Banana Chyoko
Today I am presenting one of the less classy of Japanese Matsuri foods. It is something that no doubt you will see in many other countries as well, but I am not sure if you will experience such a fanatical following elsewhere.
It is Banana Chyoko (which of course is a chocolate banana).
What these fruit torturers do is they stick a sharp stick into the unsuspecting banana and plunge it head first into a steaming vat of molten chocolate. If that is not enough to get a confession from the helpless fruit, then they ram its face into either chocolate or coloured sugar sprinkles. By this stage the poor banana has given up its secrets and is then put on display along a rack at the front of the stall as a warning to other bananas that pass.
The moral of the story is, if you are a banana, stay out of organised crime, and if you have a sweet tooth, try the same process at home.
The recipe is simple and the equipment is minimal. The mess you make depends on your age and competence, but it doesn’t really matter because as far as I can see chocolate all over the bench is a pleasure rather than a problem. As you may be able to see from the photo, these guys use white as well as dark chocolate. Somehow they even get pink or green going, but I guess that is probably more icing than chocolate. I haven’t been brave enough to try a pink one yet, so if anyone can tell us, from their experience, what it is like I would be grateful.
All in all, the taste isn’t surprising. It tastes pretty much like a banana dipped in chocolate. What is surprising though is that even the most serious looking business man will not feel self conscious walking down the street in public eating a pink coloured banana with coloured sprinkles on a stick. I guess that is where I just don’t understand culture.
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POSTED IN: Desserts : Asian Cuisine, Japanese, Street Food
1 opinion for Banana Chyoko
The Cooking Ninja
Sep 11, 2007 at 11:23 am
hehehe…Japanese has very strange culture and they are so cool. They even have a penis festival - candy shape penis etc … the girls aren’t shy about buying one and licking it on the street. :) I couldn’t believe it till a friend of mine sent me those pics.
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