Senbei - rice crackers

Japanese: 煎餅 - せんべい

Among the dried sweets, there is the baked dane. Wheat flour, non-glutinous rice, or glutinous rice powder is mixed with sugar to make a thick dane juice, which is poured into an iron baking mold and baked. Shio senbei is also made by pounding non-glutinous rice or glutinous rice, flattening it, cutting it into a round shape, drying it, brushing soy sauce on both sides, and baking it.

The word "senbei" can be found in the section on Chinese sweets in the Engishiki. It is thought to have been a food since the Nara period, but the Wamyōshō reads it as "irimochi" and describes it as wheat flour fried in oil. It is assumed to have been a sweet similar to today's fried rice crackers. There is a legendary story about the arrival of rice crackers in China, and when Kukai traveled to China and was entertained by Junzō, among the foods he was offered were rice crackers shaped like a hexagon. These rice crackers were not fried in oil like the 14 types of fruit crackers that already existed in Japan, and had a very light taste. Kukai learned this method and passed it on to the villagers living at the foot of Mount Ogura in Kyoto after returning to Japan. It is said that this is the origin of turtle shell rice crackers. The Chinese "Jingchu Suijiki" (Records of the Years of Jingchu) states on the seventh day of the first month that "On this day, people in the north eat rice crackers. They make them in the garden and call them 'Kunbi' (fragrant fire)." It is not clear whether this rice cracker was the Chinese confectionery 'Irimochi' or had a form similar to Kamenoko rice crackers. The method of kneading flour and baking it is extremely ancient, and the practice of baking dumpling-shaped rice crackers and eating them was already widespread during the Yayoi culture period. The method of making rice crackers today, of baking the rice crackers in a thin shape that cooks easily, was not introduced by Kukai, but it is reasonable to assume that it existed before the deep-fried 'Irimochi'. However, this prototype of rice crackers was merely a staple food. It was only after the Muromachi period that rice crackers became a confectionery to be eaten between meals, and many specialty rice crackers were born during the Edo period.

The method of making senbei did not develop much from ancient times until the mid-Edo period. Rice cracker dough was made by rolling it thinly and cutting it into circular, square or tortoiseshell shapes, then baking each piece over charcoal. From the mid-Edo period onwards, iron castings became cheap enough that senbei makers could order baking molds from foundries, and baking molds were made that had two iron plates in the shape of a circle, a square, a tortoiseshell or a tile that opened and closed with the tips of two handles like scissors. The craftsmen who operated these baking molds and baked senbei were called senbei makers. Like the hanging craftsmen who made konpeito (candy), many senbei makers were travelling tradesmen and were also called iterative craftsmen, but senbei makers who employed skilled craftsmen became popular among the public and created famous senbei.

Senbei were fried foods given as offerings in the Nara period, but they were only eaten by the aristocracy and high priests. Senbei-type snacks such as arare, kakimochi, and hegimochi were originally salty, and it can be said that it was not until the appearance of karinto at the end of the Edo period that edible oil and rice crackers were associated as "sweets for the common people." In the Edo period, rice crackers were made by mixing wheat flour with sugar, kneading it, and baking it in a mold or rolling it up and baking it. For higher-end products, rice crackers containing egg yolk were also made. Since then, and up to the present day, methods have been devised to mechanize baking molds and add ingredients such as sesame, poppy, walnuts, peanuts, horse chestnuts, and miso, resulting in the creation of a wide variety of rice crackers. However, salted rice crackers were considered a low-class product and did not belong in the rice cracker family.

[Fumio Sawa]

Salted rice crackers

Salt rice crackers first appeared when farmers in the suburbs of Edo roasted and steamed leftover rice, mixed it with salt, pressed it into round shapes in bamboo tubes, dried it in the sun, and baked it over charcoal, but it is hard to imagine that the leftover rice was cooked rice. It would have been a pretty humble snack. Soy sauce was added to salt rice crackers, and they became the product we know today after 1645 (Shoho 2), when Hamaguchi Gihei of Kishu (Wakayama Prefecture) began producing soy sauce in Choshi (Chiba Prefecture). Machiya, Senju, Kanamachi, Shibamata, and Soka, which were close to Edo, prospered as salt rice cracker producing areas. Soka, which was also a post town on the Oshu Kaido road, became particularly famous, and Soka rice crackers became so popular that they became the representative salt rice cracker. Salt rice crackers were rarely made in the Kansai region. This era continued for a long time, and until around 1955, salted rice crackers were the souvenir that Kansai people enjoyed most as a gift from Tokyo. After that, famous shopping arcades expanded into various regions, and it became unnecessary to take the trouble to bring salted rice crackers from Tokyo to Kansai. However, as mechanization progressed, hand-baked rice crackers came to be prized, and some salted rice crackers that were once considered cheap snacks have already joined the ranks of luxury sweets. Even today, there are many famous salted rice crackers, mainly in Tokyo.

