 | |
| Type | Wagashi |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Japan |
| Main ingredients | Agar, sugar, red bean paste or white kidney bean paste |
Yōkan ( 羊羹 ) is a wagashi made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar. It is usually sold in a block form, and eaten in slices. There are two main types: neri yōkan and mizu yōkan. Mizu means "water", and indicates that it is made with more water than usual. Mizu yōkan is usually chilled and eaten in the summer, however in Fukui prefecture it is customarily eaten in winter. [1]
Although yōkan found in Japan and abroad is typically made with red bean paste, yōkan made from white kidney bean paste (しろあん, 白餡, shiro an) is also relatively common. This type of yōkan is milky and translucent with a much milder flavour than that made of red bean paste. As such, it can be effectively flavoured and coloured by using green tea powder.
Yōkan may also contain chopped chestnuts, [2] persimmons, whole sweetened azuki beans, figs, and sweet potato (imo yōkan), among other additions. Sugar can also be replaced with honey, dark brown sugar, or molasses to alter the taste of the yōkan produced. There is also shio yōkan, which uses small amounts of salt.
During the Kamakura period (1185–1333), Japanese Buddhist monks who studied in the Song dynasty brought the tea culture to Japan, and the custom of eating confections with tea began in Japan. The monks also introduced tenshin (点心, dim sum), a light meal, and the history book Teikin ōrai ( 庭訓往来 ) mentions udon (饂飩), manjū (饅頭), and yōkan (羊羹) as tenshin (点心). However, the manjū and yōkan brought to Japan by the monks were not sweets as we know them today, but were prepared in a completely different way. [3]
Yōkan comes from the Chinese word yang geng (羊羹 "sheep geng "), which is a type of mutton soup. But since there was no custom of eating animal meat in Japan, the Japanese replaced the meat with a paste made of kneaded barley or azuki bean flour. Later, the soup was removed and replaced with a pasty confection made of barley or azuki bean flour. Finally, around 1800, during the Edo period (1603–1868), 500 years later, yōkan became what it is today.
The invention of kanten (寒天, agar) in the 1600s was essential to the birth of modern yokan. Later, the kanten invented in Japan was introduced to Manchuria, Korea and Taiwan. [4] [5] [6]
Yōkan is used as an ingredient in other foods, such as "Siberia", a type of castella cake.
Dango is a Japanese dumpling made with regular rice flour and glutinous rice flour. They are usually made in round shapes, and three to five pieces are served on a skewer, which is called kushi-dango (串団子). The pieces are eaten with sugar, syrup, red bean paste, and other sweeteners. Generally, dango falls under the category of wagashi, and is often served with green tea. It is eaten year-round, but the different varieties are traditionally eaten in given seasons. Dango is sometimes compared with mochi, but is different in that mochi is generally made only with glutinous rice.
Kakigōri (かき氷) is a Japanese shaved ice dessert flavored with syrup and a sweetener, often condensed milk.
Anmitsu is a wagashi that dates to the Meiji era.
Uirō, also known as uirō-mochi (外郎餅), is a traditional Japanese steamed cake made of glutinous rice flour and sugar. It is chewy, similar to mochi, and subtly sweet. Flavors include azuki bean paste, green tea (matcha), yuzu, strawberry and chestnut. Nagoya is particularly famous for its uirō, and there are other regional versions, notably in Yamaguchi and Odawara, although Odawara's uirō is better known as a medicine. It can be purchased in traditional Japanese confectionery shops throughout Japan.
Taiyaki is a Japanese fish-shaped cake, commonly sold as street food. It imitates the shape of tai, which it is named after. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened adzuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, cheese, or sweet potato. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside. Smaller, differently shaped versions called kingyoyaki are also available and often sold in bags of five, ten, or more.
Castella is a type of Japanese sponge cake and is known for its sweet, moist brioche-style flavour and texture. It is based on cakes introduced to Japan by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century. It was then popularized in the city of Nagasaki, where it is considered a specialty. Despite its foreign origins, it is considered a kind of wagashi, or traditional Japanese confectionery.
