Kamejirushi “Mito no Ume”

A sweets manufacturer that Ibaraki Prefecture is proud of, with its main store in Mito City and many other stores throughout the prefecture. The company was founded in 1852, by the first generation of the family. In the Showa era, they began to handle Western style confectionaries and expanded its scale year by year.

Even with the increase in production and mechanization, the company’s stance of making sweets with the heart and soul of a long-established store remains the same. The company has long been certified under "Ibaraki HACCP", a strict hygiene management standard certified by Ibaraki Prefecture, and not only does it strive to ensure food safety, but also makes every effort to deliver the best taste possible by using the skills and experience of its craftsmen to bring out the delicate flavor of the bean paste, which is said to be the essential part of a sweet.

The highly popular traditional sweet “Mito no Ume” is well-known to the local citizens of Mito. The sweet is made by Gyuhi-wrapped homemade white bean paste, finished with a honey-pickled red perilla leaf wrap. It is an impressive sweet, reminiscent of the plum blossoms of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, Kairakuen.

The name of the product and its contents have changed slightly over the years, but it has been around for over 100 years and has an overwhelming presence as a specialty. It has won the gold medal at the National Confectionary Exposition three times.