[Fumio Sawa]

Specialty rice crackers

Local specialty rice crackers include Muroran in Hokkaido, Yamaoyaji in Sapporo, Uni Senbei in Kesennuma, Miyagi, Nanbu Senbei in Morioka, Iwate, Isobe Senbei in Annaka, Gunma, Peanut Senbei in Chiba, Kiraku Senbei in Yokohama, Kakinotane in Nagaoka, Niigata, Tochi no Mi Senbei in Gero Onsen and Takayama, Gifu, Kurumi Senbei, Kamenoko Senbei in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Kawara Senbei in Kobe and Takamatsu, Kagawa, Niwaka Senbei in Hakata, Fukuoka, etc. Other rice crackers include Kobaiyaki in Asakusa, Tokyo, Shibafune in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Karaita and Sobaita in Kyoto. In addition, when confectioners use shaved dough, such as the skin of a monaka wafer, to make dried sweets, they call it senbei, so usugori from Oyabe City, Toyama Prefecture, is also considered a type of senbei.

[Fumio Sawa]

[Reference items] | Sweets | Soka Senbei | Chinese sweets | Dried sweets

Soka rice crackers
Saitama Prefecture ©Shogakukan ">

Soka rice crackers

Nanbu rice crackers
Iwate Prefecture ©Shogakukan ">

Nanbu rice crackers

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

干菓子のなかの焼き種(だね)。小麦粉または粳米(うるちまい)、糯米(もちごめ)の粉に砂糖を加えてどろりとした種汁をつくり、鉄製の焼き型に流して焼いたもの。また粳米、糯米を搗(つ)いて平たくのし、丸く型抜きして乾燥させ、しょうゆを両面に刷(は)いて焼き上げたものを塩煎餅という。

　煎餅の文字は『延喜式(えんぎしき)』の唐菓子(とうがし)のなかにみることができる。奈良時代からの食物であったと考えられるが、『和名抄(わみょうしょう)』はこれを「いりもち」と読み、小麦粉を油で煎(い)ったものとしている。今日の揚げ煎餅に類似した菓子であったと推定される。煎餅には伝説めいた渡来談があり、渡唐した空海が順宗のもてなしを受けたとき、供された食物のなかに亀甲(きっこう)型をした煎餅があった。その煎餅は、日本にすでに存在した果餅(かぺい)14種のなかの煎餅のように油で揚げたものではなく、まことに淡泊な味わいであった。空海はこの仕法を習得して、帰朝後に京の小倉山(おぐらやま)の麓(ふもと)に住む里人に伝えた。これが亀(かめ)の甲煎餅の元祖であるという。中国の『荊楚歳時記(けいそさいじき)』正月7日に、「北人、この日、煎餅を食う。庭中に之(これ)を作り、薫火という」とある。この煎餅が唐菓子のいりもちであるのか、亀の甲煎餅のような形態であったかはさだかでない。粉を練って焼く手法はきわめて古く、団子状の餅を焼いて食べることは弥生(やよい)文化時代にはすでに普及していた。その餅を薄くのして火の通りやすい形状で焼く、つまり今日的な煎餅の作り方は、空海の伝えたものでなく、油で揚げるいりもち以前から存在したと考えるのが妥当である。しかし、この原型としての煎餅はあくまでも主食であった。間食として菓子の性格をもつのは室町時代以降であり、江戸時代になって多くの名物煎餅が生まれた。

