Comments on: Japanese Recipe: Amanatto

By: Andreea

Andreea — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:27:01 +0000

Hi, i have one question because it bothers me ^.^ since i’m not from U.S.A i don’t understand pretty well the word “cup”, i mean what do you think when you say that ( i know it sounds stupid ). I want to do amanatto cause i heard of this and i’m a little confused about something. So the problem is : “cup” means the large cup of those for tea ( the little ones ? ) because i put into a bowl 4 large cups of sugar and it looks veeeery much ^.^ (like 1 kg ). Thank you !

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:18:09 +0000

Tiffany, you’ll love homemade amanatto!! One possible reason your black beans are smaller than the ones your sis sent are that her’s were probably black soy beans, while we usually have plain ol’ black beans here.

I have some advice on drying out the beans, and that’s to not over dry them! This is a real problem in the summer for us since we use the oven to do it to avoid the humidity here. Check on the beans often in the oven or put them in a warm, dark, dry space. My last batch I made, I didn’t add additional sugar, but dried them slightly in the oven after draining them and rinsing them in clean water. They looked good and tasted great! But the additional sugar coating looks nifty as well. Good luck and please post how they turned out!!

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:45:06 +0000

Went to Koiwa which is in the prefecture of Tokyo in October 2008 and missed this treat. Then my sister (who lives there) sent me some strange little candied black beans around December (in beautiful packaging) that my 2 year old inhaled!!! They look like what is called Gorilla Boogers online. They are very good! He finished the last package about a week ago, and I am attempting this recipe for us; or wait a few weeks for some more small packs from my sis. (Each pack is about 15 beans)
I still have 14 minutes of simmer time left and have had a hard time keeping it at a simmer. As the water evaporates the lover volume gets too hot and starts to boil, then I turn it down too much to get it back to simmer and then it is too cold. So for the last hour I have had to watch it pretty closely. I cook with gas if that makes any difference. Oh, I drug out the never used candy thermometer, and its reading close to 200 degrees F +/- just a little bit. Hope that is a good temp. We’ll see.
One other difference, my black beans seem much smaller than what my sister sent me. Maybe it’s a different variety of black bean.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:25:07 +0000

@Rosa, amanatto last about one month in a cool, dry dark place.

By: Rosa

Rosa — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:08:04 +0000

How long are you able to keep these bean?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:21:50 +0000

@Eva, I thought about saving the candying liquid, but never did. My thoughts are since the liquid is now inoculated with bean juice, it won’t keep as long as sugar syrup. Not just that, but the liquid may leave an after taste in fresh batches. Just my thoughts. I say try it, but be aware the liquid may spoil quickly.

By: Eva

Eva — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:01:42 +0000

Can I save the candying liquid for later use?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 01:36:20 +0000

@On a side note, in the j-life section of Anime Insider this month, there’s a candy featured called “Gorilla Boogers”; that’s amanatto! The candy company only used black beans for their amanatto and you can too to make a ghoulish Halloween snack! Gorilla Boogers, good stuff…

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:14:07 +0000

@Kelli J, Hmm, add only a tiny bit of cornstarch to the sugar and experiment with any of the above suggestions in tiny batches of candied beans. Oh and since you live in FL, your sugar might already have some moisture in it. That’s going to affect how dry your amanatto is. Some people recommend microwaving your sugar on the lowest setting for a minute to remove the moisture. I’m going to try that too next time. I feel bad for making you work this out alone T_T. Humidity sucks.

By: Kelli J.

Kelli J. — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:07:46 +0000

I’m soaking the beans now and planned on making em tommorrow since it’s Friday and ill have the weekend from school yay! so I will use your suggestions and i alos think that I will try the cornstarch idea and that way I’ll be able to tell you how it comes out in case you don’t plan on making another batch soon ^_^