Do you have a plan to visit Kotagede while in Yogyakarta ?
Don’t ever forget to taste the traditional cake originally created by the local people.
Don’t ever forget to taste the traditional cake originally created by the local people.
If you are familiar with traditional cake from Japan, when
you come to Kotagede, you will find moci-like cake, the iconic cake from
Kotagede. It is named yangko. The texture, the shape, and the taste are kind of
similar with Japanese moci. It is chewy and sweet.
Yangko is a traditional cake that has sweet taste and soft
texture. Made of glutinous rice flour, yangko has been shaped in simple piece
and symmetrical form. You can find yangko in small rectangular shape. Each
piece of yangko is covered with wheat flour wrapped with a sheet of waxed
paper. When you want to find yangko in gift and souvenir outlets, yangko is
usually put in a carton or box packaging.
You can find various flavors and colors of yangko. The
original flavor of yangko is sweet taste containing with pounded peanuts. As
the business of yangko is developed, people try to develop the flavors of
yangko. Now you can taste yangko with durian flavor (yellow), oranges flavor
(orange), cantaloupe and pandan leaf (green), strawberry (red, chocolate
(brown), and others.
Yangko was introduced to public in 1921 but it was getting
famous in 1939. Later on, yangko was considered to have a business potential
value in 1980. Finally, Yangko became a local snack from Kotagede which was
known by public, and there were many sellers try the business. The production
of yangko was done in Kotagede and some areas around it.
Therefore, when you find this label of yangko, you are finding the part of
yangko history.
To make good yangko, it is used home-made glutinous rice flour as the main ingredient, not factory-made sold in the market. Therefore, the flavor of yangko will be more special.
To make good yangko, it is used home-made glutinous rice flour as the main ingredient, not factory-made sold in the market. Therefore, the flavor of yangko will be more special.
You can find yangko as local gift in Kotagede and the surroundings area as they are the places of the original production and sale. But most gift and souvenir outlets in Yogyakarta also sell yangko, like Bakpia Djava outlet or other outlets in Malioboro, Pathuk, Suryowijayan, Prawirotaman, etc. Therefore, when you cannot go to Kotagede, you just need to go to the nearest gift and souvenir outlets in Yogyakarta to get yangko. If you want to taste the flavor of yangko from the family of its creator.
