Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 19, 2026

Kudzu powder

Kudzu powder, called géfěn (葛粉) in Chinese, kuzuko in Japanese, chik-garu (칡가루) or galbun in Korean, and bột sắn dây in Vietnamese is a starch powder made from the root of the kudzu plant. It is used in traditional East Asian cuisine mainly for thickening sauces and making various types of desserts.

Last revised
Jul 19, 2026
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Kudzu powder
Kudzu powder in blocks
Alternative namesGéfěn, kuzuko, chik-garu, galbun, bột sắn dây
Place of originChina, Korea, Japan
Region or stateEast Asia
Main ingredientsKudzu starch

Kudzu powder, called géfěn (葛粉) in Chinese, kuzuko (葛粉; くずこ) in Japanese, chik-garu (칡가루) or galbun (Korean: 갈분; Hanja: 葛粉) in Korean, and bột sắn dây in Vietnamese is a starch powder made from the root of the kudzu plant. It is used in traditional East Asian cuisine mainly for thickening sauces and making various types of desserts.1

Dishes

Examples of dishes that use kuzuko:2

  • Ankake (liquid stock thickened with kuzuko)
  • Goma-dofu (kuzuko pudding with sesame paste)

Examples of wagashi (Japanese desserts) with kuzuko:

  • Kuzumochi cakes
  • Kuzukiri (clear cake of boiled kuzuko cut into noodle-like strips and eaten with kuromitsu)
  • Kuzuzakura (a.k.a. kuzu-dama, a cake of bean paste covered with kuzuko)
  • Mizu manjū (red bean paste is coated with translucent kuzuko paste that is then allowed to set into a jelly-like consistency)

Examples of Tong sui (Chinese desserts usually in soup form)

  • Got Fan soup


See also

See also

References

References

  1. "The Weird and Wonderful Ways You Can Cook with Kudzu (Really!)". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
  2. Shitomi, Kazuyoshi; Kumakura, Isao. "The Japanese Table -- Dried Tofu, Noodles and Starch -- Kudzu Starch: Kuzuko". Kikkoman. Archived from the original on 2010-10-09.