Traditional castella sponge cakes, introduced to Japan by Portuguese merchants circa 1550, are cut precisely into bite-sized pieces before they’re soaked in bright yellow egg yolks and boiled in a sugar water syrup. The impeccable-looking sweets are completed with a roll in sugar.
This teaser clip is from the first episode of Food Odyssey, a 2014 Korean documentary series that explores cultures through their foods in 20 different countries. Here they travel to Nagasaki, Japan to see the creation of casdoce , also spelled casdose and kasudousu, a confection that was originally created for the Japanese feudal lord of Hirado in the 16th century, a time when eggs and sugar were rare. According to the documentary, no commoners were allowed to taste them.
What do you think they taste like? Let us know.
