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''), are a type of snack food made from peanuts that are coated in a wheat flour dough and then fried or roasted. They come in a variety of different flavors. 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. The snacks are often sold in sealed bags, but can also be found in bulk containers.

History

Japanese-style peanuts were created in Mexico during the 1940s by Japanese immigrant Yoshihei Nakatani, the father of Yoshio and Carlos Nakatani. He lost his job after the mother-of-pearl button factory he worked at, named ''El Nuevo Japón'', was forced to close after its proprietor came under suspicion of being a spy for the Empire of Japan.

Nakatani had to find alternatives to provide for his family. He obtained a job at La Merced Market, where he initially sold Mexican candies called '. Later, he developed a new variety of fried snacks he named ''oranda'' that he named after the like-named fish. He also created a new version of a snack that reminded him of his homeland, ''mamekashi'' (seeds covered with a layer of flour with spices), that he adapted to Mexican tastes. Nakatani sold them in packages decorated with a geisha design made by his daughter Elvia. While his children tended to the family business, Nakatani and his wife Emma sold the snacks on local streets. Sales of the snacks were so successful that Nakatani was able to obtain his own stall at the market. With the help of Nakatani's son Armando, the family established their business under the brand ''Nipón'' in the 1950s; the name was registered as a trademark in 1977.

Nakatani never registered the patent for the snack. As a result, various competitors made their own versions of Japanese-style peanuts. Nakatani's company Nipón remained independent until it was sold to Totis in 2017.

Similar foods

Chinese Indonesian Frans Go established the Netherlands based company Go & Zoon (later Go-Tan) and began manufacturing '' borrelnootjes'', peanuts coated in a crisp starch-based shell, under the name Katjang Shanghai (Shanghai nuts) in the 1950s. In China, the snack is often called "fish-skin peanuts".

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.

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

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

The term "cracker nuts" was first used by the Philippine brand Nagaraya in 1968.

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.

See also

* Beer Nuts
* Borrelnootje
* Kaki no tane
* Koh-Kae
* List of snack foods
* Nagaraya
* Want Want

References

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{{cite news , last=Sietsema , first=Robert , title=Strange Snacks of the World -- Cracker Nuts , website=Village Voice , date=January 27, 2009 , url=http://www.villagevoice.com/restaurants/strange-snacks-of-the-world-cracker-nuts-6514555 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619175356/http://www.villagevoice.com/restaurants/strange-snacks-of-the-world-cracker-nuts-6514555 , url-status=dead , archive-date=June 19, 2015 , accessdate=September 1, 2016

{{Cite web , last=Kitchen , first=Leanne , date=2016-11-02 , title=Meet the addictive little snack called kri kri , url=https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2016/11/02/meet-addictive-little-snack-called-kri-kri , access-date=2022-03-29 , website=Food , language=en

{{cite web , url=https://www.kvk.nl/advies-en-informatie/ondernemen/go-tan/ , title=Go-Tan, wereldmerk met de smaak van oma , publisher=Chamber of Commerce of the Netherlands , date=2020-01-24 , access-date=2021-08-25 , language=Dutch , trans-title=Go-Tan, global brand with grandma's taste , archive-date=2022-03-26 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326125204/https://www.kvk.nl/advies-en-informatie/ondernemen/go-tan/ , url-status=dead

{{cite web , author=Daniszewski, Hank , title=Shell shocked , website=The London Free Press , date=January 18, 2015 , url=https://lfpress.com/2015/01/18/sure-there-have-been-family-feuds-and-business-splits-before-but-this-ones-just-nuts , accessdate=September 1, 2016

{{cite web , title=Hygienists offer a gift from the heart , website=Northumberland Today , date=February 2, 2014 , url=http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/2014/02/02/hygienists-offer-a-gift-from-the-heart , accessdate=September 1, 2016

"Mexico: Land of the Japanese Peanut", by Eric Nusbaum
'' Hazlitt'', June 25, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2016

"A Basic Introduction to the Salty, Spicy World of Mexican Snacks" by Brooke Porter Katz
''Serious Eats''. Retrieved July 28, 2016

Snack foods
Peanuts
Mexican cuisine
Japanese diaspora in Mexico