Autumn Food: Daigaku Imo (University Sweet Potatoes!)

Autumn is the best time to enjoy sweet potatoes. I have covered three of my favourite ways to eat sweet potatoes, and many other users on this website have also shared different sweet potato products. This is just the season where everything involving sweet potatoes are extra delicious.

One of those foods that I really like is daigaku imo. Daigaku imo is a traditional dessert where you get big chunky pieces of sweet potatoes, occasionally with the skin attached, get deep fried and then rolled around this honey syrup while they are warm. Then, black sesame is often sprinkled over as well. The dish is served warm, ideally, but they are just as good at room temperature.

Sure, this is something you can get from many supermarkets and Chinese restaurants (because Chinese cuisine has something similar, but not the same as daigaku imo), but there are also specialty shops that focuses on just daigaku imo, believe it or not.

Regardless of where you end up getting them, they are just so much better in autumn because of the extra sweetness during this season!

Anyway, price-wise, they are usually between 100 to 200 yen per 100 grams at supermarkets. At the specialty shops for daigaku imo (such as the one that I am about to introduce), however, you are looking at paying 250 yen for 100 grams. So while sweet potatoes are cheap during autumn, daigaku imo is a premium item.

One of the best daigaku imo I have ever had was from this shop called "Daigaku imo no gokaku ya", which I guess translates into "The Passing Shop of Daigaku Imo".

I think their name is a reference to how daigaku imo translates into "university sweet potatoes", so maybe they have the meaning of that if you eat their imo, you will pass your university exams...?

Apparently this is a famous shop, because I saw a lot of autographs outside the shop being displayed. One was actually talking about how the shop was mentioned in the popular TV talk show that involves Matsuko DX.

Being such a small shop that did not stand out, I would have never expected, but daigaku imo is kind of a niche and traditional product, so I guess that makes sense.

The shop owner was this gentle mid-age man who warmly welcomed me the moment I walked in. I ordered the cup size to go (picture above), which was 250 yen for the 100 gram, he wrapped it up for me and gave me a pick as well.

Enjoying it at home, the daigaku imo was amazing. The glaze on the outside was sweet and complimented the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. They also came to a crisp and it was really good!

The 100 grams was only 5 pieces, and I finished them before I had even noticed, but the sweetness remained as an aftertaste in my mouth, and it reminded me of how much I enjoy sweet potatoes during the season of autumn.

If you are getting bored of plain sweet potatoes and you do not want the new sweet potato fusioned modern products, this traditional snack of daigaku imo is worth trying!