Cookies from Moominvalley in Japan

What a coincidence! Yesterday I wrote about tea and mentioned my trip to Finland and Sweden. And today, I got a packet from my friend in Saitama Prefecture who had visited Moominvalley recently. Moomintroll (abbreviated as Moomin) is a character in a series of books written by a Swedish-speaking Finnish writer Tove Jansson. In 1969, the first animation series of Mumin was made in Japan. Since then, his family and friends have been loved by many people, and Japan Post has issued sets of Moomin stamps. This is the one issued four years ago.

Moominvalley Park in Saitama was opened in March 16. If you search with “Moominvalley Park Japan”, you can find many articles in Finnish and English. According to them, it is the first Moomin theme park outside Finland. My friend said that the park was spacious and refreshing. She sent me a card, a clear file,

and a box. What’s this?

The character on the box is Stinky. If I remember correctly, he is a nuisance in Moominvalley. Inside the box were cocoa cookies, which seemed to be delicious. However, I still wondered what the red and white things on top were.

At first, the cookie tasted as any other cocoa cookies. I felt the rich flavor of cocoa and egg. But as I ate the center of the cookie, I noticed an unexpected flavor of spice and saltiness. According to the label on the box, it contained pink pepper and sun-dried salt. Then I learned what were on top of the cookie. I heard of pink pepper for the first time. I thought this combination of flavors very interesting and ate three cookies, wondering how my friend liked them if she ate them herself.