UIROU

Block-shaped elastic candy made of rice starch, bracken starch or kuzu starch
( a high quality thickening starch made from vines of kuzu or Pueraria lobata )
Colored and flavored with sugar, brown sugar, green tea powder,
azuki bean (Vigna angularis ) paste, coffee,
yuzu (Japanese citron or Citrus junos ) and salt-pickled cherry flowers, etc.

Dissolve starch and flour into hot water, add sugar and some flavor, then steam it.

The name UIROU derives from a name of the office
which dealt with medicine in ancient China.
In the Muromachi-period, a Uirou officer named CHIN SOUKEI came to Japan
and lived in Hakata in Kyushu.
He introduced a medicine, TOUCHINKOU, which was very effective
at removing phlegm and bad breath..
Then his son moved to Kyoto and designated his family name, UIROU.
Later, TOUCHINKOU was introduced in Odawara ( a busy city at that time )
and become very popular during the Edo periood.
Usually TOUCHINKOU was called UIROU as it was produced by the Uirou family.
Uirou candy also made by the second generation of Uirou family, and also called UIROU.

There is another story that because the original color of the candy was
similar to the medicine UIROU, so people also called it UIROU.