Sweet Potato and Chestnut Tarts

I was struggling to think of a title for this post... intuitively, I sense a common thread between sweet potatoes and chestnuts - there is something earthy and pasty about them after cooking. Like squash and yams too. Japanese cuisine and snacks seem to gravitate towards these, with their multitude of "imo"-type legumes and roots for instance.

Anyway, my mom acquired these from the Osaka Takashimaya @Namba basement. (Presumably, Foucher was one of the premium patisserie brands with a stall there.)

On the left is a Marron (chestnut) tart, and on the right is a sweet potato tart. The interesting thing is that wine was used for both, although the ingredients list did not specify what type other than that it was "Western".

The pastry was too soft and soggy, so I guess the silicon pack wasn't enough and didn't do it justice. But it's a problem that could have been solved by simply toasting it again.

The downside is that for both products, margarine was used in addition to butter... and that's a huge pet peeve of mine. Aside from the health risks, I hate the waxy feeling of margarine on the palate and how it doesn't have that milky flavour inherent in real butter.

First, the Marron tart. The filling was a kind of candied or dried chestnut embedded in what the Japanese call "flourpaste", which from what I can gather is a kind of custard with flour. In this case, they used an almond powder flourpaste, at least based on what I deduce from the ingredients list. Overall, it produced a very nice pastry or cakey flavour, which I attribute to the butter-oil and the flourpaste formula. I think that's what made up for the use of margarine in this product. And the flavourful flourpaste having a good moist texture was a merit which also made up for the sogginess of the tart pastry, so I enjoyed it even without toasting it.

The chestnuts were not too sweet, so I'm not sure if they were candied or just dried. Strangely, the emergent chestnut flavour reminded me somewhat of coffee rather than the usual chestnut flavour that I am used too. So that was weird. But all in all, a good snack to try.

Next up, the sweet potato tart. Apologies that it was so banged up... oh the perils of travel. And this is even despite the plastic cup that it came in for extra support... but perhaps the plastic cup was itself flimsy and could have been larger and firmer.

I saw from the ingredients list that they used apple to complement the sweet potato taste, which was an interesting concept. However, this tart was a disappointment.

The pastry flavour was really not too good, perhaps because there was no flourpaste or butter-oil to make up for the margarine, plus the fact that this tart also had shortening added on top of the margarine! (If there is anything I hate more than seeing margarine on the ingredients list, it would probably be that. -_-)

The sweet potato itself had a good flavour. It was moist and had a bit of a candied texture.

What I didn't like though, was that there was a slight tart, possibly acidic taste. I think that came from the apple. But some people may enjoy it. I think I am not a fan of sour in general, and I prefer the pure flavour of the sweet potato without the sour element of the apple.

In short, Marron tart yes, sweet potato tart no.

Found these pastries interesting? Check out more unusual pastries here!