Sweets ── Wagashi (Japanese sweets)
Yokan
Yokan — a firm, sliceable block of sweet bean paste set with agar
Sweet bean paste set with agar into a firm block, sliced to eat. It is said to descend from a Chinese mutton soup called "kan" that arrived with tea, reworked into a meatless dish with bean paste for Buddhist cuisine, and completed as the sliceable "neri-yokan" once agar was discovered.
- Yokan and agar jellies
Lineage
What it's made of
The combination is about as simple as it gets: bean paste, sugar, and agar. Varying only the amount of agar and the boiling time turns the same mixture into either a dense, long-keeping neri-yokan or a smooth, easy-swallowing mizu-yokan. Versions worked with chestnut or citrus are said to sit as extensions of this same basic form. Setting it in a single long mold and slicing it to share is said to be tied to its character as a gift.
How it's made
Bean paste is simmered down with sugar and water, combined with dissolved agar, worked further, then poured into a mold and chilled until set. The longer it is worked down, the more moisture leaves and the longer-keeping the neri-yokan becomes; more agar and water instead yields a smooth mizu-yokan. Because varying the amount of agar alone changes the firmness dramatically, the difference between neri-yokan and mizu-yokan is said to come down to this ratio. The sheen of a cut cross-section is also said to reflect how carefully it was worked down.
Why it took this shape
One account traces yokan back to a Chinese mutton soup called "kan" that arrived with tea, reworked with wheat flour or red beans shaped to resemble mutton to suit meatless Zen temple meals. Once agar-making spread in the Edo period, what had been a soup turned into a block that could be set and sliced, and it is said to have settled into post towns as a long-keeping souvenir.
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.
- 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
- AnmitsuCubes of agar jelly topped with red peas, sweet bean paste, and dark syrup. Said to have begun when a Ginza sweets shop in the early Showa era added its own bean paste to the simpler "mitsumame" — jelly and peas in syrup — marking a point where wagashi met café culture.
- KuzukiriKudzu starch dissolved in water, poured into a mold, heated until set, then cut into thin noodle-like strips. Usually eaten with dark syrup, it shares its raw material with kuzumochi but is worked into a contrasting texture and way of eating.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known for it here
- Known for it here: Saga, Ogi
A castle town along the Nagasaki Kaido where sugar landed at Dejima spread widely and good water from the Tenzan mountains was plentiful; neri-yokan making is said to have flourished here from the early Meiji era.
- Known for it here: Kyoto, Kyoto
Said to be where neri-yokan was born once agar-making spread in the Edo period, and where the craft of working it down has since been refined as a sweet served alongside tea.
Root style
- Mizu YokanA style of yokan with less agar and sugar and more water, giving a smooth, light texture. It keeps for a shorter time than neri-yokan and was once said to be made mainly in cooler months, though today it is also enjoyed as a cooling summer treat.
- Neri YokanA style of yokan worked down for a long time until moisture leaves and the paste sets into a dense, tightly packed block. Said to have emerged once agar was discovered in the Edo period, it kept well and is said to have spread along post roads as a travel souvenir.