Shuck live clams, thread about three of them onto a bamboo skewer, and put them somewhere the sun reaches for six or seven hours. That is the whole preparation. As they dry the meat shrinks and the flavor concentrates back into it.

In the Edo period these were presented to the shogunate, and they were sold at the post stations along the Tokaido, which means travelers knew them too. It is a food with a long reach for something that is one ingredient and some sunlight.

They belong to the eastern Mikawa and Chita districts. Nishio and Gamagori land the clams, and on the Chita peninsula they are sold from stalls set up at festivals, three to a stick and eaten standing.

Eaten straight off the skewer the taste is dense and salty, though plenty of people prefer them warmed briefly over a flame, or dropped into tempura batter. They are usually made from spring clams, but because they are dried they keep, and they are eaten all year round. They have long been welcome alongside a drink at new year. At Kamezaki the spring festival there would not be complete without them. The only thing anyone insists on is the timing: six to seven hours in the sun, and no longer.