Maruboro is the signatory sweet of Saga prefecture. Its origins lie in the Western sweet introduced by a Dutchman living in Nagasaki over 300 years ago (between 1661 and 1672). A sweet maker of Saga Domain learnt how to make this Western sweet by combining sugar from Okinawa with flour and cooking the cakes in an oven. At first the cakes were harder and smaller than they are today, but improvements were made by adding egg, honey and baking powder to ultimately result in the present day Maruboro cake, which is suited to Japanese people's tastes.● Contact: Saga Sweets Industry Association, Tel: +81-952-23-4070
