Sweets
Kuri Kinton
Kuri kinton — pure chestnut paste twisted into shape with a cloth
Steamed chestnuts are simmered with nothing but sugar, then twisted by hand in a dampened cloth into the shape of the chestnut itself — a confection of the Nakatsugawa area, said to have emerged as sweet-makers in this old Nakasendo post town, steeped in tea-ceremony culture, competed to showcase the local chestnut.
- Origin: Gifu
- About 210 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Steamed chestnuts worked with sugar and squeezed into shape inside a cloth, a plain traditional sweet, so each bite carries the chestnut's own mealy texture and natural sweetness with nothing else in the way. Unlike the sweeter New Year's version of the same name, it's said to be built to let the chestnut's flavor speak for itself.
How it's made
Fresh chestnuts are boiled and the flesh scooped out, then warmed through with sugar and a pinch of salt and worked slowly over low heat in a pot. Once worked smooth, it's squeezed inside a damp cloth to take on a chestnut's ridged shape. Flavor and texture are said to vary shop by shop, making comparison part of the fun.
Why it took this shape
Nakatsugawa developed as a post town on the old Nakasendo road, and a distinctive tea-ceremony culture is said to have flourished there, with confectioners competing to make sweets that paired well with tea. Being also one of the prefecture's major chestnut-growing areas, a plain habit of boiling or roasting wild chestnuts is said to have gradually turned into this refined sweet.
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
Contrast
- Mizu ManjuKudzu starch blended with bracken starch is cooked into a translucent dough, wrapped around bean paste, and chilled in well water — a summer confection of Ogaki City, said to have been devised in the Meiji era to make use of the 'city of water's' abundant groundwater, still a seasonal sight sunk in tanks at shop fronts.
- KarasumiKneaded rice flour is pressed into a wooden mold and steamed until the cut cross-section forms twin peaks like a mountain — a confection of the Tono region. One account traces the name to a scarcity of the prized mullet-roe delicacy of the same name in this landlocked area, so a similarly shaped sweet stood in.
Also from Gifu
- Akadatsu no SubuteThe red-purple leaf stalk of taro, called akadatsu, has its fibers removed and is salt-rubbed before being dressed in a sweetened vinegar — a dish of Yamagata City on land whose lime-poor, thin soil suited taro cultivation, once said to be fed to new mothers to aid recovery.
- Ayu NarezushiAyu heading downriver to spawn in autumn, often carrying roe, are salted and stuffed with freshly cooked rice, then packed in a barrel to ferment for about two months — a narezushi of Gifu City said to have been made from fish caught at the Nagara River's cormorant fishery and once presented to the shogunate.
- Ayu ZosuiAyu, grilled plain until fragrant, is flaked and briefly simmered with dashi and rice into a light porridge — a Gifu river-fish dish said to have begun as a way to use ayu too damaged from fishing to sell whole, often served as the closing course at restaurants specializing in ayu.
- FunamisoCrucian carp, first grilled plain, simmers for hours with rehydrated soybeans, then finishes in soybean miso and coarse sugar — a river-fish dish of the Seino region, where the miso's strong umami is said to soften the fish's characteristic edge, simmered until the flesh falls apart as a winter keeping food.
- Ayu no ShioyakiAyu are salted all over, given a decorative touch of salt on fin and tail, then grilled over charcoal on both sides — a river-fish dish of Gifu, said to draw on fish caught fresh at the 1,300-year-old Nagara River cormorant fishery or at the traditional yana weirs that channel fish into a catch.
- Gohei MochiCrushed rice is skewered and grilled, then glazed with a walnut- or peanut-flecked sauce — a dish of the Tono and Hida areas where soy-based sauce dominates north of the old Nakasendo road and miso-based sauce south of it, traditionally served to celebrate the new rice harvest or to honor a guest.