Sweets
Nagasaki Milk Seeki
Nagasaki milk seiki — a spoon-eaten frozen dessert of milk, egg, and crushed ice
Milk, egg, sugar, and crushed ice are blended into a sherbet-like frozen dessert eaten with a spoon — said to have begun in the late Taisho or early Showa era at Nagasaki's Tsuruchan cafe, devised to help customers through the summer heat.
- Origin: Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
- About 970 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
A spoon-eaten, ice-cream-like version of a milkshake, made by blending milk, egg, sugar and crushed ice. The ratio of ingredients and how finely the ice is crushed vary from shop to shop, giving each version a slightly different flavor and texture. Being eaten as a food rather than drunk is said to be what sets it apart from milkshakes found elsewhere.
How it's made
Milk, egg, sugar and ice are the base ingredients. The ice is crushed fine and blended together with the milk, egg and sugar into a thick, half-frozen dessert. Because the ratio of ingredients, any hidden seasoning, and how coarse the ice is left all vary by shop or household, the texture and finish differ from one version to the next. With so few base ingredients, it's said to be easy to make at home too.
Why it took this shape
In the late Taisho to early Showa era, a coffee shop in Nagasaki city is said to have come up with a milkshake made with crushed ice, aiming for something to help people through the city's fierce summer heat. That it became something eaten with a spoon rather than drunk is thought to reflect a search, in a place with such intense heat, for a way to eat something cold and satisfying. It's said to have originally been a summer-only item before later being served year-round.
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.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
- At kissaten, cafes, and kanmi-dokoroThe difference between jun-kissa and chain cafes, the morning-set custom, and kanmi-dokoro staples like anmitsu and zenzai.
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 Nagasaki
- ArumadoA hard-boiled egg dyed pink is wrapped in fish paste and steamed into a kamaboko log that shows a pink-rimmed cross-section when cut — a Hirado specialty, with kin dishes called "arimado" in Sasebo and "ryugan" in Nagasaki.
- Goto UdonA hand-pulled noodle from Shinkamigoto, Nagasaki. Its technique is thought to trace back to envoys returning from Tang China, and the island's camellia oil is worked into the dough for a smooth, elastic bite.
- HanahajikiCucumber, carrot, deep-fried tofu, and shrimp are cut into strips and fanned out on a plate to be dipped in a hot mustard vinegar-miso — a dish from Isahaya said to be named for how the mustard "flicks the nose," traditionally served at Buddhist memorial services.
- HatoshiShrimp and squid paste sandwiched in bread and deep-fried, a Nagasaki specialty said to have arrived from China in the Meiji era, growing from a shippoku banquet course into a food loved across the city.
- HikadoFish or chicken and vegetables like daikon and carrot are diced fine and simmered, thickened at the end with grated sweet potato — said to originate in a meat stew eaten by Portuguese residents of Nagasaki, its name from the Portuguese word for "minced."
- HikitoshiChicken raised at home is butchered for this Iki hot pot, typically enriched with iki-doufu, a rich local tofu, and firm-boiled somen — said to have begun as a dish served to guests in the inner parlor, its name tracing to "hiki-toshi," leading a guest through.