Anmitsu
Anmitsu grew out of mitsumame — a dish of agar jelly, fruit and syrup known in Japan since the Meiji era. Adding sweet bean paste (an) made it anmitsu, served in Japanese cafés since the first half of the twentieth century and still one of the classic summer desserts. The bowl holds cubes of clear agar jelly, fresh fruit, sweet red bean paste (anko) and dark kuromitsu syrup made from unrefined sugar. Agar jelly is unlike gelatine: it is more brittle, cuts into neat cubes and does not melt in the heat. The dessert is light, entirely plant-based and surprisingly restrained, since all the sweetness comes from the syrup and the paste.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Agar jelly 15 min
- Setting 60 min
- Kuromitsu syrup 15 min
- Assembling 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneDissolve the agar
Whisk the agar into cold water in a pan. Bring to the boil and boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly — agar only dissolves at boiling point, and undissolved agar will not set.
Ingredients: 4 g agar powder · 500 ml water · 20 g sugar
Agar must boil or it will not set.Add the sugar
Add the sugar, stir until dissolved and take off the heat.
Ingredients: 4 g agar powder · 500 ml water · 20 g sugar
Let it set
Pour into a flat dish of about 250 cm² (say 15 × 17 cm) so the layer is about 2 cm deep, and leave it. Agar sets at room temperature in about 40 minutes, but chill it for 60 minutes — cold jelly is firm and cuts cleanly.
Ingredients: 4 g agar powder · 500 ml water · 20 g sugar
Make the syrup
Boil the dark sugar with the water and simmer 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Add the molasses and cool completely.
Ingredients: 120 g dark brown sugar · 100 ml water · 1 tsp molasses (optional, for colour)
Cut the jelly
Turn out the set jelly and cut it into 1.5 cm cubes.
Ingredients: 4 g agar powder · 500 ml water · 20 g sugar
1.5 cm cubes — the classic size.Prepare the fruit
Segment the mandarins and remove the membranes; cut the pineapple into pieces and drain. Fresh mandarins are a winter fruit, so in summer use drained canned segments, as Japanese cafés do.
Ingredients: 160 g sweet red bean paste (anko) · 2 pcs mandarins (out of season: drained canned segments) · 150 g canned pineapple · 4 pcs cherries in syrup (to decorate)
Assemble
Divide the jelly between four bowls, add the fruit and a heaped spoonful of bean paste to each (40 g per serving). Ready-made anko — chunky tsubuan or smooth koshian — comes in 200–500 g tins and pouches from Asian grocers.
Ingredients: 160 g sweet red bean paste (anko) · 2 pcs mandarins (out of season: drained canned segments) · 150 g canned pineapple · 4 pcs cherries in syrup (to decorate)
Pour the syrup
Top with a cherry and pour over the cold syrup just before serving — or bring the syrup in a jug so everyone pours their own.
Ingredients: 120 g dark brown sugar · 100 ml water · 1 tsp molasses (optional, for colour)
Syrup last, straight from the fridge.
Before you start
Agar instead of gelatine
Agar comes from seaweed, so the dessert is vegan. It sets at room temperature and survives the heat, but is more brittle than gelatine. Do not swap them 1:1 — 4 g of agar to 500 ml gives a jelly firm enough to cut into neat cubes, and replaces about 20 g of gelatine. Health-food shops and the baking aisle sell it in 10 g sachets.
With ice cream
The version with a scoop of ice cream is called cream anmitsu — usually vanilla, sometimes green tea. Add the ice cream at the last moment.
Storage
Keep the jelly and syrup separately in the fridge for up to 3 days. Eat the assembled dessert at once — the fruit releases juice and the jelly soaks up syrup and clouds.
