Sweets
Hage Dango
Hage dango — new-wheat dumplings mottled with sweet red bean paste
Freshly milled new-wheat dumplings are coated in a simple red-bean paste. Traditionally made around Hangeshō, the early-July turning point when the rains break, as thanks for the season's farm work, and offered to household gods before the family eats.
- Origin: Kagawa
- About 540 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Hage-dango are dumplings made from wheat flour kneaded with water and boiled, then coated in a sweet paste of azuki or cowpea beans. Made with freshly harvested new wheat, the dumplings are said to have a glossy sheen and a distinctive aroma. The mottled look of the bean paste over the dumplings' surface, along with the timing of when they're made — around the seasonal marker hangeshō — is said to be behind the name "hage-dango." In some areas the paste is wrapped inside the dough and grilled on a griddle, or the dumplings are steamed instead, so the finish varies by region.
How it's made
Azuki or cowpea beans are simmered in plenty of water until soft, then an equal amount of sugar is added and simmered further, with a pinch of salt said to bring out the sweetness. Wheat flour dough kneaded with water is shaped into bite-sized dumplings and dropped into boiling water; once they float, they're scooped out and drained. The drained dumplings are then coated all over in the bean paste to finish. In some areas roasted soybean flour is used in place of the paste.
Why it took this shape
In Kagawa, the busy farming season runs from the wheat harvest in May through rice planting in June, and around July 2, the seasonal marker known as hangeshō, the long rains are said to end, giving farmers a chance to rest. Making dumplings from the newly harvested wheat around that time, offering them to the household gods and Buddha, and then sharing them as a family appears to be a custom that took root from that timing. It seems to have settled in as a seasonal dish eaten with gratitude for the harvest at a natural pause in farm work.
Before You Go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- 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.
- Takeout and convenience store customsHow to answer "Shall I warm it up?", choosing chopsticks and a paid plastic bag, saying whether you'll eat in or take out, handling trash and eating while walking, and the different tax rate for takeout versus eating in.
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
Related lineage
- Uzumaki MochiSteamed dumpling dough is rolled around sweet red bean paste so the cut cross-section forms a spiral, in this specialty of Hiketa, Higashikagawa. The spiral is said to represent the whirlpools of nearby Naruto, and the sweet has long been displayed and eaten at a baby girl's first Girls' Festival, alongside diamond-shaped rice cakes.
- Ochirashi AmeOchirashi, a roasted flour made from hulless barley and glutinous rice, is kneaded with starch syrup and sugar, then shaped into sticks and cut. Made to mark the early-summer barley harvest in Kagawa, where barley has long been grown as a second crop after rice.
Also from Kagawa
- Aji no SanbaiAji (horse mackerel) is grilled until lightly charred, then steeped in a three-part vinegar dressing sharpened with chili and ginger. The vinegar is said to soften the bones enough to eat whole, and the dish has long served as a summer festival accompaniment to drinks around the Seto Inland Sea.
- Anmochi ZoniA New Year zoni made by simmering daikon, kintoki carrot, and a round rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste in dried-sardine broth, finished with white miso. Said to have begun as a once-a-year treat using sugar, once a costly commodity in the Edo period.
- Ebi Miso JiruSmall shell-on shrimp are pureed with rice rinse water, then simmered with white miso and tofu. Served as part of the roughly 300-year-old sacred sake festival at Uga Shrine in Toyonaka, Mitoyo, where it has long accompanied the shrine's home-brewed doburoku.
- Ikanago shoyuA fish sauce fermented from sand lance and salt for six months or more, mainly produced in the Aji district of Takamatsu, Kagawa. It is said to have disappeared for a time before local volunteers revived production around 1998, and it is counted among Japan's three great fish sauces.
- ImotakoOctopus from the Seto Inland Sea and taro are simmered together in a simple seasoned broth. Once reserved for New Year and wedding feasts, it is said to have become an everyday side dish today.
- Iriko MeshiRice is cooked with dried-sardine stock made from the fish heads, along with the sardine meat, carrot, daikon, and taro. An everyday dish centered on the Seiban region around Ibukijima, an island famed for producing this dried-sardine stock.