Yude Dago

A simple dumpling made by boiling kneaded wheat dough and dusting it with brown sugar; the dough is sometimes mixed with boiled pumpkin, spinach, or mugwort, or wrapped around sweet bean paste instead. Brown sugar is said to give the best, most fragrant result, and in some areas the dumpling goes by another flatter-sounding local name. It's said to be made from either wheat flour or rice flour depending on the household. It's a simple sweet made from the wheat flour farming households always kept on hand.

Wheat flour is kneaded with boiling water to an earlobe-soft dough, torn into pieces, and dropped into boiling water to cook. The cooking water is drained off and brown sugar dusted over. Mixing in mashed rice porridge is said to keep the dumplings soft even after time passes, and a rice-flour version dipped in sweetened soy sauce is also made, its shape varying from one household to the next. It's also said to have once been served at local festivals.

In a region where wheat was grown as a second crop after rice, the snack is said to have taken hold using the flour households always had on hand, eaten as a break during farm work or to fill in when rice ran short. In one district it's said to have been a favorite bite during breaks from rice planting. It's said to have been an essential little break during a long day of farm work. In one district it's said to have been a favorite bite during breaks from rice planting.