Mizuame

Mizuame is a traditional ingredient that's most commonly used as a sweetener that's added to wagashi sweets in order to give them a shiny sheen. Similar in flavor to corn syrup, mizuame is made by converting starch into sugar, and the starch source is traditionally glutinous rice mixed with malt.

The name mizuame can be split into mizu, meaning water, and ame, meaning candy, so mizuame can also be called water candy. Nowadays, this sweetener can be found in most Japanese food stores.