Ukai-Senbei

A fine sponge cake-flavored rice cracker with a texture that melts in your mouth.

“Ukai-Senbei” , a rice cracker made by Nagaraen, a long-established confectionery store established in 1953 in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, was given to us.  Gifu is famous for Ukai, meaning cormorant fishing and the product is named after it.

The rice cracker reflects the tradition of cormorant fishing which is appointed as an important intangible folk cultural asset of Gifu.  This has been presented to the imperial family.

The rice cracker is shaped like a cormorant basket ( a keeping basket to put comorants after they are used)  , and the silhouette of cormorants is drawn in the fine, smooth texture of the rice cracker.

Eggs and flour are the main ingredients of this simple cracker. The egg named Momiji Egg brand, comes from pure domestic chickens, and flour are all from their local farmers.  The confectionary fully uses advantages of the full potentail of Gifu.

It has texture of  crispy and melt-in-your-mouth sponge cake flavor. The texture is so mysteriously unraveling and we can see the texture quite similar to a sponge cake.  When we take a closer look at the cross section,

It is a very fine dough with plenty of air. The delicate and light texture is probably because of this structure. The texture is unexpected from such a thin rice cracker, and  can sense the skill of the confectioner.

They serve 2 sizes of packages, one includes 24 pcs and the other includes 12 pcs.  They have a sponge cake flavor that melts easily and is so delicious.  We can devour it at once and everyone would appreciate with the gentle sweetness and the texture.  That would be a perfect souvenir to take with when we go to see the cormorant fishing in Nagara River.