Shio Azuki Ame: Salted Red Bean Candy

The other day, I talked about Japanese salt candies and tablets to prevent heatstroke on hot summer days.

In recent years in Japan, such salt-contained sweet treats have become a fad and are available in many varieties.

Actually, yesterday when I went to a supermarket to buy foodstuffs, an “Ame (飴: hard candy)” product from UHA Mikakuto of that kind drew my interest again,

because it appeared to have a very Japanese taste that couldn’t be seen in countries other than Japan.

UHA Mikakuto Shio Azuki Ame

As a result, for this blog article, I grabbed and bought the item “Shio Azuki Ame (塩あずき飴)”.

As “Shio (塩)” means “salt” in Japanese, “Azuki (あずき, 小豆)” is a red bean, and “Ame (飴)” is the word for “hard candy”, this bag contains individually packed salted red bean candies.

Now, this is the Azuki candy containing a little salt.

According to the description on the back of the package, the salt content is not only useful to replenish salt lost by sweating but also enhances the sweetness of the treat.

In the salted red bean candy, undried, juicy sweet Azuki paste or “Anko (餡子)” is filled.

So with the single piece, you can enjoy two different tastes of Japanese Azuki sweets at a time. 

As the saltiness is muted, the overall taste of this candy is well-balanced.

This treat is delicious with a very Japanese taste as a whole, so it will delight Wagashi lovers. 

Ingredients and Nutrition Facts

Based on the ingredient list and nutrition facts label, this Shio Azuki Ame mainly consists of starch syrup, sugar, Kokuto brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup, Azuki red beans, salt, kombu seaweed extract, and starch.

It has about 19 kcal per piece and contains 0.6 g salt equivalents per 100 grams.