Raindrop cake is a

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and ...

made of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

and

agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...

that resembles a large

raindrop A drop or droplet is a small column of liquid, bounded completely or almost completely by free surfaces. A drop may form when liquid accumulates at the lower end of a tube or other surface boundary, producing a hanging drop called a pendant d ...

. It first became popular in

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 ...

in 2014 and later gained international attention.

History

In Japan the dessert is known as ''mizu shingen mochi'' (水信玄餅). The dish is an evolution of the Japanese dessert ''shingen mochi'' ( 信玄餅). Shingen mochi was developed in the 1960s and inspired by the locally made '' abekawa mochi'' ( 安倍川餅) which is traditionally eaten during

Obon festival or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...

in Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. Shingen mochi, like abekawa mochi, is a rice cake ( ''mochi'') covered with ''kinako'' (roasted soybean flour) and brown sugar syrup. It is named after

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

a famous

daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally ...

who ruled over Yamanshi during the

Sengoku era The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various ...

. He is said to have used mochi which consisted of rice flour and sugar as an emergency ration during the warring periods.

Mizu shingen mochi

Kaikomagatake from kurisawayama 1998 10 11

Kinseiken came up with the idea of mizu shingen mochi. The company is located in Hakushu, Yamanashi which is known for its fresh mineral water. The area is one of the largest producers of mineral water in Japan. '' Mizu'' (水) means water and ''shingen mochi'' (信玄餅) is a type of sweet

rice cake A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten and are particularly preval ...

(mochi) made by the Kinseiken company. The year prior in 2013, the creator wanted to explore the idea of making edible water. The dessert became a viral sensation and people made special trips to the region to experience the dish. Darren Wong introduced the dish to the United States in New York City at the April 2016

Smorgasburg Smorgasburg is an open-air food market that originated in Williamsburg, Brooklyn next to the East River. It takes place every Saturday in an empty lot. The name Smorgasburg is a portmanteau of “Smörgåsbord” and “Williamsburg.” Dozens of ...

food fair. Shortly after, London restaurant Yamagoya worked four months to develop another version. The dessert is also sold in kits to be made at home.

Description

The dish is made from

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases. Tra ...

and

; thus, it has virtually no

calorie The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...

s. The water of the original dish is obtained from

Mount Kaikoma is a mountain of the Akaishi Mountains, located on the border of Hokuto in Yamanashi Prefecture, and Ina in Nagano Prefecture, in the Chūbu region of Japan. Geography The peak is in elevation.

of the Southern Japanese Alps, and it has been described as having a mildly sweet taste. Agar is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

alternative to

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

that is made from

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

. After heating the water and agar, the liquid is molded and cooled. A

molasses Molasses () is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, method of extraction and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and flavour foods ...

-like syrup, called ''

kuromitsu is a Japanese sugar syrup. It is similar to molasses, but thinner and milder. It is typically made from unrefined (muscovado sugar), and is a central ingredient in many Japanese sweets. It is one of the ingredients used in making , and is eate ...

'', and soybean flour, called ''

kinako ''Kinako'' ( or ) is roasted soybean flour, a product commonly used in Japanese cuisine. In English, it is usually called "roasted soy flour". More precisely it is "roasted whole soy flour". Usage of the word ''kinako'' appeared in cookbooks fr ...

'', are used as toppings. The dish appears like a transparent raindrop, although it has also been compared to

breast implant A breast implant is a prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast. In reconstructive plastic surgery, breast implants can be placed to restore a natural looking breast following a mastectomy, to correct congenital ...

s and

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

. The largely tasteless dessert melts when it enters the mouth and must be eaten immediately, or it will melt and begin to

evaporate Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidi ...

after twenty minutes.

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline, Raindrop cake Japanese desserts and sweets

History

Mizu shingen mochi

Description

See also

References

External links