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The sweet-potato yokan (Japanese confection) is similar to, but not the same as, normal yokan (from red bean paste). To be more precise, although sweet potato yokan is a derivative of the normal yokan, its quality as confectionery is far inferior to that of normal yokan.
If anyone is familiar with historical novels and dramas of the past, it goes without saying that jelly was a highly prized luxury item in pre-modern times.
This Japanese confectionery, a mass of sugar and red beans, was a coveted sweet in an age when people were starved for sweetness. In the Edo period, especially in the first half of the Edo period, it was an unspoken agreement that even if it was served to guests as tea cakes, the guests were never to eat it, and since it lasted for a long time, it was used over and over again until it was just before it went bad when the owner could finally taste it. Even before and during the war, when the shogunate was replaced by the imperial government and time had progressed further, yokan was the envy of soldiers in the army as the most popular sweet.
And the substitute for this yokan is sweet-potato yokan. It is said that it started by reusing sweet potatoes, which were a relief crop instead of expensive red beans, and which were classified as discarded sweet potatoes. It is said that not a few common people ate sweet potato yokan instead of red bean yokan because it did not last long and was cheaper than red bean yokan.
... By the way, the sweet potatoes of modern Japan of the previous generation are sweet and tasty thanks to improved cultivation, but those of the Edo period and during the war were produced with an emphasis on production volume and the taste was of secondary importance, so do not expect the same taste from the low-quality wastes of those countries. The same applies to vegetables and other grains. This is where the stereotyped images of old people hating potatoes, believing in white rice, and thinking that carrots and green peppers are bitter and tasteless come from. The development of civilization is great, isn't it?
Well, I have disgraced sweet potato yokan with such a scathing remark, but of course, it is relative. Sweet things are sweet, although they are lower in quality than red bean yokan, and if I did not live in an age when sugar was available everywhere and anytime, even sweet potato yokan would be highly valued enough to be impressed by it. And even more so for those who know sweetness only in the form of fruits. What I am trying to say is...
[collapse] you can give it a read. Just don't expect too much. It often felt more of a chore to get through the chapters than anything else.
