Yōkan
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Italic title Template:Infobox prepared food Template:Nihongo is a wagashi 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. Template:Transliteration means "water", and indicates that it is made with more water than usual. Mizu yōkan is usually chilled and eaten in the summer, however in Fukui prefecture it is customarily eaten in winter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Types
Although yōkan found in Japan and abroad is typically made with red bean paste, yōkan made from Template:Nihongo 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,<ref>栗子羊羹 at 搜搜问问 wenwen.soso.com in Chinese</ref> 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.
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Azuki bean paste yōkan
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Green tea yōkan
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Chestnut yōkan
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Sweet potato yōkan
History
During the Kamakura period (1185–1333), Japanese Buddhist monks who studied in the Song dynasty brought the tea culture to Japan, and the custom of eating confections with tea began in Japan. The monks also introduced Template:Nihongo3, a light meal, and the history book Template:Nihongo3 mentions Template:Nihongo3, Template:Nihongo3, and Template:Nihongo3 as Template:Nihongo3. However, the manjū and yōkan brought to Japan by the monks were not sweets as we know them today, but were prepared in a completely different way.<ref name="ndl1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Yōkan comes from the Chinese word yang geng (羊羹 "sheep geng"), which is a type of mutton soup. But since there was no custom of eating animal meat in Japan, the Japanese replaced the meat with a paste made of kneaded barley or azuki bean flour. Later, the soup was removed and replaced with a pasty confection made of barley or azuki bean flour. Finally, around 1800, during the Edo period (1603–1868), 500 years later, yōkan became what it is today.
The invention of Template:Nihongo3 in the 1600s was essential to the birth of modern yokan. Later, the kanten invented in Japan was introduced to Manchuria, Korea and Taiwan.<ref name="jwa1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Yōkan is used as an ingredient in other foods, such as "Siberia", a type of castella cake.
Gallery
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"Siberia", a type of castella cake with yōkan
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Chestnut and sweet potato yōkan
See also
References
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