Hard to melt ice cream attracts customers
11:49 JST, September 6, 2022
Ice cream that barely melts even in the summer heat is unique to Kinoto Manjuya, a long-established confectionery shop in Tainai, Niigata Prefecture. Since its establishment in the Edo period (1603-1867), the store has been selling traditional Kinoto manju sweet buns kneaded with rice koji malt.
In an attempt to cultivate new demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, the shop began selling Ottegi ice cream made from locally produced rice flour.
The ice cream bar was left out in the store with a room temperature of 28.6 C for 30 minutes —much longer than intended — when workers tried to figure out when it was ready to eat, but it hardly melted and kept its shape even when lifted by its stick.
The ice cream went viral on social media after the shop posted about its solidity. Kneading rice flour into the ice cream makes it less likely to melt, according to Kinoto Manjuya. At its peak, the shop has sold more than 100 ice cream bars per day.
"Features" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
Cherry Blossoms Draw Crowd to Tokyo’s Ueno Park; Viewing Season Kicks Off to Slow Start
-
Famous Weeping Cherry Tree in Full Blossom in Fukushima Pref. Town
-
Furano Increasingly Becoming the Cool Place to Be for Foreign Skiers; International Visitors Drawn to Powder Snow
-
Traditional Japanese Knife Store in Tokyo’s Ningyocho District Dates to Edo Period
-
Tokyo Cherry Trees Declared to Be in Bloom; Someiyoshino Sakura Blossom 15 Days Later than Last Year
JN ACCESS RANKING
- M6.0 Earthquake Hits Japan’s Tohoku Region; Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi Prefectures Observe 4 on Japanese Scale With No Risk of Tsunami
- Cherry Blossoms Draw Crowd to Tokyo’s Ueno Park; Viewing Season Kicks Off to Slow Start
- China Mutes Memorialization of Reformer Hu Yaobang; Memories Could Spark Critique of Xi Administration
- Shinkansen Services Suspended After Man ‘Searches for Phone’ on Tracks; Disruption Affects About 14,000 Passengers
- Whaling Mother Ship Built in Japan for 1st Time in 73 Years