Mochi
Mochi (餅?) is Japanese rice cake made
of mochigome, a
short-grain japonica glutinous rice. The rice is
pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan it is
traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki.[1] While
also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and
is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Similar snacks are prominent in Hawaii,South Korea, Taiwan, China (where
it is called 麻糬,
Hokkien môa-chî or Mandarin máshu, tang yuan), Cambodia,
the Philippines (where
it is called maha), Thailand,
and Indonesia (where
it is called kue moci and has become specialty of Sukabumi town).[2]
Mochi is a multicomponent food consisting of
polysaccharides, lipids, protein and water. Mochi has a heterogeneous structure
of amylopectin gel, starch grains and air bubbles.[3] This
rice is characterized by its lack of amylose in starch and is derived from
short or medium japonica rices. The protein concentration of the rice is a bit
higher than normal short-grain rice and the two also differ in amylose content.
In mochi rice, the amylose content is negligible which results in the soft gel
consistency of mochi.
Viscoelasticity of mocha
Mochi's characteristic chewiness is in short due to the
polysaccharide in it. The viscosity and elasticity that account for this
chewiness are affected by many factors such as the starch concentration,
configuration of the swollen starch granules, the conditions of heating
(temperature, heating period and rate of heating) as well as the junction zones
that interconnect each polymer chain.
The more junction zones the substance
has, the stronger the cohesiveness of the gel, thereby forming a more solid like
material. The perfect mochi will have the perfect balance between viscosity and
elasticity so that it is not inextensible and fragile but rather extensible yet
firm.[5]
Many tests have been conducted on the factors that affect
the viscoelastic properties of mochi.
As puncture tests show, samples with a
higher solid (polysaccharide) content show an increased resistance and thereby
a stronger and tougher gel. This increased resistance to the puncture test
indicate that an increase in solute concentration leads to a more rigid and
harder gel with an increased cohesiveness, internal binding, elasticity and
springiness which means a decrease in material flow or an increase in
viscosity.
These results can also be brought about by an increase in heating
time. Sensory assessments of the hardness, stickiness and elasticity of mochi
and their relationship with solute concentration and heating time were also
performed. Similar to the puncture test results, sensory tests also determine
that hardness and elasticity increase with increasing time of heating and solid
concentration.
However, stickiness of the samples increase with increasing time
of heating and solid concentration until a certain level, above which the
reverse trend is observed. It is important to understand these relationships
because too hard or elastic of a mochi is undesirable, as is one that is too
sticky and will stick to walls of the container.
Preparation
Traditionally, mochi was made from whole rice, in a
labor-intensive process. The traditional mochi-pounding ceremony in Japan is Mochitsuki:
Polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked.
The cooked rice is pounded with wooden mallets (kine) in a
traditional mortar (usu). Two people will alternate the work,
one pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi. They must keep a steady
rhythm or they may accidentally injure one another with the heavy kine.
The sticky mass is then formed into various shapes (usually a sphere or
cube).
Mochi can also be prepared from a
flour of sweet rice (mochiko). The flour is mixed with water to a sticky opaque
white mass that is cooked on the stovetop or in the microwave[7] until it
becomes elastic and slightly transparent.
Popular uses for mocha
Confectionery
Many types of traditional wagashi and mochigashi (Japanese
traditional sweets) are made with mochi. For example, daifuku is
a soft round mochi stuffed with sweet filling, such as
sweetened red bean paste (an) or white bean paste (shiro
an). Ichigo daifuku is a version containing
a whole strawberry inside.[citation needed]
Kusa mochi is a green variety of mochi flavored
with yomogi (mugwort).
Ice cream
Small balls of ice cream are wrapped
inside a mochi covering to make mochi ice
cream. In Japan this is
manufactured by the conglomerate Lotte under the name Yukimi
Daifuku, "snow-viewing
daifuku". In the United States the grocery chains Trader Joe's, H Mart, Lotte,
and Mollie Stone's sell mochi ice cream in flavors of chocolate, mango, coconut,
green tea, coffee, red bean, vanilla, and strawberry. Mikawaya, a Japanese American-owned
company operating in Los Angeles, manufactures the variety that is sold by Trader Joe's, H
Mart, and Mollie Stone's.
The New Central Market in Anchorage, Alaska, provides
a variety of mochi and mochi ice cream products throughout Alaska. The Pinkberry, Yogen Fruz, Yogurtland,
Smackers, Spoon Me, Kiwi Loco, Peachwave, U-Swirl, Tutti Frutti,Kiwi Kraze, Menchie's, Mochi, and Red Mango frozen yogurt chains also offer mochi as standard topping on
their desserts (with Pinkberry offering it on their secret menu), available
upon request from customers. International frozen yogurt chains that offer
mochi as a topping include Indonesia's J.CO Donuts.
Soup
Oshiruko or ozenzai is a
sweet azuki bean soup
with pieces of mochi. In winter, Japanese people often eat it to
warm themselves.
Chikara udon (meaning
"power udon") is a dish consisting of udon noodles in soup
topped with toasted mochi.
Zōni. See New Year specialties below.
New Year specialties
Kagami mochi is a New Year decoration,
which is traditionally broken and eaten in a ritual called Kagami
biraki (mirror opening).
Zōni is a soup containing
rice cakes. Zoni is also eaten on New Year's Day. In addition to mochi, zoni
contains vegetables like taro,carrot, honeywort and
red and white colored kamaboko.