　煎餅の製法は、古代から江戸中期までさしたる発達をみなかった。焼き種（煎餅生地(きじ)）をつくり、薄くのして円形、方形、亀甲形の枠で型抜きし、炭火で一枚一枚焼き上げたのである。江戸中期以降には煎餅屋稼業が鋳物師に焼き型を注文できるほど、鉄製鋳物が安価になり、鋏(はさみ)のように2本の柄(え)の先で開閉する円形、方形、亀甲形、あるいは瓦(かわら)形の鉄皿2枚を備えた焼き型がつくられた。この焼き型を操作して煎餅焼きに従事する職人を煎餅師とよんだ。煎餅師は、金平糖(こんぺいとう)つくりの掛け物職人がそうであったように、多くは渡世人で、渡り職人ともよばれたが、腕のいい職人を抱えた煎餅屋が世間の人気をさらい、名物煎餅を生み出した。

　煎餅は奈良時代の供饌(ぐせん)菓子として油で揚げた食物だったが、これは貴族階級や高僧の口にしか入らなかった。煎餅の仲間である、あられ、かきもち、へぎもちも、もとは塩味だったもので、「庶民の菓子」として食用油と煎餅類が結び付くことは、幕末のかりんとうの出現までなかったといえる。江戸時代に煎餅と称したのは、小麦粉に砂糖を混ぜて練り、型焼きしたり、巻き上げて焼いたものである。さらに高級品には、卵黄を加えた煎餅もつくられた。以後、今日までに、焼き型の機械化、素材にゴマ、ケシ、クルミ、ラッカセイ、トチの実、みそを加える仕法も考えられ、多様の煎餅が生まれた。しかし、塩煎餅は下級品とされ、こうした煎餅の仲間には入らない菓子だった。

［沢　史生］

塩煎餅

塩煎餅は、江戸近郊の農家が残り飯を煎(い)って蒸し、塩を混ぜてのしてから竹筒で丸形に抜き、天日干しして炭火で焼いたのが始まりだが、残り飯が米飯であったとは考えがたい。かなり粗末な菓子であったろう。塩煎餅にしょうゆが用いられ、今日的な製品となるのは、紀州（和歌山県）の浜口儀兵衛が銚子（千葉県）でしょうゆ製造を始めた1645年（正保2）以降で、江戸に近い町屋(まちや)、千住(せんじゅ)、金町(かなまち)、柴又(しばまた)、草加(そうか)などが塩煎餅どころとして繁盛した。とりわけ奥州街道の宿場でもあった草加は有名になり、草加煎餅が塩煎餅を代表するほどの人気をとった。塩煎餅は関西ではほとんどつくられなかった。この時代は長く続き、1955年（昭和30）ごろまで、東京からの土産(みやげ)として関西の人が喜ぶのは塩煎餅であった。その後名店街が各地に進出して、塩煎餅をわざわざ東京から関西へ持って行くほどでもなくなったが、機械化が進むと手焼きの煎餅が珍重されるようになり、かつて駄菓子とみられた塩煎餅のなかには、すでに高級菓子の仲間入りをした製品もある。塩煎餅は今日でも東京を中心として名品が多い。

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名物煎餅

地方の名物煎餅としては、北海道室蘭(むろらん)市、札幌市の山親爺(やまおやじ)、宮城県気仙沼(けせんぬま)市のうに煎餅、岩手県盛岡市の南部煎餅、群馬県安中(あんなか)市の磯部(いそべ)煎餅、千葉県の落花生煎餅、横浜市の亀楽(きらく)煎餅、新潟県長岡市の柿(かき)の種(たね)、岐阜県下呂(げろ)温泉や高山市の栃(とち)の実煎餅、胡桃(くるみ)煎餅、山口県下関(しものせき)市の亀の甲煎餅、神戸市や香川県高松市の瓦(かわら)煎餅、福岡市博多(はかた)のにわか煎餅などがあげられる。また、東京・浅草の紅梅焼、石川県金沢市の柴舟(しばふね)、京都の唐板やそば板なども煎餅の仲間である。このほか、菓子業者は最中(もなか)の皮のようなそぎ種を干菓子に使うとき、これを煎餅と称しているので、富山県小矢部(おやべ)市の薄氷(うすごおり)なども煎餅の一種とみられる。

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[参照項目] | 菓子 | 草加煎餅 | 唐菓子 | 干菓子

草加煎餅

南部煎餅

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