Kanten and Kuzu
Our look at the essentials of wagashi traditional Japanese confectionery focuses here on kanten agar-agar and kuzu.
Wagashi confectionery reflects the sensibility of the changing seasons, and ingredients such as kanten agar-agar and kuzu are used to evoke the clarity and coolness of water in the summer. Although both have textures similar to gelatin, they are plant-based: kanten is derived from seaweed and kuzu from the roots of the Japanese arrowroot vine, known also as kudzu.
Kanten
Seaweed such as tengusa red algae is boiled until dissolved, then repeatedly frozen and dried to produce kanten. Dried kanten comes in stick, strand and powdered forms. When making wagashi, it is dissolved in boiling water then allowed to set at room temperature, upon which it retains its shape with a jelly-like texture. Fiber-rich and virtually calorie-free, neutral-tasting kanten mixes well with a wide range of flavors. Kanten-based wagashi include firm jellied yokan made of kanten and an sweet bean paste; kohakuto, a semi-translucent sugar confection known as “edible jewels”; and anmitsu, cubed kanten jelly topped with an sweet bean paste, fruit and brown sugar syrup.
Kuzu
Kuzu starch is obtained from roots of the Japanese arrowroot, or kudzu. Traditional hon-kuzu, pure kudzu starch, is made from thick wild roots foraged after decades of growth. These are crushed and soaked in water and repeatedly rinsed to extract the starch, which is allowed to settle and dry. This labor-intensive process can produce only a small amount at a time, thus most commercially available kuzu is blended with other starches such as potato starch. Dissolved in water and heated, kuzu becomes a translucent gel; cooled, it forms into a jelly-like solid with an elastic texture and smooth mouthfeel. This is used to make kuzu-kiri translucent noodles served with brown sugar syrup, and kuzu-manju, a summer sweet of an paste wrapped in kuzu-based gel.
