Sweets
Kamabuku
Kamabuku — steamed potato and mochi flour log shaped like fish cake
Boiled, mashed potato is worked with glutinous rice flour and sugar, shaped into a fish-cake-like log, and steamed — said to have been devised in Akita's mountainous interior, where fish was scarce, as a stand-in for fish paste at celebrations.
- Origin: Akita Odate
- About 520 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A sweet from Akita: boiled, mashed potato mixed with glutinous rice flour and sugar, shaped like a fish cake, and steamed. Made without any fish paste, it releases a chewy texture and the plain sweetness of potato with each bite, it is said. Layering colored dough with plain potato dough before rolling gives the cut cross-section a bright, festive look.
How it's made
Boiled, mashed potato is mixed with glutinous rice flour, sugar, and salt, then shaped into a fish-cake form using a bamboo rolling mat. It is steamed for about ninety minutes, cooled thoroughly, then sliced to whatever thickness is preferred. Some households mix in red bean, pumpkin, walnut, or sesame according to taste, it is said.
Why it took this shape
In inland Akita's mountainous areas, where fish was hard to come by, devising a sweet shaped like a fish cake from potato, an ingredient close at hand, is said to have been born out of necessity. A tradition of serving rolled, patterned foods as a celebratory sweet at festivities meeting potato, a crop of the fields, is thought to be the background behind this confection.
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 Akita
- Akazushi (Akazuke)Cooked glutinous rice cured briefly in red shiso and vinegar — an Akita sushi with no fish in it at all, a plant-based cousin of narezushi also offered at Obon altars.
- AsazukeBroken rice grains are pureed, simmered, and seasoned sweet-and-sour with sugar and vinegar, then mixed with cucumber, turnip, and seasonal fruit — a summer dessert unrelated to the pickle of the same name, said to refresh women after a day planting rice.
- Edokei RamenA soy ramen topped with a knob of bright red chili miso built on garlic and garlic chives. Stirred in gradually as you eat, it turns a mild bowl steadily richer and spicier — a specialty of Akita City.
- Akita HoshimochiSliced mochi is strung up, soaked in water, then left to freeze and thaw through the winter cold in a process called 'kanjime' — the result crisp and filling, said to have fueled breaks during rice-planting season.
- Imonoko JiruBaby taro corms called 'imonoko' simmer with chicken, mushrooms, and wild greens in miso or soy — an autumn soup said to use taro grown in Yokote's Sannai district, prized for its soft bite, and set alongside kiritanpo nabe as the region's autumn counterpart.
- Akita no SakeAkita sake, brewed with soft water in deliberate contrast to Nada's hard water, aiming for a mellow, delicate character. Breweries buried in snow are said to gain a natural insulating effect from it, a tradition of slow, low-temperature fermentation built around that climate.