Sweets ── Wagashi (Japanese sweets)
Suhama
Suhama — a dense, kneaded dry sweet of roasted soybean flour and sugar
A dry sweet of soybean flour worked with starch syrup into a dense, kneaded block. Said to be named for its cut cross-section resembling the "suhama" sandbar crest motif, one account traces its invention to Kyoto in the Kamakura period.
- Origin: Kyoto City, Kyoto
- Dry confections
- About 370 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Roasted soybean or pea flour worked with starch syrup into a dense dough — nothing more. Shaped into sticks or pressed into small molds and dried, the draw is a texture that crumbles softly the moment it's bitten into. Types distinguished by bean and named for their color are also known — a yellow suhama made from soybeans, a green one from peas. Using roasted versus raw beans changes the degree of toastiness, and each shop's own blend is said to be what decides the flavor.
How it's made
Roasted beans are ground fine into flour, then worked with starch syrup added little by little until the dough comes together. It is rolled into sticks or pressed into wooden molds, then sliced to finish. The type and blend of beans is said to shift both flavor and color. Too loose a knead and the shape collapses; too firm and it cracks — judging the right amount of starch syrup is said to rest on a maker's feel. Freshly kneaded it is soft and easy to shape, but it firms up over time and becomes harder to cut, so working quickly is said to matter.
Why it took this shape
One account traces its invention to Kyoto in the Kamakura period, its name said to come from the striped pattern left when the kneaded dough is sliced, resembling the "suhama" crest depicting a sandbar's gentle curve along the shore. A specialist confectionery said to have kept the same method for centuries has carried it down in Kyoto. With its plain look and flavor, it is also said to be favored as an unassuming dry sweet used in tea-ceremony practice.
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.
- Enjoying a bussanten (regional products fair)A guide to what's sold at a bussanten (regional products fair), how to find one, when it gets crowded, shelf life and taking food home, and how to fit one around a trip.
- 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.
Dishes in the same style
- ArareTiny, bite-sized pieces of glutinous rice cracker, baked or fried. The name is said to come from the sound and motion of the pieces popping in the pan, resembling hail falling from the sky, and one account ties it to a court tooth-hardening ritual.
- Iwa OkoshiPuffed rice bound with brown sugar into a hard, rock-like bar. Said to have begun as an improvement on Dotonbori's awa okoshi (made from millet), using rice and brown sugar for a much harder bite that drew attention for its firmness.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Kyoto
- Chirimen SanshoChirimen-jako simmered sweet-salty with fresh sansho peppercorns in sake, soy sauce, and mirin — a Kyoto side dish said to have begun as a cook's gift in the mid-Showa era. The peppercorns leave a sharp, fragrant aftertaste.
- Ebiimo to Bodara no TaitanEbi-imo, a striped Kyoto heirloom taro named for its shrimp-like ridges, simmers together with bodara, cod dried in Hokkaido. Gelatin from the dried cod is said to keep the taro from falling apart, while the taro's bitterness softens the cod — a textbook 'deaimon' pairing.
- Fushimi no SakeSake from Fushimi in Kyoto, a district fed by groundwater from the Momoyama plateau. Its water is said to be softer than Nada's, giving a round mouthfeel and gentle, full sweetness that overlaps with the profile recognized under the GI Kyoto geographical indication.
- GanmodokiTofu mixed with vegetables, rolled into balls, and fried. Known in Kyoto as hirousu or hiryōzu, thought to have taken this form through the vegetarian temple-cooking idea of a filling dish made without meat.
- Hamo no YakimonoPike conger, riddled with fine bones, is scored with the skilled honekiri cut and then grilled — teriyaki-glazed or salted — in Kyoto cuisine. Said to have taken root in landlocked Kyoto because the hardy fish could be carried in alive, it is also a festival food for Gion Matsuri, nicknamed the 'hamo festival.'
- Kamonasu DengakuKamonasu, a round Kyoto heirloom eggplant over 10cm across sometimes called the 'queen of eggplants,' is sliced and pan-fried in plenty of oil, then topped with a sweet miso reduced with sake and mirin. It is said to have long been grown on the alluvial fan of Kamigamo.