Okinawan black sugar ✦

Kokutō (sucre noir d’Okinawa)

What it is

Sugar-making reached the Ryukyu kingdom in the early 1600s, brought back from Fujian by an official, and it became the islands' tribute crop. Only eight Okinawan islands still make the real thing — whole cane juice boiled down and set in blocks with nothing removed, which is where the salt-mineral edge comes from.

In the kitchen

The lumps will not dissolve on their own — smash them in a bag or grate them before they go into a batter, or the crumb comes out gravelly. A block dropped into a pork braise gives colour and salt at once.

Goes with

Pork Ginger Peanut Kinako Soy sauce Sweet potato

Same species

Cane vinegar Chinese rock sugar Dark rum Demerara sugar Golden syrup Icing sugar

Also used with

Black sesame paste Kuzu Shiratamako Warabi-ko (bracken starch) Kanten (agar-agar)

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