Just when you thought the deep fried trend couldn’t get any weirder, it gains the potential to get a little – erm, patriotic.
At least for Canadians.
The Deep Fried Maple Leaf – known over in Japan as Maple Tempura – is apparently a winter snack food in Japan. It’s said to have the taste and feel of a chip and has been compared to having the texture of Kale.
First glance would have one thinking they pull the leaves off a tree, deep fry them in some batter, and serve hot. Not quite.
Apparently the process of making these delicacies takes one year. Carefully selected leaves are left to sit in salt barrels for about a year. When the time is right, they’re usually deep fried in a batter made from salt, sesame seeds, sugar and flour. It takes about twenty minutes in the fryer for the leaf to get the right kind of texture, colour and crisp.
The jury is out when it comes to taste: some online food bloggers say the snack is crisp, and the leaf lends a nice crunch to it. Others have said the snack is really sweet and chewy. Of course, these can all likely be attributed to the cooking style and preparation methods of the cook at hand.
The dish apparently has roots traced back to an estimated one thousand years ago, in South Central Japan. Most people can find the snack in Kyoto or Osaka.
Bored Panda, who recently documented the trend, also posted a link for people to try making their own Deep Fried Maple Leaves here.
No word yet on whether or not Canadians are attempting to create/succeed/ruin the fine art of leaf frying, but if you do make the effort – tweet me at @newshoundnouf with your photos!
Ria Renouf is an Associate Editor for BCIT’s Link Magazine. A second-year Broadcasting student, she’ll report on anything; her first loves, however, are movies, music, gaming and technology. Outside of BCIT she reads many books and cheers for the Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Seahawks. She also aspires to be a new generation’s Tintin, and does so by reporting for radio station CKNW News Talk 980AM’s news desk.