What is Mochi?

Do you know Mochi? What? You don’t know? O.K! I’ll tell you how to make mochi first.

First, you have mochi rice. It is very sticky and different from usual rice. Then you steam the rice. Then pound it into a cake. You can make it into balls or cut into squares.

The simplest way to eat moshi is to grill it and dip it in soy sauce. It is custom to eat zoni during New Year Holidays. Zoni is a soup with vegetables and mochi (You can see a recipe of zoni on another part of this Homepage).

The New Year was the season of the beginning of farming. The winter solstice passed and we welcomed to a god of farming. And we prayed for harvest. The point where the god comes down in the yard was the New Years decorative pine branches. Ancient Japanese people often see pine trees as such place.

Long ago, we thought that circle Mochi symbolized the heart, the soul and the life.

We made our soul with the rice that we grew and harvested. And we dedicated them

to God and were given new soul. Ancient Japanese thought this way.

Thus, Mochi on the New Year was one of the items Japanese people used to worship god.

Do you understand about Mochi? Mochi has been eaten at Japanese events, as well as in our daily life since the introduction of the rice, which is thought to be 2000 years ago. I hope you will have an interest in Mochi!

References: 『おせちと正月料理』（1983）婦人生活社