Not Your Mom’s PB&J
No, that’s not a peanut butter sandwich that was abandoned in the fridge last winter behind the eggplant pickles and the half dozen half-empty packets of various kinds of miso. The black stuff is kurogoma butter, made from toasted black sesame seeds.
Of course you can get peanut butter in Japan, but the shelves are filled with so many more exotic options: kinako butter (made with roasted soybean powder), melon butter, choco butter and three kinds of sugar toast butter: plain, maple and cinnamon.
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Jonelle Patrick View All
Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!
That looks disgusting, but it sounds delicious!
So is it any good? We love black sesame “anything” — at least what we’ve had so far. May have to look for this in the market while we are there —
It IS good, although I like it better by itself without the strawberry jam on sandwiches. And if you love black sesame, the ice cream is to die for. Looks really weird, but is super tasty! There’s a place in Ikebukuro where they sell about twelve different flavors of soft serve (including wasabi!) and black sesame is always among the offerings. Directions to get there are on my travel website here: http://www.jonellepatrick.com/guide/Ikebukuro.html