"Ota x Ishii' DELA LOVER" is a variety show where Bakusho Mondai's Hikari Ota and TV Host Ryoji Ishii delve deep into Tokai region's classics! This time, it's the "Cool Sweets Ranking You Want to Eat in Summer." We'll announce the top 10 favorite cool sweets based on a survey of 1,000 people in the three Tokai prefectures. (The present campaign has ended)

Sweets that are delicious with ramen

Here are the 10th to 6th places in the "Cool Sweets Ranking You Want to Eat in Summer"!
10th place: "Cream Zenzai" from "Sugakiya"
9th place: Gifu Hida's "Hida Milk Soft Serve"
8th place: "Fruit Daifuku" from "Yoro-ken"
7th place: "Cream Soda" from "Komeda Coffee Shop"
6th place: "Milk Soft Serve" from Hirugano Kogen

5th place in the "Cool Sweets Ranking You Want to Eat in Summer" is "Soft Serve Ice Cream" from "Sugakiya," a store originating in Aichi Prefecture. In the survey, comments included, "It's a nostalgic taste. I crave it sometimes," and "I eat it with ramen."

Many people eat Sugakiya's soft serve ice cream with ramen. To achieve its refreshing taste, it uses vegetable-based cream instead of milk.

In the fall of 2026, a new menu item, "Rich Cream," will be released. It features a white chocolate base topped with a vanilla sauce made from Sugakiya's soft serve ice cream.

Actually, on April Fool's Day, Sugakiya posted on X that "Rich Soft Serve Ice Cream is coming soon!" and it became a hot topic with people saying, "I want to try it," leading to its actual commercialization. It will be released on September 17th.

Other new autumn items include the "Hojicha Marron Shake," an autumnal shake combining hojicha and chestnuts. It will be released on September 10th.

A summer tradition of Ogaki, the "City of Water"

4th place in the "Cool Sweets Ranking You Want to Eat in Summer" is "Mizu Manju" from Ogaki City, Gifu. In the survey, comments included, "It's smooth and goes down easily," and "It's in water. It's slippery and easy to eat."

23 stores in Ogaki City sell it. Among them, a popular store is "Kinchoen Sohonten," about a 1-minute walk from JR Ogaki Station South Exit.

Founded in 1798 during the Edo period, Mizu Manju was created in the Meiji era. The store offers a set of two Mizu Manju with green tea.

During peak summer, there are often continuous queues from 8 AM opening to 6 PM closing for the chewy and jiggly Mizu Manju.

Ogaki City, also known as the "City of Water," is one of Japan's leading regions rich in groundwater, with 30 spring water spots in the city. The groundwater temperature in Ogaki is about 14℃ even in summer, which is considerably lower than Nagoya's tap water. Kinchoen Sohonten also cools its Mizu Manju with this groundwater.

The program infiltrated the workshop behind the store to uncover the secret of its unique "chewy and jiggly texture."

The main ingredients are Ogaki groundwater and kudzu flour. While typical Mizu Manju are made only with kudzu flour, Ogaki's Mizu Manju uses "warabi flour," which is used for warabi mochi, to create its unique chewy and jiggly texture.

Also, kudzu flour alone is weak to water, so adding warabi flour results in a dough that is less susceptible to water penetration.

There are also ingenuities to harden the chewy and jiggly dough. The dough is in a sticky, liquid state, so it cannot be wrapped by hand. It is steamed in a small cup for about 9 minutes and then immediately placed into cold groundwater. By quickly putting it in water after steaming, the dough is prevented from hardening.

Groundwater is also deeply related to the taste of Mizu Manju. A large amount of groundwater is needed to make the light-tasting red bean paste perfect for summer.

Over 5000 liters of groundwater are needed for one batch of red bean paste! 90 kg of adzuki beans are cooked in a large pot that holds about 500 liters.

After about 20 minutes of cooking, the hot water used to cook the adzuki beans is drained. This is a process called "shibukiri" to make the red bean paste light, and it is performed three times. The process of "sarashi" to further remove bitterness and astringency is also repeated three times.

A cool and warm sweet loved for nearly 50 years

3rd place in the "Cool Sweets Ranking You Want to Eat in Summer" is "Shiro-Noir" from "Komeda Coffee Shop," a coffee shop originating in Aichi Prefecture. In the survey, comments included, "It's cool and warm, my favorite dessert," and "It's warm, but the ice cream is cool. It's a perfect balance."

Shiro-Noir was born in 1977, nine years after Komeda's founding.

The summer limited-time menu is "Blanc Noir." In French, "blanc" means "white," and "noir" means "black." In addition to powdered sugar, it is topped with condensed milk instead of syrup, giving it a milkier taste.

Mochi and red bean paste specifically for shaved ice

2nd place in the "Cool Sweets Ranking You Want to Eat in Summer" is "Akafuku Kori" from the famous Mie Prefecture store "Akafuku." In the survey, comments included, "It has matcha syrup. The matcha is delicious, and you can enjoy the red bean paste too," and "The shaved ice, Akafuku's red bean paste, and mochi are all integrated."

The Ise specialty "Akafuku Mochi," with its soft mochi and smooth red bean paste, becomes very popular in summer as Akafuku Kori, which contains mochi and red bean paste inside shaved ice.

Akafuku Kori was born in 1961. It is a shaved ice characterized by its moderate bitterness and sweetness, made with homemade white syrup and matcha from Kyoto.

The mochi and red bean paste inside are specifically for Akafuku Kori! Mochi that doesn't harden easily even when placed in cold ice is made for Akafuku Kori, and the red bean paste is also specially prepared to blend well with the shaved ice.

"Can you drive a nail with it"? The reason for its ice-like hardness

1st place in the "Cool Sweets Ranking You Want to Eat in Summer" is "Azuki Bar" from "Imuraya" in Mie Prefecture. In the survey, comments included, "It was always in our freezer when I was little," and "It's not too sweet, which is just right."

At Imuraya's annual free Azuki Bar distribution event, there was a huge line of over 700 people in front of the venue. In 2026, it was held in 4 cities including Nagoya, with a total of about 17,000 visitors!

The biggest feature of Azuki Bar is its "hardness." It became a hot topic online with rumors like "You can drive a nail with an Azuki Bar!" The Azuki Bar package even has a warning: "It is frozen hard, so please be careful not to damage your teeth."

The program infiltrated the Azuki Bar factory in Tsu City to uncover the secret of its unique hardness.

In the adzuki bean sorting process, first, fine branches and small stones are removed. After that, a color sorter uses a camera to examine each bean and blows away adzuki beans with different colors than usual. After removing cracked and discolored beans, the adzuki beans are cooked to make the base for the Azuki Bar.

Imuraya's Azuki Bar's main ingredients are four types: adzuki beans, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt. It is said that no dairy ingredients or air, which would soften the texture, are added. It is described as "an ice bar like solidified zenzai. The image is of a hardness close to ice."

From CBC TV "DELA LOVER" broadcast on August 19, 2026