mizuame

{{short description|Japanese starch-based sweetener}}

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{{Infobox food

| name = {{transliteration|ja|Mizuame}}

| image = Mizuame 001.jpg

| image_size = 300px

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| country = Japan

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| type = Sweetener

| served =

| main_ingredient = Glutinous rice and malt or potatoes

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{{nihongo3|literally "water candy", also known as millet jelly|水飴|Mizuame}} is a sweetener from Japan. A clear, thick, sticky liquid, it is made by converting starch to sugars. {{transliteration|ja|Mizuame}} is added to {{transliteration|ja|wagashi}} to give them a sheen, eaten in ways similar to honey, and can be a main ingredient in sweets. Some {{transliteration|ja|mizuame}} are produced in a very similar fashion to corn syrup and are very similar in taste.

Two methods are used to convert the starches to sugars. The traditional method is to take glutinous rice mixed with malt, and let the natural enzymatic process take place, converting the starch to syrup{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Mizuame|date=2002|encyclopedia=The Penguin companion to food|publisher=Penguin books|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/penguincompanion0000davi/page/611/mode/1up|access-date=2021-04-28|last=Davidson|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Davidson (food writer)|orig-year=1999|page=611|language=en|isbn=0-14-051522-4}} which consists mainly of maltose.{{Cite journal|title=(T.D.40064) Mizuame – Glucose|journal=Treasury decisions under customs and other laws|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32437011695406&view=1up&seq=350|hdl=2027/osu.32437011695406?urlappend=%3Bseq=349|volume=45|pages=339–341|via=HathiTrust|publisher=United States Department of the Treasury|year=1924|location=Washington|language=en|hdl-access=free}} The second and more common method is acid hydrolysis of potato starch or sweet potato starch by adding acid, such as hydrochloric, sulfuric or nitric acids, to make glucose syrup. If done by the first method, the final product, known as {{nihongo||麦水飴|mugi mizuame}}, is considered more flavorful than the acid version.