’Uki-uki Dango’ (Floating Dumplings) are so named because the millet-flour dumplings float after being simmered in sweet azuki bean soup. They originate in Iwate Prefecture, where traditionally they were made as offerings when thanking or praying to the gods. Millet… Read More
Kenka mochi is a traditional food from Monobe, in Kami District, Kochi Prefecture. The town is a proud producer of sweet potato and taro, and this sweet is made of both of them in equal amounts. The sweet potatoes you… Read More
Today’s recipe is not exactly a ‘sweet’ but a traditional, regional form of ‘okowa’ (sticky rice cooked with other ingredients). Mitori Okowa is made not with red azuki beans but with black mitori beans, a variety of black-eyed pea, cultivated… Read More
This sweet treat has a slightly strange name – Herahera Dango (‘delicate dumplings’). They are originally from Sajima in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and were chosen by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as one of Japan’s ‘100 Best Local… Read More
Himuro Manju, a kind of sake steamed bun, is a summer specialty in Kanazawa. In winter, fresh snow was stored in a ‘himuro’ (ice house), and on the 1st of June in the old lunar calendar (1st of July today)… Read More
It’s chestnut season! There are many kinds of sweets made with chestnuts, but simple, soft and steamy KuriKinton (said to have originated in Gifu prefecture’s Nakatsugawa) is one that really brings out that elegant chestnut flavour. If you can get… Read More
Happy new year! This year, I’m going to focus on regional sweets of Japan. First is ‘Hanabira-mochi’, invented by the traditional confectioners of Kyoto. It was adapted from the ‘Hishi-hanabira’, eaten during New Year celebrations in the shrines and Imperial… Read More
