Kintaro Ame: Candy Wherever Sliced His Face Appears

Have you ever heard of a traditional Japanese hard candy stick made so that the same pattern appears wherever sliced?

In Japan, we generally call the cylindrical candy stick Kintaro Ame (金太郎飴).

Kintaro Ame (金太郎飴)

Image: Wikipedia

Kintaro Ame originated from a candy called Genroku Ame (元禄飴), whose origin dates back to the middle of the Edo period (江戸時代: 1603 – 1868).

In the name, Kintaro (金太郎) is the name of the main character of a famous Japanese folk tale, while Ame (飴) refers to a hard candy in this case.

From this, Kintaro Ame originally refers to the cylindrical candy stick where Kintaro’s face definitely appears in the cross-section.

However, nowadays, many variations of Kintaro Ame with various patterns (ranging from Chinese characters to animal faces) can be seen in the market.

Making

Kintaro Ame uses sugar and starch syrup as its main ingredient, whose making requires special techniques not seen in the production process of ordinary hard candies.

In fact, the Kintaro Ame candy in the video above consists of several parts of colored candy pastes.

Kintaro Ame Honten (金太郎飴本店)

Image: asakusamatsuri.com

As for the originator, it is Kintaro Ame Honten (金太郎飴本店), a Tokyo-based confectionery shop with over 120 years of history that has the registered trademark of Kintaro Ame.

In addition to Kintaro Ame, the shop carries a variety of traditional Japanese sweets, such as Chitose Ame (千歳飴) and Okina Ame (翁飴), so it’s a recommended shop where you can get nice Tokyo souvenirs.

Shop Information

• Address: 5-16-12 Negishi, Taito-Ku, Tokyo (Google Maps)
• Open: 9:00 to 17:00
• Closed: Saturdays (Irregular), Sundays, National holidays