Soft, fresh, light and colorful, Japanese mochi are among the country’s most famous desserts, which are becoming popular all over the world with great success.
The mochi
Not everyone knows this Japanese sweet, but as you can imagine it is based on rice. However, we all know the love that Asian countries have for this food, they even use it in many sweet and savory preparations. Specifically i mochi are made with glutinous ricethat is, a specific technique called mochitsuki. We start by steaming the rice, successively, as tradition requires, it is placed in a large mortar and pounded. During this process, the cooperation of at least 2 people is necessary, because while one crushes, the other adds water until the right consistency is reached.
Colorful mochi-wineandfoodtour.it
At the end of the process, a smooth but sticky and workable dough is obtained. From this result spheres that are abundantly filled with classical sweet bean jam Japanese. Today, however, this dessert is made more simply thanks to food processors and is also easily available in Asian stores and patisseries. We also find them in various flavors and colors: green, red, yellow, brown etc., each with different and fresh flavors. The consistency of this dessert is very smooth and almost sticky, in fact it usually is not recommended for children and the elderly, because it could stick to the palate. But how was born this delicious dessert that conquers everyone?
History of Japanese dessert
Be able to find a real story associated with the birth of this sweet that illustrates the Japanese culture It is a little bit hard. However, its very similar characteristics to another dessert make it passable nian gao. This dessert is nothing more than a cake made more or less in the same way as mochi, we can say that mochi is a smaller and slightly revised representation of this dessert. But how are they prepared? Nian Gao means literally cake of the year and is prepared as a ritual right around New Year’s Eve as a good omen for the new year.
Dessert with glutinous rice-wine andfoodtour.it
When he prepares on this occasion both the nian gao that the mochi obtained by the traditional process (mochitsuki). Desserts taken are usually served at this time with a Hate soup. However, this sweet is also used in certain ceremonies or more simply offered at the end of a meal in restaurants or in traditional cuisine.
Reputation as a sweet killer
Unfortunately over the years i mochi have earned his reputation sweet killer just for her percentage of deaths they caused. As we have seen, this sweet is basically very sticky and therefore if not chewed properly it can get stuck in the throat and cause choking. However, today there is much more awareness and therefore measures are being used to recruit it. In fact, it would be good to eat it in small bites and chew it carefully, or if it is offered to the elderly or children, it would be good to cut it into small pieces.