I have to admit I know very little about Japanese candy other than Japanese candy blows ours away. The packaging, the cuteness, the sculpting, the art, the volume... everything. If I could devote a month of study to Japanese candy, I believe I would. And given the difficulty I had researching the basics of Japanese candy, I wish I could.
These "candies" were inspired by
THESE, called "Kyoto Candy." Apparently the artsy candies are popular in Kyoto? The site claims this to be a form of the traditional candy,
dagashi, but I could find little information to suggest this style belongs to the category. You can find more information on dagashi
HERE. Guess I need to visit the
Dagashi museum in Osaka. (If anyone has any more insight, please feel free to send it to me or correct me.) In the interim, check out the wealth of candies available at
Asian Food Grocer. And find tons of pictures of Japanese candy on flickr
HERE. My guess is this style of candy, clearly an artform, is made in cylinders and sliced, similar to sushi art. But that's just a guess.
how to make Japanese candy-inspired marshmallows
you will need:*
mini marshmallows
fondant
rolling pin
wax paper
edible markers
*Find the fondant in the baking aisle of the craft store or make
your own. For the edible markers, while I usually use
Americolor Gourmet Writers, I recommend the
fine-tip FooDoodlers for these. The tips are small enough for such mini drawings. But you can use whatever you have.
what to do:Tint fondant desired colors by kneading a few drops of food coloring into a handful of fondant. Knead very well. (If fondant gets sticky from overhandling, just let sit uncovered for about 15 minutes.) Roll fondant between two pieces of wax paper about 1/8 inch thick. Cut strips 1/2 inch wide and 1 3/4 inch long (the diameter and circumference of the mini marshmallow, respectively). It helps to have a
dough scraper for easy cutting, but a knife works, too. Wrap the marshmallow with fondant using a couple drops of water to seal the edges of the fondant. Draw designs on the marshmallows with edible markers.
Meaghan, that reminds me of Venetian glass millefiori beads of a much earlier time period. The mixed hard candy we got as Christmas as a child also had examples of the technique in sugar. Those pieces always fascinated me.
ReplyDeleteso cute...look like those rolled out lollies. There is a shop called Suga in Melbourne that sells this kind of lollies but hard kind not the fondant ones :D
ReplyDeleteThose are really cute! We can find these in Singapore :))
ReplyDeleteoooh, thanks everyone! Exactly the comments I was hoping (ie to learn more about these candies in the world).
ReplyDeleteOMG! I absolutely love these little things. They are awesome and so cute.
ReplyDeleteOMG - these are the best marshmallows ever.
ReplyDeleteMeaghan, you are so creative! I love these! The colors are just amazing!
ReplyDeleteDenmark has quite a tradition for making this kind of candy as well, you can see a picture here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.butikdalsgaarden.dk/produkter/
wow!
ReplyDeleteyou know what else would work would be to roll out a starburst candy
Fondant I don't get along very well - I need get better using it.
Thanks for taking the time to share this great idea.
The Kyoto candies look as though they are made in the same way as British seaside rock. A Google hunt should show you how that is made. There may even be a YouTube video out there. The process is interesting and fun, but not something you could do at home.
ReplyDeleteSo clever! The Japanese candy reminds me of polymer clay. Some people(not me) use a technique with a small rope of clay(making a design throughout), so that when the clay is sliced the design is seen in each slice:)
ReplyDeleteLove your "candy!"
Wow these take me back... about a fortnight. ;) They sell these at just about every seaside town here (UK), along with the more traditional rock that has the town name written in it.
ReplyDeleteYou're right in that they're made long and sliced - I've seen them making these. They start off HUGE (I mean like in some cases, half a metre diameter depending on what's going to be inside and how detailed it is), and they get rolled and rolled until they get thinner (to about 1cm), then they're cut/broken. :) Some are made to look like slices (orange/lemon/kiwi etc), others have the fruit picture in them. They're tasty. :)
There's a video here of them making some of it in Blackpool, which is known for it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-BLRVST4-8
I remember lollies like this from my childhood, you could get them on sticks as well. You've done a great job making them look absolutley cute and they're sooo easy to make too!
ReplyDeleteSuch fantastic information! Thank you so much, everyone. I had no idea how worldly these treats were.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had an ounce of your awesome creativity.
ReplyDeletei love Japanese trends - especially those little erasers you see everywhere now. these are darling!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - these are simply divine! So glad I stopped in!
ReplyDeletec'est génial, très jolie idée, très orignal, bravo
ReplyDeletevery cute! I just bought some here http://www.bolcheriet.dk/
ReplyDeletethe japanese candy is made out of hard sugar and cut. Have you heard of papabubble? they make them and i think there are videos on the web showing how they do it
ReplyDeletehttp://www.papabubble.com/
Absolutely beautiful! They remind me of sushi!
ReplyDeleteThe do look like those Venetian glass beads. You are very clever, but I've already told you that like a thousand times. I'm also re-posting this one on my food blog this next week. Love it!
ReplyDelete~Jenifer
I had these Japanese candy before,
ReplyDeleteYours look better!
i HAVE been studying japanese candy for years now--and there's still so much to learn. you might want to check out kintaro ame; there was a great trend in japan a few years ago for couples to have candy portraits made as wedding favors.
ReplyDeletehere's my post on visiting a tokyo kintaro ame maker: http://sweet-travel.blogspot.com/2008/10/kintaro-ame.html
if only I liked marshmallow!! they look sooo cute!!
ReplyDelete