Mochi: Japanese New Year's Treat

The rolls on the plate are ginger crackers, and the green items are called mochi. I found them at the Korean Grocery that I visited last night.

The mochi are particularly important in both Korean and Japanese society. They are sticky rice cakes, and these are Green Tea Mochi. They are quite chewy, almost like gummy bear candy in texture. The taste is very nice, slightly sweet with a mild green tea blend.

The mochitsuki is a custom in Japanese and Japanese-American households. It is a gathering, usually directly before Japanese New Year, when friends and families come together to pound the glutinous rice to make the mochi. The first step is washing the rice, then leaving it to soak overnight. Early the next morning the rice is steamed in wooden steaming frames called seiro.

After the rice is steamed, it is dumped into a mortar called an usu.The rice is pounded with a wooden mallet called a kine until resulting mass in smooth and shiny. Between pounds a person quickly sticks his or her hand into the usu to turn the rice mass over. This job must take skill to avoid injury!

Small parts of the mass are pinched off and formed into bun shapes, then set aside to cool. They are then ready to eat.

Ozoni, which is mochi soup, is usually eaten by the Japanese as the first meal of the new year to insure a happy New Year.

More details can be found at http://janmstore.com/mochitsuki.html.