🍱 Decchi Yokan

"Decchi Yokan" is a soft sweet red bean jelly familiar as an ordinal taste of local people in Fukui, and served during cold time as a winter food. The origin of its name is that "decchi" (an apprentice) apprenticed in Kyoto brought "youkan" from there when they came back home in Fukui during the New Year. They re-made ‘yokan' by diluting with water to distribute ‘yokan' to their neighbors. This process made "yokan" soft and eaten in winter when the sugar content was low but not easily damaged. Others says its name came that Japanese confectioneries use the word "decchi-ru", means "to knead ingredients". The characteristic of this sweets is not only to be eaten during winter, but also its size and the way to be eaten. Long ago, there were "Decchi yokan" with breaks sold in a lacquer wooden box at vegetable stores and small-time candy stores, and they scooped it with a spatula along breaks when they ate. The amount of red beans and sugar was less than regular "yokan", it was inexpensive than other Japanese sweets and affordable for ordinally people. Nowadays it is sold in a flat box; the common size of the box is A4 size (21cm x 29.7cm, 8.3 inches x 11.7 inches) with 2cm (0.8 inch) of height.