Ita karintō

Characteristics of "karintō" that exist in each region

Choueido is a Japanese confectionery shop in Yamagata Prefecture with a long history of more than 130 years in business, famous for its traditional sweets made from green peas called “Fuki-mame“. This time, I bought “Ita Karintō” made by Choeido.

Karintō itself is popular all over Japan, but there are some regional characteristics.

Kanto region karintō … Relatively soft and light in texture, with plenty of air in the dough.
Kansai region karintō … Hard and chewy.
Tohoku region karintō … Not in the shape of a stick but in the shape of a disc, similar to a rice cracker.

The “Ita karintō” made by Choeido is a karintō with the same characteristics as those of karintō from the Tohoku region.

The brown sugar layer on the surface is like candy, but the karintō dough inside is light and soft in texture.

I like that the rice cracker shaped karintō is reasonably thin and can be broken into pieces. It is nice to be able to eat a little bit of the rich sweetness of karintō. It is also fun to compare karintō with those unique to each region.