Sweets
Awa Uiro
Awa uiro — a steamed red bean cake sweetened with Awa wasanbon sugar
Red bean paste mixed with rice flour and Awa wasanbon sugar is poured into a mold and steamed into a chewy cake. Said to have first been made to celebrate the completion of Awa wasanbon sugar in the Edo period, with related uiro cakes also found in Nagoya and Yamaguchi.
- Origin: Tokushima
- About 510 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Awa uiro is a steamed confection made by mixing smooth azuki bean paste with rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and sugar. Its texture is chewy, and the sweetness carries the refined, gentle character of wasanbon, the fine local sugar. It's said to date back to the Edo period, when sugarcane cultivation spread in Awa and "Awa wasanbon" sugar was first produced there; the confection is said to have been made to celebrate the completion of that sugar. Shapes range from square, yōkan-like blocks to round, manjū-like pieces, and modern versions with chestnut, persimmon, or chocolate flavoring have become more common in recent years.
How it's made
Wasanbon sugar and salt are mixed into smooth bean paste, then rice flour and glutinous rice flour are added and kneaded well. Once the mixture reaches the right consistency, it's poured into a mold, shaken to remove air bubbles, and steamed. It's typically left to rest overnight afterward to let the flavor settle, then sliced before serving. When chestnut or persimmon is added, it's folded in before the batter goes into the mold, for both color and texture.
Why it took this shape
Awa uiro is said to have first been made to celebrate the completion of Awa wasanbon sugar on the third day of the third lunar month, a seasonal festival, and the custom of eating it on that day is said to have taken hold from there. It was reportedly placed among the Hinamatsuri decorations, and until the Showa era, households are said to have packed it into "yuzanbako" lacquer boxes together with rolled sushi to take on outings to the mountains or sea on that same festival day. The pairing of locally made sugar with rice flour, both readily at hand, looks like what let the confection endure alongside the festival itself.
Before you go
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
Dishes in the same style
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tokushima
- Amego no HirarayakiA flat stone is heated over a hearth for hours, then a border of miso is built on it to grill amego trout, stone tofu, and konjac — an outdoor dish from the Iya valley. Its name comes from hirara, a local word for a flat stone, and it is said to have long served as a dish for entertaining guests.
- Awa BanchaA post-fermented tea from Naka and Kamikatsu towns in Tokushima, fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Coarser leaves picked from midsummer on are boiled, packed into wooden barrels, fermented for roughly 10 days to two weeks, then sun-dried — said to give a refreshing sourness.
- Awa BitonRaised in the mountains of Awa City, Tokushima, at about 400 meters, on a feed centered on rice. Handlers are said to adjust the feed mix daily and avoid genetically modified crops where possible.
- Awa GyuPedigreed Japanese Black fattened in Tokushima, which gained recognition after being shown at a Tokyo meat market competition in 1962 — said to have a moist, fine-grained texture and modest fat.
- Awa no ItokoniSweet potato that has been boiled then dried — yude-boshi style — is rehydrated and simmered slowly with red beans for about two hours over low heat. Fitting for a region where drying vegetables is common in winter, it is said to be a warming side dish built on the concentrated flavor of dried sweet potato.
- Awa Odori-doriSaid to be developed by fixing a local red-and-black shamo fowl and crossing it with white Plymouth Rock; reared for the JAS-standard minimum of 75 days, with shipment volume reportedly among Japan's largest.