Konpeito - “Star Candies”

The word “konpeito” comes from the Portuguese word confeito, which means a sugar candy. It was introduced to Japan somewhere around the 16th century by Portuguese traders. The infrastructure and refining technology of sugar had not yet been established in Japan in those days. As konpeito uses a lot of sugar, it was very rare and expensive as a result. In 1569, Luís Fróis, a Portuguese missionary, presented a flask of konpeito to Oda Nobunaga in order to obtain the permit for mission work of Christianity.

In Meiji period, konpeito had already been culturally-prescribed as one of the standards of Japanese sweets - the character Sugar Plum Fairyin the Nutcracker was translated into konpeito no sei (Japanese: 金平糖の精, Fairy of konpeito). Konpeito is also the standard of the thank-you-for-coming gift which is given by the Imperial House of Japan. The gift is not called konpeito but pomponiere (Japanese: ポンポニエール,pomponieru) including the top case.

Konpeito is usually 5 to 10 mm (0.20 to 0.39 in) in diameter. Each piece is covered with tiny bulges, which occur in the cooking process. It usually takes 7-10 days to make konpeito and they are handmade even today. Konpeito is made by showering sugar water in a giant spinning tub called dora. This forming process is a topic in molecular engineering, as these bulges would not form if the tub spun faster.