It is made of small cubes of agar jelly, a white translucent jelly made from red algae or seaweed.

It is served in a bowl with boiled red field peas[1] (or sometimes azuki beans[2]), often gyūhi, Shiratama dango and a variety of fruits such as peach slices, mikan, pieces of pineapples, and cherries.

The mitsumame usually comes with a small pot of sweet black syrup, kuromitsu, which one pours onto the jelly before eating.

Anmitsu is mitsumame with bean paste, the an meaning the sweet azuki bean paste or anko.

The prototype of mitsumame is a dessert for children sold to the end of the Edo era.