Karintō
 | |
| Type | Snack food |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Japan |
| Main ingredients | Flour, yeast, and brown sugar |
 Cookbook: Karinto  Media: Karinto | |
Karinto (花林糖 karintō, (ateji)) is a traditional Japanese snack food. Sweet and deep-fried, it is made primarily of flour, yeast, and brown sugar. It has a deep brown and pitted appearance, and takes the form of a "bite-sized" pillow or short cylinder. Although traditional karinto is coated with brown sugar, recently other variations appear in the market, such as white sugar, sesame seeds, miso, or peanuts.
History
Karinto's roots are controversial between China around the Nara Period to Kyoto aristocrats or from Portugal in later period, but in either case it has been available from street merchants since at least the Tenpō era, roughly 1830 to 1841.
In popular culture
In Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, police detective Ema Skye constantly eats karintō on duty (the snack was localized as chocolate-flavored "Snackoos").
In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, karintō is stated to be one of Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu's favorite foods.
In Gosick, Kujo gives karintō to Victorica, who comments that they look like dog feces.