和三盆・わさんぼん
Wasanbon
A fine sugar that melts on the tongue, made by traditional methods in Tokushima and Kagawa.
Wasanbon is a sugar made in Tokushima and Kagawa prefectures from a native variety of sugarcane called chikuto. The pressed juice is boiled down into shiroshita-to, and then finished by repeating two steps: oshi, pressing out the molasses, and togi, kneading and refining it by hand. The name is said to come from refining it three times on a tray (bon).
Its grains are extremely fine; it melts away the moment you put it in your mouth, and a gentle, mellow sweetness spreads. It leaves no heavy aftertaste.
Higashi (dry sweets) made by pressing wasanbon alone in wooden molds go wonderfully with matcha. It is also used to sweeten high-quality wagashi.
Column — Wagashi Travel To the Home of Awa Wasanbon Read the column (Japanese)
