Guide to Noto’s Satoyama and Satoumi (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) by Photos and Movies
Name
Soybean Candy
Address
Nanao City
Category
Agriculture、Forestry and Fisheries
Class
Comment
This soft, primitive candy is made of soybean flour and starch syrup. A specialty of Nanao, it is sold at Japanese-sweet shops and often made at home. Soybean candy has been popular since the Middle Ages; in the Kamakura period, the estate steward of Noto, Nobutsura Hasebe, presented it to the shogun Yoritomo Minamoto, and in the Azuchi Momoyama period, the lord Toshiie Maeda presented it to Hideyoshi Toyotomi. It lasts long at room temperature, and is very nutritious; therefore, the sailors of the Kitamae merchant ships kept it as an emergency food from the late Edo period through the Meiji period. Many people love its tender sweetness. The local residents are trying to make it a brand-name product of the area as a traditional sweet. The Nanao Sweetshop Association is making the same candy as the one presented to Hideyoshi, using the same ingredients and methods as in the olden days.
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