For centuries, the Japanese have celebrated the delicate flavor and natural jelling ability of kanten. Currently most kanten / Agar Agar is made by a high-tech process, using ammonia bleaches and chemical solvents. Mitoku Kanten is made by the traditional snow-dried method. Several prized red sea vegetables / seaweeds are harvested in the fall, sun-dried, then bundled and taken to the Mizoguchi family in the mountains of Nagano to be made into Kanten. During the cold winter months, the seaweeds are cooked down for hours in a huge caldron. The gelatin is cooled and cut into bars, then arranged or bamboo trays and set outside on snow-covered paddies. For two weeks, they freeze each night and thaw each day until they are completely dry. The crisp, porous, feather-like bars are then shaved into fine flakes or packaged as is.
Light and refreshingly cool, natural "jell-o" made with fruit, juice and kanten are especially popular in summer. In any season Kanten can be used with vegetables and stock to make molded aspics. It is used in Japan as an indispensable aid for beauty and health, as it is rich in calcium and iron and loaded with natural iodine!
Ingredients: Ingredients: sea vegetable agar: red algae (Tengusa, Gelidium amansii, & Ogo-nori, Gracilaria verrucosa).