Kinako mochi is a
mochi dish that is traditionally made on New Year's Day for luck. This style
of mochi preparation includes roasting the mochi over a fire or stove, then
dipping it into water, finally coating with sugar and kinako (soy flour).[citation needed]
Other variations
Warabimochi is not true mochi,
but a jelly-like confection made from bracken starch and covered or dipped
in kinako (soybean flour) with sugar. It is popular in the
summertime, and often sold from trucks, not unlike ice cream trucks in Western countries.
More recently, "Moffles" (a waffle made from a toasted mochi)
has been introduced.[9] It is made in a specialized
machine as well as a traditional waffle iron.
Wagashi
Wagashi (和菓子 wa-gashi?) is a
traditional Japanese confectionery which is often served with tea, especially the types made of mochi, azuki bean paste,
and fruits. Wagashi is typically made from plant
ingredients
History
In Japan the word for sweets, okashi (お菓子?), originally referred to fruits and nuts.[2] China learned from India how to produce sugar and began
trading it to Japan.[2] The trade increased and sugar became a common seasoning by
the end of the Muromachi
period.[2] Influenced by the introduction of tea and China's
confectionery and dim sum, the creation of wagashi took off during the Edo period in Japan.
Types of wagashi
Amanattō: simmered azuki beans or
other beans with sugar, and dried - amanattō and nattō are
not related, although the names are similar.
Daifuku: general term for mochi (pounded
sweet rice) stuffed with anko
Dango: a small, sticky, sweet mochi,
commonly skewered on a stick
Dorayaki: a round, flat sweet consisting
of castella wrapped around anko
Hanabiramochi: a flat, red and white,
sweet mochi wrapped around anko and a strip
of candied gobo (burdock)
Ikinari dango: a steamed
bun with a chunk of sweet potato and anko in the
center, it is a local confectionery in Kumamoto.
Imagawayaki (also kaitenyaki): anko surrounded
in a disc of fried dough covering
Kusa mochi: "grass" mochi,
a sweet mochi infused with Japanese mugwort (yomogi),
surrounding a center of anko
Kuri kinton: a
sweetened mixture of boiled and mashed chestnuts
Manjū: steamed cakes of an surrounded
by a flour mixture, available in many shapes such as peaches, rabbits,
and matsutake (松茸) mushrooms
Mochi: a rice cake made of glutinous rice
Monaka: a center of anko sandwiched
between two delicate and crispy sweet rice crackers
Oshiruko (also zenzai): a hot
dessert made from anko in a liquid, soup form, with
small mochi floating in it
Sakuramochi: a rice cake filled with anko and
wrapped in a pickled cherry leaf
Taiyaki: like a kaitenyaki, a core
of anko surrounded by a fried dough covering, but shaped like
a fish
Uirō: a steamed cake made of rice flour and
sugar, similar to mochi
Warabimochi: traditionally made from warabi and
served with kinako and kuromitsu
Yatsuhashi: thin sheets of gyūhi (sweetened mochi),
available in different flavors, like cinnamon, and occasionally folded in a
triangle around a ball of red anko
Akumaki: one of the confections of Kagoshima
Prefecture
Botamochi
Botamochi (ぼたもち or 牡丹餅?) are a Japanese sweet made with sweet
rice and sweet azuki (red bean) paste. They are made by
soaking sweet rice for approximately six hours. The rice is then cooked, and a
thick azuki paste is hand-packed around pre-formed balls of rice.
A very similar sweet, ohagi (おはぎ?),
uses a slightly different texture of azuki paste, but is otherwise almost
identical. It is made in autumn. Some recipe variations in both cases call for
a coating of soy flour to be applied to the botamochi/ohagiafter the
azuki paste.
The two different names are derived from the Botan (peony)
which blooms in the spring and the Hagi (Japanese bush clover or Lespedeza)
which blooms during autumn.
Botamochi is the modern name for the dish Kaimochi (かいもち) mentioned in the Heian Period text Uji Shūi Monogatari (宇治拾遺物語).[citation needed]
Melon bread
A melonpan (メロンパン meronpan?) (also known as melon pan, melon bun or melon
bread) is a type of sweet bunfrom Japan,
that is also popular in Taiwan, China and Latin
America. They are made from an enriched dough
covered in a thin layer of crisp cookie dough. Their appearance resembles a
melon, such as a rock melon (cantaloupe).
They are not traditionally melon flavored,[1] but
in recent times it has become popular for manufacturers to add melon to melon
bread. Variations exist, including some with a few chocolate chips
between the cookie layer and the enriched dough layer, and non-melon versions
flavored with caramel, maple syrup, chocolate, or other flavors, sometimes with
syrup, whipped or flavored cream, or custard as a filling. In the case of such
variations, the name may drop the word "melon" ("maple
pan") or may keep it despite the lack of melon flavor ("chocolate
melon pan").
The name has a bilingual etymology,
since melon is a loan word from English,
while pan[2] is
from the Portuguese word
forbread.
In parts of the Kinki, Chuugoku, and Shikoku regions a
variation with a radiating line pattern is called "sunrise", and many
residents of these regions call even the cross-hatched melon pan "sunrise".[3]
Melonpan and pineapple bun from Hong
Kong are
very similar. By comparison the Japanese style is lighter in weight and taste,
slightly dryer and has a firmer outer layer (including top cookie crust) which
resists flaking unlike its Hong Kong counterpart, which should be treated with
care as the top cookie crust tends to flake easily. The Hong Kong version is
also more moist and is generally soft on the outside and inside and has a
stronger butter flavour.-wikipedia
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