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Yōkan
is a wagashi (Japanese confection) made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar. It is usually sold in a block form, and eaten in slices. There are two main types: ''neri yōkan'' and ''mizu yōkan''. "Mizu" means "water", and indicates that it is made with more water than usual. ''Mizu yōkan'' is often chilled and eaten in the summer. Types Although yōkan found in Japan and abroad is typically made with red bean paste, yōkan made from is also relatively common. This type of yōkan is milky and translucent with a much milder flavour than that made of red bean paste. As such, it can be effectively flavoured and coloured by using green tea powder. Yōkan may also contain chopped chestnuts, persimmons, whole sweetened azuki beans, figs, and sweet potato ''(imo yōkan)'', among other additions. Sugar can also be replaced with honey, dark brown sugar, or molasses to alter the taste of the yōkan produced. There is also ''shio yōkan'', which uses small amounts of salt. History O ...
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Red Bean Paste
Red bean paste () or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste or ''anko'' (a Japanese word), is a paste made of red beans (also called "adzuki beans"), used in East Asian cuisine. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or grinding them. At this stage, the paste can be sweetened or left as it is. The color of the paste is usually dark red, which comes from the husk of the beans. In Korean cuisine, the adzuki beans (often the black variety) can also be husked prior to cooking, resulting in a white paste. It is also possible to remove the husk by sieving after cooking, but before sweetening, resulting in a red paste that is smoother and more homogeneous. Etymology In Japanese, a number of names are used to refer to red bean paste; these include , and . Strictly speaking, the term ''an'' can refer to almost any sweet, edible, mashed paste, although without qualifiers red beans are assumed, while refers specifically to the paste made with red beans. Oth ...
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Geng (dish)
''Gēng'' () is type of thick or clear soup found in Chinese cuisine. Its thickening agent is usually starch which makes the soup translucent and smooth. Many soups can be cooked in this way, such as expensive shark fin soup, Madame Song's fish soup (宋嫂魚羹), and corn soup. History Geng dishes have been important in Chinese cuisine since early dynastic China, during or prior to the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC -1046 BC). In the past, the term "geng" was used to refer to any cooked soup or stew, with households serving it daily and for festive events. In modern times, geng dishes consist of different ingredients commonly found in the night markets of Taiwan, and quite commonly in Fujian and Taiwanese cuisine. In Taiwan, the character for geng is sometimes written as "" and sometimes as "". The Lao (, ) and Thai language (, ) terms for curry, stew, or soup, are believed to have been derived from the Middle Chinese pronunciation of ''geng'' (). The Vietnamese term for soup, ...
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Azuki Bean
''Vigna angularis'', also known as the adzuki bean , azuki bean, aduki bean, red bean, or red mung bean, is an annual vine widely cultivated throughout East Asia for its small (approximately long) bean. The cultivars most familiar in East Asia have a uniform red color, but there are also white, black, gray, and variously mottled varieties. Scientists presume ''Vigna angularis'' var. ''nipponensis'' is the progenitor. Origin and diversity Speciation and domestication The wild ancestor of cultivated adzuki bean is probably ''Vigna angularis'' var. ''nipponensis'', which is distributed across Japan, Korea, China, Nepal and Bhutan. Speciation between ''Vigna angularis'' var. ''nipponensis'' and ''Vigna angularis'' var. ''angularis'' occurred around years ago. Archaeologists estimate it was domesticated around 3000 BC. However, adzuki beans (as well as soybeans) dating from 3000 BC to 2000 BC are indicated to still be largely within the wild size range. Enlarged seeds occurred ...
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Gelatin Dessert
Gelatin desserts (also Jelly or Jello) are desserts made with a sweetened and flavoured processed collagen product (gelatin). This kind of dessert was first recorded as jelly by Hannah Glasse in her 18th-century book ''The Art of Cookery'', appearing in a layer of trifle. Jelly is also featured in the best selling cookbooks of English food writers Eliza Acton and Isabella Beeton in the 19th century. They can be made by combining plain gelatin with other ingredients or by using a premixed blend of gelatin with additives. Fully prepared gelatin desserts are sold in a variety of forms, ranging from large decorative shapes to individual serving cups. Popular brands of premixed gelatin include: Aeroplane Jelly in Australia, Hartley's (formerly Rowntree's) in the United Kingdom, and Jell-O from Kraft Foods and Royal from Jel Sert in North America. In the US and Canada this dessert is known by the genericized trademark "jello". History Before gelatin became widely available ...
