Strawberries and Milk Yokan

A layer of milk kanten and a layer of mizu yokan, studded with strawberry chunks, makes for a beautiful and refreshing summer treat.

Strawberry and Milk Yokan cut into rectangles and lined up on black slate.

Mizu yokan is a common and delicious Japanese dessert, especially popular in the summer. It’s basically a red bean jelly, made with kanten. Powdered kanten is similar to agar agar, as they are both made from a seaweed, but their textures are slightly different. Kanten is a little firmer, and has a nice silky texture.

You’ll need koshian, which is a smooth sweet red bean paste. Although you can get it on Amazon (affiliate link, just because), it’s a lot cheaper at the Asian store, so I would go there. You will also need kanten, which you can find in the Japanese section of most well stocked Asian stores. Here’s a picture of a couple of different brands, for reference.

Layer of milk kanten with strawberry pieces in it. Red bean paste in background.

Alright, let’s talk about why I made it strawberries and milk. Follow my logic here, okay? Strawberry mochi/daifuku is absolutely delicious (strawberries enrobed in sweet red bean paste and mochi). Strawberries and condensed milk is amazing. It’s my favorite way to eat strawberries. Therefore, the three things combined should also be delicious.

Got it? Agree? And isn’t it so pretty? I just love the layers!

Fork cutting into strawberries and milk yokan.

This dessert is smooth, silky, refreshing, and not overly sweet. The sweet red bean flavor, balanced out so nicely by the strawberries, and the mellow milk kanten. It’s a unique combination, and I love it!

It is seriously dangerous to put it in front of me. I can just keep eating it and eating it… seriously good to eat it on a hot summer day.

By the way, if you don’t want to do the milk layer, double the yokan and just make strawberry yokan! Then you can use one 500g bag of koshian, one 4g stick on kanten, and 500ml of water. So easy! But I do recommend trying it with the milk kanten on the bottom, yum.

top view of Strawberry and Milk Yokan rectangle slices.
Strawberry and Milk Yokan- A layer of milk kanten and a layer of mizu yokan, studded with strawberry chunks, makes for a beautiful and refreshing summer treat.

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