Sweets
Ochirashi Ame
Ochirashi ame — roasted barley candy pulled into sticks
Ochirashi, 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.
- Origin: Kagawa
- About 540 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Ochirashi-ame is a confection made by roasting and grinding naked barley and glutinous rice into a flour called "ochirashi," then kneading it into a paste of starch syrup and sugar. Also known as "hattai-ame," from another name for the roasted flour, it carries the toasty flavor of the roasted grain alongside the sticky sweetness of the syrup, releasing more aroma with every chew. Kagawa has long grown naked barley as a second crop after rice, thanks to a suitable climate, and the grain, said to be rich in dietary fiber, has also been used to make miso and barley tea.
How it's made
Naked barley and glutinous rice are mixed in a ten-to-three ratio, roasted slowly over low heat, then ground into flour with a hand mill. Water, starch syrup, and sugar are combined in a pot and briefly brought to a boil, then the ochirashi flour is stirred in and kneaded over low heat. The finished paste is shaped into a stick on a cutting board and sliced on the diagonal. It's finished with a dusting of more ochirashi flour, which is said to keep the pieces from sticking together.
Why it took this shape
Kagawa's climate suits barley cultivation, and naked barley has long been grown as a second crop after rice is harvested. Making ochirashi-ame from the newly harvested barley around early summer, when the crop comes in, appears to be a custom that took root around that timing in households across the region. In an era when sweets were scarce, it's said to have been especially popular with children, and along with a folk belief that scooping it up with an iris leaf would ward off illness, it seems to have become a treat tied to the turn of the season.
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
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.