One of Japan's most popular wagashi, or traditional sweets, is yokan. Yokan is a thick, jellied dessert made from sugar, red bean paste, and agar. Recently, yokan have been given a bit of a modern revival with alcohol-fused jelly versions and even artistic versions that reveal a new gorgeous scene with each slice you cut.

Recently in an effort to make yokan a more appealing option to young children, Kameya Yoshinaga, a Kyoto-based confectionary maker of over 200 years, released "sliced yokan"--sheets of yokan and butter that can be melted onto toast like cheese and arranged with other toppings for a tasty breakfast treat. After the sheets became a massive hit with over 120,000 products sold and an Instagram foodie phenomenon, Kameya Yoshinaga is taking things a step further with their new chocolate flavored sliced yokan!

The new "Slice Yokan Cacao" use a mix of yokan made from Tamba Dainagon Azuki beans, which are highly prized for their sweetness and said to be the best in Japan, along with Indian cacao infused yokan. They are topped off with a square of butter sprinkled with Okinawan salt. The sheets are then finished off with poppy seeds and extra nibs of cacao. Kameya Yoshinaga says together the trio of tastes make for a fruity but tart serving yokan that can give your breakfast toast a traditional Japanese sweets boost.

Each slice is cut out by hand and measured out to 2.5mm, which Kameya Yoshinaga concluded after research was the best level of depth to give the slice a long-lasting and rich azuki taste.

Slices are available for 594 yen from Kameya Yoshinaga's retail stores in Japan and online shop.


By - Big Neko.