One of the most famous sweets in the Tohoku area is zunda. It is spread all over the Tohoku, but especially famous in Sendai, which is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture. Have you ever heard of it? If not, you may want to know before you visit there.
By the way, “Three most famous thing in Sendai” is beef tongue, sasa kamaboko, and zunda mochi (zunda with rice cake).
Zunda and Anko
Do you know what “An” or “Anko” is? It is a sweet spread or paste made from beans. The most common anko is made from red beans called azuki, but there are various kinds other than that. Zunda is one of those. It is made from green soybeans (edamame).
Edamame
Various Theories of Zunda
There are some different theories show reasons why it came to be called zunda.
The most famous one is like this:
The word “Zunda” is made with two words, “Zu” and “Da”. “Zu” means beans, and “Da” means to beat. Green soybeans are harder than other beans so you need to beat them first to crush when you make zunda, that is why it is called zunda.
Statue of Masamune Date in Aobayama Park
Another one is:
In the 16th or 17th century, there was a famous lord of Sendai area whose name was Masamune Date. One time he was on a battlefield, he made zunda with his “Jindachi”, which is a long sword, and served to others zunda with mochi. As others saw that sight and they started to call it “Jindachi Mochi” and it has slowly changed to “Zunda” with the times.
The last one is:
There was a man called “Jinta” in Sendai in the time of Masamune Date lived. He tried to make delicious food as a gift to lord Date and created zunda. He gifted it to him serving with mochi, and people who saw that started to call the mochi “Jinta Mochi”, then it has gradually changed to “Zunda Mochi”.
Which one is the truth? Well, God only knows. Anyway, you can see zunda is invented a very long time ago, however, it is very popular until now. Recently so many patissiers have created their original sweets with zunda such as roll cake, ice creams, crepes, cookies, smoothies, etc. other than mochi or dango. People transformed zunda into tons of different sweets which shows us how much they love zunda.
The Recommended Place to Enjoy Zunda
If you feel like trying some of them, you should visit “Zunda Saryo”. (“Saryo” means Café in the old Japanese word.) The shop offers many kinds of sweets made with zunda, of course including traditional styled zunda mochi. Besides, they sell frozen zunda mochi so that you can bring it back to your house or hotel. They have 12 branches in Japan. You can find their shops in Sendai Station, Sendai Airport, or even in Tokyo and Osaka. By visiting them, you can see how zunda has evolved and it is loved by the locals.