gelidium jelly strips (made from agar-agar)（Tokoroten (tokoroten)
The agar is extracted by boiling the seaweed, poured into a mold, cooled and hardened, then placed in a “tokoro-ten-pusher” and pushed out to form a string. It is eaten with vinegar and soy sauce or nihaizu (vinegar and soy sauce), and garnished with hot spices. It is a common summer delicacy. There are various theories about the origin of amakusa, but one theory is that the process of boiling and melting amakusa was introduced by Japanese envoys to China during the Tang Dynasty. Amakusa was originally called “korumoha” or “kokorofuto,” and the food itself was initially called “kokorofuto. By the Edo period (1603-1867), it was called “Tokoroten” as we know it today. Incidentally, the same type of natural grass, when frozen and dried, is called “agar-agar.
