Mochi - refreshment from sweet rice
Mochi is delicate whole cereal product, manufactured from the sweet rice, that has big content of gluten and protein. Sweet rice get soak, treat by heat in steam and churn by ram in pot to the consistency similar to dough. Then it could be dried to the state when you can cut it on the cubes.
By the end of December are in traditional Japanese villages heared typical sounds in the rhythm of churning the sweet rice, when they prepare mochi in families for the ceremonial new year table. Large smooth bowl, made by chisel from the tree trunk by the past generations and heavy wooden stick are equipments with that every year ritual of sweet rice churning could begin. It’s ordinary granny, who first put on the steam processed rice to the wooden bowl. After every heard of grandfather’s wooden stick, granny turn slightly the rice. In this way they work together fastly and rhytmicaly. Granny is swinging in the rhythm of granddad’s stick, turning pile of churned hot rice and blows away clouds of steam that comes out from it.
As soon as churned rice come to homogenous mass (mochi), it’s formed to small flat cubes or balls called as o-hagi. O-hagi covered with sesame seeds or nuts is delicacy for children. The remaining mochi is dried and then stored at cold place for later use.
Mochi could be prepared in several ways so, that it will take dominant place on the dish. Naturaly sweet and filling dish from the sweet rice is also ideal substitute of desserts. Physicaly strengthening and easily digestible mochi is also excellent food for weaken people for example after illness. Japanese farmers and sellers recommend mochi in cold months in accordance to its legend about increasing life energy.
Mochi is recommended also for such health problems as anaemia, unbalanced blood sugar and intestine flabbiness. For pregnant and breastfeeding women is strengthening for them and also for the children. Noticably supports milk production. Mochi with addiotion of herb mugwort, that growths wildly across whole Japan and is rich of calcium and iron, is traditionaly given to women after childbirth and is also very good for people suffering from anemia.
Although Mochi in Japan is still made by traditional hand way, mochi, that you can buy in supermarkets and specialized stores with healthy foods on the whole world, is made with modern crushers and extruders. Hand churning is old traditional way, but taste and quality of this mochi is noticeably than mochi manufactured industrially. But what more, industrially made mochi doesn’t have usually medical quality comparable with hand churned. Fortunately in Japan exist several small producers, that make quality mochi by hand way. One of them is Nobuyuki Kojima, who manufacture Organic Sweet Brown Rice Mochi exclusively for Mitoku firm.