is a Japanese dessert

Dessert

In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

 that has been popular since 100 years or more ago.
It is made of small cubes of agar

Agar

Agar or agar-agar is a gelatinous substance derived from a polysaccharide that accumulates in the cell walls of agarophyte red algae. Throughout history into modern times, agar has been chiefly used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Asia and also as a solid substrate to contain culture medium...

 jelly, a white translucent jelly made from red algae or seaweed

Seaweed

Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...

. The agar is dissolved with water (or fruit juice such as apple juice

Apple juice

Apple juice is a fruit juice manufactured by the maceration and pressing of apples. The resulting expelled juice may be further treated by enzymatic and centrifugal clarification to remove the starch and pectin, which holds fine particulate in suspension, and then pasteurized for packaging in...

) to make the jelly. It is served in a bowl with boiled pea

Pea

A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...

s, often gyūhi, Shiratama dango

Dango

is a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko , related to mochi. It is often served with green tea.Dango are eaten year-round, but the different varieties are traditionally eaten in given seasons...

and a variety of fruits such as peach

Peach

The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...

 slices, mikan

Mikan

The satsuma is a seedless and easy-peeling citrus mutant of Japanese origin introduced to the West.In Japan, it is known as mikan or formally unshu mikan . In China, it is known as Wenzhou migan . The Japanese name is a result of the local reading of the same characters used in the Chinese...

, pieces of pineapple

Pineapple

Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...

s, and cherries. The mitsumame usually comes with a small pot of sweet black syrup, or kuromitsu which one pours onto the jelly before eating. Mitsumame is usually eaten with a spoon and fork.

A few variations on this dessert exist. Anmitsu

Anmitsu

is a Japanese dessert that has been popular for many decades.It is made of small cubes of agar jelly, a white translucent jelly made from red algae or seaweed. The agar is dissolved with water to make the jelly...

 is mitsumame with bean paste, the an meaning the sweet azuki bean

Azuki bean

The is an annual vine, Vigna angularis, widely grown throughout East Asia and the Himalayas for its small bean. The cultivars most familiar in north-east Asia have a uniform red color, but white, black, gray and variously mottled varieties are also known. Scientists presume Vigna angularis var...

 paste or anko

Red bean paste

Red bean paste or Azuki bean paste is a sweet, dark red bean paste originating from China. It is used in Chinese cuisine, Japanese confectionery, and Korean cuisine. It is prepared by boiling and mashing azuki beans and then sweetening the paste with sugar or honey...

. Mamekan is mitsumame without fruits. Cream mitsumame is mitsumame with ice cream

Ice cream

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...

 on top. Fruits mitsumame is mitsumame with fruits. Coffee mitsumame is mitsumame with coffee jelly

Coffee jelly

is a popular gelatin dessert in Japan. It has the color and flavor of black coffee, though it is a somewhat translucent gel. It is often cut into cubes and served in a variety of dessert dishes and beverages. Cubes of coffee jelly are sometimes added to milkshakes, at the bottom of an ice cream...

.

History

The prototype of mitsumame is a dessert for children sold to the end of the Edo era. The present type was born in 1903. Anmitsu was born in 1930.