Hanabiramochi (葩餅) is a Japanese sweet (wagashi), usually eaten at the beginning of the year. Hanabiramochi are also served at the first tea ceremony of the new year.
Wagashi is traditional Japanese confectionery, typically made using plant-based ingredients and with an emphasis on seasonality. Wagashi generally makes use of cooking methods that pre-date Western influence in Japan. It is often served with green tea.
Namagashi (生菓子) are a type of wagashi, which is a general term for traditional Japanese sweets and candies. Namagashi may contain fruit jellies, other gelatines such as Kanten, or sweetened bean paste. Namagashi is detailed, designed with using seasonal and natural motifs such as leaves and flowers to reflect the various objects of nature in Japan's four seasons. Namagashi are usually freshly made and are much more moist than other wagashi, like higashi. It generally contains 30% more water than other types. Like other wagashi, namagashi are made of natural ingredients; additives are rarely used. Namagashi is generally served with tea, and it's traditionally eaten on New Year's for good luck.
Monaka (最中) is a Japanese sweet made of azuki bean paste sandwiched between two thin crisp wafers made from mochi. The wafers can have the shape of a square, a triangle, or may be shaped like cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums, local landmarks, daruma, or other good luck symbols.
Dorayaki is a type of Japanese confection. It consists of two small pancake-like patties made from castella wrapped around a filling of sweet azuki bean paste.
Manjū is a traditional Japanese confection, usually a small, dense bun with a sweet filling. They come in many shapes and varieties.
Botamochi is a wagashi made with glutinous rice, white rice, and sweet azuki paste. They are made by soaking the rice for approximately 1 hour. The rice is then cooked, and a thick azuki paste is hand-packed around pre-formed balls of rice. Botamochi is eaten as sacred food as offering during the weeks of the spring and the autumn Higan in Japan.
Chè is any traditional Vietnamese sweet beverage, dessert soup or stew, or pudding. Chè includes a wide variety of distinct soups or puddings. Varieties of Chè can be made with mung beans, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, tapioca, jelly, fruit, and coconut cream. Other types are made with ingredients such as salt, aloe vera, seaweed, lotus seed, sesame seed, sugar palm seeds, taro, cassava and pandan leaf extract. Some varieties, such as chè trôi nước, may also include dumplings. Chè are often prepared with one of a number of varieties of beans, tubers, and/or glutinous rice, cooked in water and sweetened with sugar. In southern Vietnam, chè are often garnished with coconut creme.
Chinese desserts are sweet foods and dishes that are served with tea, along with meals or at the end of meals in Chinese cuisine. The desserts encompass a wide variety of ingredients commonly used in East Asian cuisines such as powdered or whole glutinous rice, sweet bean pastes, and agar. Due to the many Chinese cultures and the long history of China, there are a great variety of desserts of many forms.
Daifukumochi (大福餅), or daifuku (大福), is a wagashi, a type of Japanese confection, consisting of a small round mochi stuffed with a sweet filling, most commonly anko, a sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans. Daifuku is often served with green tea.
Red bean paste or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste or anko, is a paste made of red beans, used in East Asian cuisine. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or grinding them. At this stage, the paste can be sweetened or left as it is. The color of the paste is usually dark red, which comes from the husk of the beans. In Korean cuisine, the adzuki beans can also be husked prior to cooking, resulting in a white paste. It is also possible to remove the husk by sieving after cooking, but before sweetening, resulting in a red paste that is smoother and more homogeneous.
| Shushoku | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Okazu | |||||||||
| Soup (Shirumono) | |||||||||
| Set menu | |||||||||
| Beverages |
| ||||||||
| Snacks / desserts/ Wagashi | |||||||||
| Fruits | |||||||||
| Ingredients / condiments | |||||||||
| Utensils | |||||||||
| Lists | |||||||||
| Related | |||||||||
 | This confectionery-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
