Samの英語チャンネル

Our favorite kind wasn’t even the one we expected, but they were all the baum-dot-com.

It takes a lot to surprise us when it comes to Japanese vending machines, considering we’ve seen everything from Sriracha to sushi meals being sold in them. While the latter might sound a bit dubious, we’ve had relatively good results with the weird and wacky, and we’re always keeping our eyes peeled for new discoveries.

The latest unusual vending machine we spotted was right outside of the ticket gates at Bashamichi Station on Yokohama’s Minatomirai Line. It was actually attracting a lot of curious glances from passersby, most likely because it was filled with Baumkuchen, the German spit cake that’s incredibly popular in Japan and usually goes by just “baum.”

▼ Cake from a vending machine somehow feels a lot safer than sushi.

A closer look at the sign revealed that this particular baum was produced by Cocotomo Farm, which makes a 100-percent gluten-free cake using homemade rice flour from Aichi Prefecture. According to the sign, its brown rice-based hard baum is even given as a welcome gift on the luxury Asuka III cruise ship–Japan’s largest passenger ship–and was being sold in this machine at a discounted price to reduce food waste.

Apparently there’s an Asuka III Meets 47 Prefectures Project, and this brand was selected as a representative for the Aichi Prefecture Room. As for why it’s being sold at this particular nondescript station in Yokohama, well, that part’s still a mystery–but perhaps it’s because there are several international cruise ship terminals in the area.

There were plenty of baum options in the vending machine, but none of the selections were for the brown rice-based hard baum variety alone. Therefore, we opted for a combo pack with a slice of that one along with a slice of the white rice-based soft baum for 650 yen (US$4.14), as well as a pack of hard baum edges for 500 yen.

▼ The machine takes cash or a variety of payment apps.

All of the baum in this machine are frozen to preserve their freshness, so our prizes were quite chilly when they first came out. Luckily, the weather was relatively warm on this particular day, and the slices of cake had thawed out well by the time we got home. Here they were in their simple, unpretentious packaging.

We were journalistically obligated to then immediately sample the slices of the soft and hard varieties, which were individually packaged.

▼ Soft baum (top) and hard baum (bottom)

The soft baum was true to its name and had a refined, moist texture. We would have never known that it was gluten-free if the packaging didn’t alert us. Meanwhile, the hard baum had the exact opposite kind of feel. It was densely packed and required some force to bite down on, being chewy at the same time. It also carried the distinctive almost nut-like flavor of brown rice. We had always assumed that all baum tasted more or less the same, but this sampling threw that notion far out the window.

Next, we broke out the hard baum edges. There were six individual pieces of slightly varying sizes packed into one bag.

The hard baum edges were, if anything, even more densely packed with flavor and texture than the soft baum and regular hard baum alike. Sure, they were rough-looking on the outside, but they hid an intense surprise on the inside.

In fact, they ended up being our favorite of the whole bunch. The value of six pieces for that price was also hard to beat.

We have no idea how long the Cocotomo Farm vending machine is going to be stationed at Bashamichi Station–but we suppose that whenever it goes away, we’ll just have to get our baum fix from the ample varieties sold at at Muji instead.

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Source: SORA NEWS24