Sasa dango
笹団子SweetMay to Jun
Sasa dango suits anyone who wants a Niigata snack for the train, and its one catch is the bamboo leaf, which you peel away and never eat.
Where to eat Sasa dango
- Kaneta souvenir shop
Myoko Tourism lists sasa dango at this shop facing Myoko-Kogen Station.
Sasa dango is a mugwort rice dumpling filled with sweet red bean paste, wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied in a bale shape with sedge string. The agriculture ministry's record says people in central and northern Niigata have made it for about 500 years, and the leaves kept it fresh as a travel food.
Niigata pushed it as the official souvenir of the 1964 national sports festival, and the bale shape now stands for the rice country. Families once filled it with savoury kinpira as an everyday meal.
In Myoko, the old souvenir shop facing Myoko-Kogen Station sells it beside chimaki and nozawana pickles.
Quick answers about Sasa dangoよくある質問
How do you order Sasa dango?
Buy a bundle at a station shop. Untie the string and peel back the leaves before you bite.
When is Sasa dango in season?
Sasa dango: Sold all year; home cooks once made it in early summer and in the spring and autumn mugwort seasons.