Japanese-style peanuts

Japanese-style peanuts, also known as Japanese peanuts or cracker nuts (widely known in the Spanish-speaking world as cacahuates Japoneses or maní Japonés),[1] are a type of snack food made from peanuts that are coated in a wheat flour dough and then fried or deep-fried.[2] They come in a variety of different flavours. The Mexican version’s recipe for the extra-crunchy shell has ingredients such as wheat flour, soy sauce, water, sugar, monosodium glutamate, and citric acid.[3][4][5] The snacks are sold in sealed bags.[6]

Japanese-style peanuts
Alternative namesJapanese peanuts
Cracker nuts
Cacahuate Japonés
Cacahuates japoneses
Maní Japonés
TypeSnack
Place of origin Mexico
Created byYoshigei Nakatani
Invented1940s

This type of snack is claimed to have originated in Mexico in the 1940s by Japanese immigrant Yoshigei Nakatani (father of Mexican singer Yoshio and plastic artist Carlos Nakatani).[7] After losing his job, due to the closing of the factory where he worked making mother-of-pearl buttons, property of the owner of "El Nuevo Japón", Heijiro Kato, who was suspected of being a spy for Imperial Japan,[8] Nakatani had to find ways to take care of his growing family. Working in the La Merced Market corridors selling Mexican candies called muéganos and a new variety of fried snacks he named "oranda", in honor to the Japanese orange-colored fish, Nakatani made a new version of a snack that reminded him of his homeland: mamekashi (seeds covered with a layer of flour with spices), adapting it to Mexican tastes.[9][10] Nakatani packed the peanuts in bags with a Geisha design, made by his daughter Elvia.[11] While his children tended to the family business, Nakatani and his wife Emma went to sell on nearby streets.[12] The demand for the new snack was such, that they stopped selling at home, and got a stall in the Market.[13] By the 1950's, the family business, "Nipón", had been established with the help of their son Armando, registering the trademark in 1977.[14] Unfortunately, Nakatani never registered the patent for the snack, and, since 1957, brands like Nishikawa, y later on, by the 1980's, Barcel and Sabritas, among others, had made their own versions of Japanese-style peanuts. Nakatani's company Nipón remained as an independent entity, until it was bought by Totis in 2017.[15]

Similar foods

Chinese Indonesian Frans Go established the Netherlands based company Go & Zoon (later Go-Tan) and began manufacturing borrelnootje, peanuts coated in a crisp starch-based shell, under the name Katjang Shanghai (Shanghai nuts) in the 1950s.[16]

Thai snack food company Mae-Ruay started producing peanuts fried in a wheat flour-based batter flavoured with coconut cream under the brand name Koh-Kae in 1976.[17]

Picard Peanuts is a Canadian company that produces Chip Nuts, a snack food brand consisting of peanuts that have a potato chip coating.[18] Various flavors of potato chips are used in the product's production.[19]

An identical product is sold in Lebanon under the name "krikri".[20]

In the United States, there exists a commercially available snack made of individual peanuts encased in a shell made of flour and whole sesame seeds. It's commonly found in health food stores and sometimes in the bulk section of conventional grocery stores.

The term "cracker nuts" was first used by the Philippine brand Nagaraya in 1967.[21]

A Japanese version originated in Okinawa, called Takorina, has the image of a Mexican charro in the bag, and it is claimed to be called "Mexican-style peanuts", though the rumour has been disproven.[22][23][24]

See also

References
  1. "Mexico: Land of the Japanese Peanut", by Eric Nusbaum, Hazlitt, June 25, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2016
  2. Sietsema, Robert (January 27, 2009). "Strange Snacks of the World -- Cracker Nuts". Village Voice. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  3. "A Basic Introduction to the Salty, Spicy World of Mexican Snacks" by Brooke Porter Katz, Serious Eats. Retrieved July 28, 2016
  4. "Mexican Japanese Peanuts". The Grande Enchilada. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  5. "Historia del cacahuate japonés, conoce todo sobre esta botana mexicana". Cardamomo (in Spanish). 21 March 2023. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  6. "Los cacahuates japoneses tienen su origen en el barrio de La Merced". Chilango (in Spanish). 2 September 2022. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  7. "Is there anything Japanese about Mexico's popular Japanese peanuts?". Mexico News Daily. 15 January 2022. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  8. "El cacahuate japonés que nos legó la familia Nakatani". Discover Nikkei (in Spanish). 31 August 2018. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  9. "Cacahuates japoneses, de México para el mundo". Código Espagueti (in Spanish). 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  10. "¿SABÍAN QUE LOS FAMOSOS CACAHUATES JAPONESES NACIERON EN MÉXICO?". Relatos e historias en México (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  11. "Cacahuates japoneses, de México para el mundo". Código Espagueti (in Spanish). 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  12. "El cacahuate japonés que nos legó la familia Nakatani". Discover Nikkei (in Spanish). 31 August 2018. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  13. "El nacimiento en México de los cacahuates japoneses y la historia de espías que esconde". Mexico Desconocido (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  14. "¿Por qué se llaman cacahuates japoneses?". IMER ~ Radio Tropicalísima 1350 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  15. "Is there anything Japanese about Mexico's popular Japanese peanuts?". Mexico News Daily. 15 January 2022. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  16. "Go-Tan, wereldmerk met de smaak van oma" [Go-Tan, global brand with grandma's taste] (in Dutch). Chamber of Commerce of the Netherlands. 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  17. Jitpleecheep, Pitsinee (2019-03-04). "Climbing the global peanut hierarchy". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  18. Daniszewski, Hank (January 18, 2015). "Shell shocked". The London Free Press. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  19. "Hygienists offer a gift from the heart". Northumberland Today. February 2, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  20. Kitchen, Leanne (2016-11-02). "Meet the addictive little snack called kri kri". Food. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  21. "Heritage". Nagaraya. Retrieved May 10, 2022. In 1967, Nagaraya Cracker Nuts and Kabaya Pretzels were introduced in the Philippines by a small, enterprising company.
  22. "サクッとスパイシー　沖縄県産島唐辛子使用　タコリーナ送料について". Todoq Okinawa (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  23. "Cuál fue el origen de los cacahuates japoneses". Infobae (in Spanish). 30 June 2022. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  24. "Los cacahuates japoneses tienen su origen en el barrio de La Merced". Chilango (in Spanish). 2 September 2022. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
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