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Wagashi
are traditional Japanese confections that are often served with green tea, especially the types made of ''mochi'', ''anko'' ( azuki bean paste), and fruit. ''Wagashi'' are typically made from plant-based ingredients. History In Japan, the word for sweets, , originally referred to fruits and nuts. With the increasing sugar trade between China and Japan, sugar became a common household ingredient by the end of the Muromachi period. Influenced by the introduction of tea and ''dim sum'', the creation of wagashi took off during the Edo period in Japan. Types * '' Akumaki'': one of the confections of Kagoshima Prefecture * '' Anmitsu'': chilled agar jelly cubes ('' kanten'') served with sweet red bean paste and fruit * '' Amanattō'': simmered azuki beans or other beans with sugar, and dried—amanattō and nattō are not related, although the names are similar. * '' Botamochi'': a sweet rice ball wrapped with ''anko'' (or ''an'', thick azuki bean paste) * '' Daifuku'': ge ...
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Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ...
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Salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater. The open ocean has about of solids per liter of sea water, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and is known to uniformly improve the taste perception of food, including otherwise unpalatable food. Salting, brining, and pickling are also ancient and important methods of food preservation. Some of the earliest evidence of salt processing dates to around 6,000 BC, when people living in the area of present-day Romania boiled spring water to extract salts; a salt-works in China dates to approximately the same period. Salt was also prized by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, By ...
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Karukan
is a Japanese confection from Kyushu. The origin of the name is "light" (軽) yokan (羹). Originally, ''karukan'' was “saomono gashi” which is a traditional confection in the form of a long block; but “karukan manjū”, which is filled with red bean paste, has become the norm in recent years. Preparation ''Karukan'' is made from ''karukan'' rice flour powder, sugar, and grated Japanese yam. Water is added to the blended ingredients and the mixture is then kneaded and steamed. It is like an elastic white sponge. History ''Karukan'' appeared during the rule of the Satsuma Domain from 1686 to 1715. The factor in the birth of ''karukan'' in Satsuma Domain is that yams, which are the main ingredient of ''karukan'', grow wild and it is easy to get sugar which is made in Ryukyu and the Amami Islands. Another theory says that ''karukan'' was invented in 1854 by a confectioner who was invited by Shimazu Nariakira, the leader of Satsuma Domain. And ''fukuregashi'', a kind of ...
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Uirō
''Uirō'' (Japanese: , , ), also known as , is a traditional Japanese steamed cake made of glutinous rice flour and sugar. It is chewy, similar to ''mochi'', and subtly sweet. Flavors include azuki bean paste, green tea (matcha), ''yuzu'', strawberry and chestnut. Nagoya is particularly famous for its ''uirō'', and there are other regional versions, notably in Yamaguchi and Odawara, although Odawara's ''uirō'' is better known as a medicine. It can be purchased in traditional Japanese confectionery shops throughout Japan. ''Uirō'' was originally the name of a medicine in the Muromachi period (1336–1573). References to ''uirō'' as a confection first appear in the ''Wa-Kan Sansai Zue'', Ryōan Terajima's massive Edo-period dictionary published in 1712. See also *Japanese cuisine *List of steamed foods *''Wagashi are traditional Japanese confections that are often served with green tea, especially the types made of ''mochi'', ''anko'' ( azuki bean paste), an ...
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Edo Period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, perpetual peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo), where on March 24, 1603, the shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, which restored imperial rule to Japan. Consolidation of the shogunate The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's regional '' daimyo''. A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate, which existed with the Tennō's court, t ...
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Muromachi Period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ''shōgun'', Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336) of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga. From a cultural perspective, the period can be divided into the Kitayama and Higashiyama cultures (later 15th – early 16th centuries). The early years from 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period are known as the '' Nanboku-chō'' or Northern and Southern Court period. This period is marked by the continued resistance of the supporters of Emperor Go-Daigo, the emperor behind the Kenmu Restoration. The Sengoku period or Warring States period, which b ...
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Kamakura Period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans. The period is known for the emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste, and for the establishment of feudalism in Japan. During the early Kamakura period, the shogunate continued warfare against the Northern Fujiwara which was only defeated in 1189. Then, the authority to the Kamakura rulers waned in the 1190s and power was transferred to the powerful Hōjō clan in the early 13th century with the head of the clan as regent ( Shikken) under the shogun which became a powerless figurehead. The later Kamakura period saw the invasions of the Mongols in 1274 and again in 1281. To reduce the amount of chaos, the Hōjō rulers decided to decentralize power by allowing two imperial lines – Northern and ...
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