.[14]

Häagen-Dazs Japan started producing green tea ice cream in 1996;[15] it became an immediate hit, having twice as many sales as the previous favorite flavor, vanilla.[15] The product is now sold in Japanese grocery markets and has become one of the company's most popular flavors.[16]

Statistics from the Japanese Ice Cream Association show that green tea ice cream was ranked third in the "Favorite Ice Cream Flavor" study.[17]

Popularity

Green tea ice cream has been available in the United States, the country with the largest ice cream consumption, since the late 1970's, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets. It is becoming mainstream and can also be made at home.[18]

The U.S. saw rapid growth in Japanese cuisine and sushi popularity in the mid-1990's, which resulted in a big expansion of the Japanese restaurant business in the U.S. This development gradually helped people learn about green tea, resulting in green tea ice cream becoming a typical dessert.

With other dishes

Green tea ice cream could easily be integrated into various decorations and arrangements with other ice cream flavors. It could be served with other Japanese sweets such as,, and .

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Temptation; For Purists, Green Tea Ice Cream With an Asian Aura . AMANDA HESSER . The New York Times . 1998-10-28.
  2. Web site: 食品表示基準Q&A . Food Labeling Standards Q&A . Consumer Affairs Agency . March 2021 . 2024-01-25 . ja.
  3. Japan Tea Central Public Interest Incorporated Association. 緑茶の表示基準 . Green Tea Labeling Standards. ja. 2019. PDF. 21.
  4. News: かき氷:江戸時代の宇治金時を復元 千葉 . Shaved ice: Restoration of Uji Kintoki from the Edo period, Chiba . Mainichi Shimbun . 2016-06-19 . 2024-03-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160620175332/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20160619/k00/00e/040/142000c . 2016-06-20 . ja .
  5. Web site: 挽茶 . Hikicha . 2024-03-02 . ja.
  6. Book: Shushikai . 天皇家の饗宴 . Emperor's Feast . Tokuei . December 1978 . 10.11501/11932669 . 49 . ja.
  7. Book: Central Chamber of the Tea Industry Association . 茶業彙報 第12輯 米加両国に対する日本茶広告宣 . Tea Industry Bulletin, Vol. 12: Japanese Tea Advertisements to the United States and Canada . Central Chamber of the Tea Industry Association . 1926 . 88 . ja .
  8. リンドバーグ大佐に緑茶 . Green tea for Colonel Lindbergh . The Tea Industry . 26 . 10 . Shizuoka Prefecture Tea Industry Union Chamber . October 1931 . 10.11501/1589868 . 52 . ja .
  9. Book: Shinbo, Tamihachi . チラシ広告:成功した実例250集 . Flyer Advertising: 250 Successful Examples . Dobunkan Shuppan . 1960 . 10.11501/2492541 . 254 . ja.
  10. Book: Oguma . Tatsuo . Akado . Ryoji . 喫茶店のメニューブック . The Coffee Shop Menu Book . Shibata Shoten . 1968 . 10.11501/2517173 . 144 . ja.
  11. Book: Kyoto Shimbun . 京都年鑑:1984年版 . Kyoto Yearbook, 1984 Annual Edition . Kyoto Shimbun . November 1983 . 10.11501/9571175 . 310 . ja .
  12. Yoshida . Munehiro . Relationship between matcha and sweets, and history of matcha sweets . Dietary Scientific Research . The Foundation of Scientific Research . 41 . 3 . 2021 . 111–119 . ja .
  13. Web site: Japanese Dairy Farming and the WTO Agricultural Negotiation. Norinchukin Institute Co., Ltd.. 2013-09-27. 2011-11-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20111120020333/http://www.nochuri.co.jp/report/pdf/r0509wto1.pdf. live.
  14. News: Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 1995-04-18.
  15. News: Moriyasu . Ken . August 17, 2016 . Haagen-Dazs' star flavor Green Tea turns 20 . The Nikkei. Tokyo. January 13, 2024.
  16. Web site: A Taste Of Japanese Culture: The Story Of Häagen-Dazs GREEN TEA. https://web.archive.org/web/20210124113249/https://matcha-jp.com/en/8235. dead. January 24, 2021.
  17. http://www.icecream.or.jp/data/hakusho05.html 日本アイスクリーム白書2016
  18. Web site: Matcha green tea ice cream recipe. about.com. 29 August 2010. 14 September 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160914172058/http://japanesefood.about.com/od/japanesedessertsweet/r/greenteaice.htm. dead.