Hokkaido Azuki Jam

Japanese red bean jam - 

I find the texture of the jam a little strange

I opened another new bottle of jam this morning - Hokkaido Azuki Jam, supposedly made from 100% Hokkaido Azuki.

Azuki is written as 小豆 in Japanese.. although it is to most of us in Singapore also known as red bean, or 红豆.

From the bottle itself, I was expecting a thick, brownish red paste, not unlike what we usually find inside red bean buns.

So it was to my surprise that the Azuki jam is very.. well... jam-like. It is rather clear and gelatinous, like orange marmalade only that inside of citrus pieces, there are small pieces of red bean in the jam (and not too generous with the red beans too..) The red bean pieces taste rather good.. but on the whole I think the jam is a little too sweet and lacking red bean taste.

It's a pity because I tend to think that the Japanese usually make very good azuki-related products...