At its core, Japanese desserts are quite simple, being made from glutinous rice, pounded to perfection to a chewy texture encasing a sweet bean filling. Despite the humble ingredients that sometimes add nuts, sugar, and local flora and vegetation, the wagashi or traditional Japanese confections are a sight to behold for the presentation is the cherry on the top. No other place in the world does what they do and Japan serves you a dessert that is straight out of an advertisement, if not better.
Dominated by four seasons– spring, summer, autumn, and winter – the wagashi changes and reflects the current season making the most of seasonal ingredients and using them to flavor the usual rice cake recipe or wheat cake recipe. It might feel that you are eating the same thing in different forms and it is exactly so, but the processing, preparation, and presentation differ and you get a different kind of wagashi made out of the staple ingredients that make up Japanese sweets.
Being an island nation, Japan surprisingly enjoys a continental climate, which is further subdivided into three types. But summers are always humid with extreme heat as bad as chilly winters with snow. Since Japan has an innate ability to appeal to all the senses through its food, especially its desserts, it's no surprise its best desserts are made in the hot summer months.
Summer wagashi primarily consists of agar, a transparent jelly-like substance that is transformed into edible art. The regular ingredients – sweet beans, rice, sugar – are added to the agar to give birth to ‘cool’ looking wagashi and also cool down one’s body and is simply refreshing. As usual, creativity peaks and these desserts take on different motifs from goldfishes to local sceneries of night skies and leaves.
Now that's out of the way, let's get into some refreshing desserts that shed their spring clothing and don airy, light clothing to beat the sweltering and oppressive heat of the summertime sadness.
Also called Kohakhkan in the Kansai region, and Kingyokukan in the Kanto region, it's a kind of boiled wagashi made primarily of kanten (gelatinous red algae) and sugar that has different motifs that are widely used in Japanese summer festivals, like goldfish, the milky way galaxy and waves, or even fireworks. It might remind you of one of those videos where someone traps inedible cute objects in resin, Kingyokukan looks quite similar but unlike the art and craft resin, it is edible. They are tough to make and take an expert dessert artist who knows their way around wagashi.
Mizumanju substitutes the wheat flour steamed bun exterior for the translucent jiggly jelly made from kudzu root (arrowroot), that wraps around the trademark red bean paste interior. Originating in Ogaki during the Edo period, this wagashi takes its name from the city's renowned clear waters that inspired its creation. Kudzu is a thickening agent similar to cornstarch, extracted from the kudzu root that retains its shape and can hold the filling quite well.
A light and refreshing summer treat, Mizu Yokan is the water-based cousin of traditional Japanese yokan sweets. Where regular yokan is dense and stable, Mizu Yokan derives its name ("mizu" meaning water) from its soft, wobbly texture. Made simply from azuki red beans, sugar, and kanten seaweed jelly, Mizu Yokan takes on only as much water as needed to achieve an airy, delicate consistency.
This might be an all-season dessert but it adapts to reflect the season boasting unique designs that reflect the natural beauty of that time. In summer, the bean paste may be a sunflower basking in warm sunshine, a morning glory blossoming with dew, or a peach blushing with ripeness. Other summer motifs include watermelon slices nestled in green leaves, waves lapping at the shore, or even a night sky.
Shaved ice is quite popular during the hot summer months and for generations, its neon-hued mounds have delighted at summer festivals. However, specialty shops now offer innovative seasonal flavors reflecting local specialties and locals and tourists alike flock to these shops from far away for artisanal parlors' creative bowls, beyond basic reds and greens. Regional shops showcase native ingredients like Okinawan mango or Hokkaido sweetfish roe.