Have you had enough persimmons yet? If you’ve spent anytime in southern Nara, met someone from southern Nara, or even just heard about southern Nara in the past few months, there is a good chance that you’ve heard about our specialty, persimmons! If you haven’t received them or eaten them, you have probably at least seen them. While I am always happy to have a few more persimmons around, I was pleasantly surprised to find them transformed into a traditional snack at a local sweet shop.

The Kaki-an-dama, or “persimmon-bean paste-ball”, is a sweet little snack that brings together two of the foods that southern Nara is most famous for. In addition to persimmons, it uses the Yoshino region’s famous kudzu, powder ground from the roots of kudzu plants. Combined with white bean paste into small sugar-coated balls, they are soft and doughy like many traditional bean paste snacks, but perhaps a tad bit sweeter.

Just like persimmons, kudzu, and the numerous snacks they’re in, the Kaki-an-dama is a quick, delicious introduction to the traditional culture of southern Nara. Though they are made down here in Yoshino Town, you can probably find them in other parts of Nara too, so please keep an eye out!