Traditional Japanese Sweets in Ogaki

Ogaki is known as the “City of Water.”

　

There are spots all over the city where water constantly springs up naturally—known as “artesian spring.”

People are free to drink the water, and I saw some fill their water bottles with the water from these springs, others fill buckets. Famous locations are in Ogaki Hachiman Shrine, the South Exit Plaza and North Exit Plaza at Ogaki Station, and the southeastern area of Ogaki Castle.

Thanks to this cold groundwater, people used to cool various items with it during the Meiji era, when there were no refrigerators. In an effort to create a Japanese sweet that would be delicious to eat in the summer, they developed “mizu-manju,” made by mixing kudzu starch and warabi starch. It seems warabi starch was added because kudzu starch alone would dissolve when placed in water or lose its translucency if chilled too much.

Mizu-manju is filled with “anko” (sweet red bean paste) inside. In the past, they were made only with sweet bean paste, but today there are also varieties with matcha paste, as well as seasonal fruit-based fillings like lemon and peach. Shaved ice topped with mizu-manju is also popular in summer.

Nowadays, mizu-manju are made at various Japanese sweets shops, but most are prepared in plastic containers. However, at Ogaki’s historical sweets shops, they are made in small sake cups and placed in cold water. It looks refreshing, during the hot summer.

Another Japanese confection that has gained popularity in recent years is “mizunoiro,” which are colorful, almost clear, edible discs.

 Mizunoiro come in many colors, each naturally colored with herbs and other natural ingredients such as hibiscus, rose hips, chamomile, mint, butterfly pea, and lavender. When making mizumauju, the mixture is spread to its thinnest possible limit. The outside is crispy and the inside is chewy. It is a very delicate Japanese confection.

Other famous sweets are sesame crackers, which feature the nutty aroma of miso and sesame seeds, and persimmon yōkan.

Persimmon yōkan was first made in 1838. Persimmon yōkan is made from dried persimmons. At that time, dried persimmons were very valuable. Furthermore, since yōkan was typically made from red bean paste, using fruit was a very new style. Even today, many people buy it as a gift.