Sourcing column
Anko and Matcha in Johannesburg: What the Shelves Actually Carry
Notes on tinned paste, loose powder and the labels worth reading
Two ingredients come up in reader letters more than any other: red bean paste and matcha powder. Both are easy to find in Johannesburg once you know which shops to walk into, and both are easy to buy badly. A tin of anko that tastes mostly of sugar will flatten a bun. A pouch of matcha sold for drinking will turn bitter the moment it meets a hot pan. What follows is what the shelves here tend to hold, and how to read a label before you commit to a tin.
Smooth or chunky, and why it matters in a dough
Tinned anko usually comes in two textures. Smooth paste is sieved and even, which makes it predictable when you pipe it or fold it into a filling. Chunky paste keeps whole and partial beans, so it carries more bite but also more water, and that water moves into the surrounding dough overnight. If you are filling a bun or a castella layer, smooth paste holds its shape better. Chunky paste is worth the trouble when it sits on its own, scooped next to a plain sponge.
Sugar content is the second thing to check. A heavily sweetened tin firms up in the fridge and can weep once it warms, which shows as a wet ring around the filling. A paste with less sugar stays softer and behaves more like a fruit jam. Neither is wrong, but they are not interchangeable in the same recipe.
Culinary matcha is not drinking matcha
The powder sold for whisking into hot water is grown and processed for a clean, rounded cup. Baking throws it into a hot, sugary, fatty environment where those delicate notes disappear and the bitterness stays. Culinary grade matcha is made for exactly that, and it holds its colour and flavour through a sponge or a cream. If a label does not say which grade it is, look at the colour: a dull, olive-green powder is usually culinary, while a bright, almost neon green is more often a drinking grade you would be wasting in a cake.
Storage after the tin is open
A Johannesburg summer is hard on both. Matcha oxidises fast and loses its colour within weeks of opening, so keep it in a sealed jar away from light and heat rather than in the original pouch on a shelf. Anko is more forgiving, but an open tin in the fridge will dry at the surface and pick up whatever else is in there. Move it to a small container, press cling film onto the paste itself, and use it within a reasonable stretch rather than leaving it to sit.
If you are new to these ingredients, the castella guide is a gentler place to start, since it uses neither and lets you focus on the batter.
