Red bean paste and mascarpone, a New Halal souvenir from An-Pone, Kyoto.

Traditional Japanese sweet, using mascarpone cheese.

When thinking about Halal souvenirs in Japan, it is probably the sweet with red bean paste. It is tasty, but we know that for some of you it sounds not really attractive, because beans are used only for meals. The same thing is going on even in Japan, traditional Japanese sweets are less popular among youth, and the companies are trying hard to create a new type of Japanese sweet.

An-Pone (あんぽーね) is a product from Kyoto Gion Anon (京都祇園あのん), whose product is very popular and selling well. Their product is Japanese sweet, but their newly introduced sweet will surely satisfy the person who is not good at red bean paste.

Tell us about the company and the sweet.

Kyoto Gion Anon is a company from Kyoto, but the shop is supervised by a famous red bean rice cake company Sazae (サザエ食品) from Hokkaido and a pâtissier Mr. Nishizono. Their concept is to make tasty sweets using red bean paste, flexibly meeting the demand of the people of that period. They have been so successful that now their shops are available in major cities in Japan, as many celebrities have tried and introduced their sweet as a must-buy sweet.

Their most famous product is An-Pone. The name came from An, red bean paste, and mascarpone cheese. Yes, the ingredients of the sweet is traditional Japanese sweet and western cheese!

It is a Monaka, a sweet with crispy wafer and red bean paste inside. An-Pone also has a crispy wafer made from glutinous rice, so it is still a Japanese traditional sweet, but with western flavor.

How to eat the sweet?

It comes with individually packed shells and two jars; one is red bean paste and another is mascarpone cream.

The wafer is so crispy that it makes a sound upon eating, because it is made from a special rice, which is usually used to make Mochi rice cake! Red bean paste is not as sweet as usual ones, but with enough amount to enjoy the flavor of beans.

But what makes their Monaka unique is mascarpone cream. It is fluffy and not thick, but it has a creamy and buttery taste. We can adjust the amount of each ingredient and make it up to our liking.

Is the sweet halal?

Detail is as follows:

It contains glycine which can be haram if derived from animal product. We have confirmed with the manufacturer if the product is animal origin, and their answer is it is made from a plant product, and no animal source is used.

As it does not contain neither alcoholic nor animal origin ingredients, the sweet can be recommended for Muslims! The risk of contamination is quite low, too.

There are lots of other flavors, like blueberry, chocolate, Matcha green tea, Sakura or peach.

So far, there is no obviously restricted ingredient found in Matcha and Sakura, but the following flavors contain ingredients which is obtained as a result of alcoholic reaction.

Chocolate: flavoring
Peach: flavoring, acidulant
Blueberry: flavoring from apple, acidulant

If you would like to have genuine Halal food, please avoid these products.

Where can we buy the item?

As mentioned, the products are available at department stores in major cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. Even at Itami Airport, you may find one at ANA Festa, however, they sell only plain red bean paste.

The main store in Gion, Kyoto has a cafe next to the shop. It will be a great idea to enjoy cafe and buy the products that you liked!

Halal souvenirs at Itami Airport, Osaka!

Are you finding a Halal souvenir at Itami Airport? This is your perfect guide for your shopping experience!

paulonia.tokyo

2023.03.12

Details of the shop

Please be reminded that the items introduced are not made as Halal or Muslim-friendly, so there is a small risk of contamination, which we cannot be responsible of.  We are here to help you with translating the label and not judging if the product is Halal or not.  Please consume at your own risk.