Melonpan
Encyclopedia
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, but also popular in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. They are made from an enriched dough covered in a thin layer of crisp cookie dough. Their appearance resembles a melon, such as a rock melon (cantaloupe
Cantaloupe
"Rockmelon" redirects here, for the band see Rockmelons. See also Cantaloupe .Cantaloupe refers to a variety of Cucumis melo, a species in the family Cucurbitaceae which includes nearly all melons and squashes. Cantaloupes range in size from...
). They are not traditionally melon flavored, but in recent times it has become popular for manufacturers to add melon to melon bread. Variations exist, including some with a few chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
chips between the cookie layer and the enriched dough layer, and non-melon versions flavored with caramel, maple syrup, chocolate, or other flavors, sometimes with syrup, whipped or flavored cream, or custard as a filling. In the case of such variations, the name may drop the word "melon" ("maple pan") or may keep it despite the lack of melon flavor ("chocolate melon pan").
The name has a bilingual etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
, since melon is a loan word from English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, while pan
Japanese words of Portuguese origin
Many Japanese words of Portuguese origin entered the Japanese language when Portuguese Jesuit priests introduced Christian ideas, Western science, technology and new products to the Japanese during the Muromachi period ....
is from the Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
word for bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
.
In parts of the Kinki, Chuugoku, and Shikoku regions a variation with a radiating line pattern is called "sunrise", and many residents of these regions call even the cross-hatched melon pan "sunrise".
Melonpan and pineapple bun
Pineapple bun
A pineapple bun is a kind of sweet pastry popular in Hong Kong, Macau, some other areas in southern China, and in various Chinese communities around the world. They can also be found in bakeries in Taiwan or Toronto. It is known in Cantonese as bo lo baau, in which "bo lo" means "pineapple", and...
from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
are very similar. By comparison the Japanese style is lighter in weight and taste, slightly dryer and has a firmer outer layer (including top cookie crust) which resists to flaking unlike its Hong Kong counterpart which should be treated with care as the top cookie crust tends to flake easily. The Hong Kong version is also more moist and is generally soft on the outside and inside and has a stronger butter flavour.
In popular culture
- In the popular Japanese children's animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Soreike! Anpanman, Anpanman has a sidekick named Melonpanna who is a heroine with a melon bread bun for a head. - The Japanese game show Hey! Spring of TriviaHey! Spring of TriviaHey! Spring of Trivia is the name given by Spike TV to the show a Japanese variety show on Fuji TV.-Concept:"Trivia" consists of a series of video segments that introduce and confirm the validity of unusual trivia. Past trivia has included exploding erasers, spiders affected by caffeine, and...
hands out an award labeled The Golden Brain to the most interesting piece of trivia presented. The award is a small brain figurine on a pedestal; doors on the trophy open out to reveal melon bread that accompanies the prize. - In the Japanese mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Yakitate!! JapanYakitate!! Japanis a manga, authored by Takashi Hashiguchi, serialized in Shogakukan's Shōnen Sunday, which has been adapted into a television anime series by Sunrise. The manga has spanned 25 tankōbon volumes, as of January, 2007, while the weekly serialization of the manga has ended as of January 10, 2007...
, newcomers to the bread chain Pantasia participate in a melonpan competition. It is explained that melonpan has a flaw: the cookie dough and the bread bake at different rates, and because of this the cookie dough covering is almost always underbaked so that the bread inside will not burn. - In Treasure's video game Gunstar HeroesGunstar Heroesis a run and gun video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega.Treasure's debut game was originally released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in late 1993, and later on, ported to the Game Gear by M2. On February 23, 2006, Gunstar Heroes was released as part of the Gunstar Heroes: Treasure...
and its sequel, Gunstar Super Heroes, one of the bosses is inexplicably named "Melon Bread" despite appearing as a giant, disembodied face. - In Azumanga DaiohAzumanga Daiohis a Japanese comedy manga by Kiyohiko Azuma. It was serialized by MediaWorks in the shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh from 1999 to 2002 and collected in four bound volumes...
, Osaka seems to prefer melon bread over other types of bread. - In DearSDearSis a manga series co-written and illustrated by Banri Sendo and Shibuko Ebara, credited under their pen name Peach-Pit. It was serialized monthly by MediaWorks in their magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! from March 2002 to December 17, 2005 and was later published into a ten volume set by the company. The...
, Ren, one of the main characters, has an appetite that consists of nothing but melon bread, and many other Dears have a love of melon bread. Miu and Nya are examples, implied by Miu's love of an awful dish made of boiled melon bread, and Nya's inability to remember, much less do, her job after eating melonpan. - In Shakugan no ShanaShakugan no Shana, also known simply as Shana, is a Japanese light novel series written by Yashichiro Takahashi, with illustrations by Noizi Ito. The series includes 25 novels released between November 2002 and October 2011 published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint...
, Shana, the female lead, is especially fond of melon bread.