Sweets
Tamago Kanten
Tamago kanten — egg-set agar sweet
Agar liquid is sweetened and set with beaten egg in a mold — said to be favored, especially in southern Akita, as a 'torimawashi' dish handed round at funerals and celebrations, since it slices easily to serve a crowd and travels well in a box.
- Origin: Akita
- About 450 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
This Shonai-area kanten sweet is made by dissolving agar in broth and adding egg, soy sauce, and sugar before it sets. Some versions use hard-boiled egg or beaten egg stirred through, giving it a sweet-salty character. It's said to have emerged from pairing kanten, an everyday staple, with egg, once a precious ingredient, into a festival food.
How it's made
Kanten is dissolved in water over heat, then sugar, soy sauce, and beaten egg are stirred in before the mixture is poured into a container to set as it cools. Some households use chopped hard-boiled egg instead, and the balance of sweet to salty is said to shift depending on whether it's meant as a snack or a side dish. Once set, it's cut into pieces and eaten as is.
Why it took this shape
Kanten-based dishes are said to have long been part of everyday cooking in Shonai, and combining it with egg, once a costly ingredient, is thought to be what elevated it into a dish fit for festivals and New Year celebrations. The sweet-salty seasoning, sitting somewhere between a sweet and a side dish, is said to have been a way of adding color to a celebratory spread.
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
- Masu no AnkakePoached sakuramasu is topped with chives and a sweet kudzu-starch glaze served cold rather than hot — a spring feast of the Shonai coast. The technique is said to have arrived from western Japan via the Kitamae cargo ships, and it remains a fixture of festivals like the Sakata Matsuri.
- Tofu KasuteraTofu, pressed of its moisture, is mixed with sugar and egg and baked into a castella-style sponge — said to have begun as a way to stretch prized tofu when eggs and sugar were too costly, giving southern Akita a sweet with a moist, tofu-tinged texture.
- MosojiruMoso bamboo shoots dug that same morning are simmered with fried tofu and shiitake, finished with sake lees and miso — an early-summer soup of Tsuruoka. The clay-rich red soil around Yudagawa Onsen in Tsuruoka is said to grow especially good shoots, and the area is known as a source.
- TokorotenAgarweed is boiled with water and vinegar, set in a mold, then pushed through a press into long strands. In the Izu peninsula, said to be the country's leading agarweed source, it was made at home and sold at candy shops alike, settling in as a children's treat.
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.