Yokan

A Japanese dessert made of red bean paste, sugar, and agar-agar, yokan looks more like a work of art than something you could eat. Usually consumed frozen, this translucent, square shaped sweetmeat has intense colours, and a relatively mild flavour, often with overpowering amounts of sugar. The generous usage of honey and molasses justifies this sweetness. There are essentially two types of yokan, one that is incredibly dense and one that comes with a high percentage of water. The texture of this dessert is often amplified with the help of chestnuts, beans, sweet potato and even figs for that matter. Green tea is often an important ingredient. For those who do not have a sweet tooth, a salty variant of yokan exists.

It might interest you to know that a lot of hotels across Japan offer Yokan as a complimentary snack to the guests upon their arrival. Given the presence of gelatin, you might want to stay away from yokan if you are a vegan. If not, you should give it a try and you might just fall in love with its jelly-like consistency. Unfortunately, it is close to impossible to carry this as a souvenir or a gift owing to the fact that it requires constant refrigeration to last longer periods.
Where to buy: authentic confectionery stores across Japan stock up on yokan in an array of flavours.