Has the sun set on these?

May 23, 2010 12:17 PM

[JapaneseTranslationFilter] Can I still eat this?

We received a box of Japanese goodies from a friend a couple of months ago. The box got buried somewhere. I'm not clear on whether the contents are still edible. The accompanying text is all in Japanese, which I cannot read at all. I can't figure out whether the date in the picture is the production date or expiry date...

So, safe to eat?

Bonus points if you can tell me what these treats are called.

posted by bardophile to food & drink (8 answers total)

賞味期限 = best by

The name of the product says "hijiri", but google doesn't turn up anything food-related for that. Japanese wikipedia thinks it means some sort of buddhist "circular tour". So no idea there, sorry.
posted by jrockway at 12:40 PM on May 23, 2010

Expiration date is March 19th 2010.
posted by ripley_ at 12:40 PM on May 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

The right side is the equivalent of "Best If Eaten By: 3/19/2010". The left side says "Please enjoy within 2 to 3 days of opening." They're called "Hijiri" -- it's a savory bean-paste dessert which probably came from Kyoto (scroll down).

It's just bean paste and dough, and the Best By date was just 4 days ago, so it's almost certainly safe to eat as long as you didn't open it.
posted by vorfeed at 12:40 PM on May 23, 2010

Wait, the best by date was two months ago, not 4 days ago... I think that means I can try them, but I shouldn't give them to MrBardophile, who is much more careful about these things than I am...
posted by bardophile at 12:43 PM on May 23, 2010

Oh I don't know where I left my manners. Thank you jrockway, ripley_, and vorfeed.
posted by bardophile at 12:45 PM on May 23, 2010

heh, I said I could read Japanese, not that I know what month it is! :P Sorry about that.

On the plus side, I think it'll be pretty obvious whether these are any good to eat or not -- if not, they'll probably have dried out.
posted by vorfeed at 12:48 PM on May 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Looks like hijiri (聖), a kind of nama yatsuhashi. The thing about them is that they're "raw", meaning that they will absolutely dry out if you don't eat them within a week or two of purchasing them. If they're still vacuum-sealed, they might be edible, but don't be surprised if they've gone hard. The bean paste won't really go rancid (and it probably has preservatives in it), but the rice-based skin may not taste as fresh as it would.

I'd say try one, and if edible, eat them all as soon as possible.
posted by armage at 5:51 PM on May 23, 2010

Just in case anyone is interested, I tried one. I didn't like it much, but they're fine. MrBardophile liked them better, but he has more of a sweet tooth anyway. :)

Again, many thanks to all of you!
posted by bardophile at 8:24 AM on May 24, 2010