Sweets
Kibi Mochi, Awa Mochi, Tochi Mochi
Kibi mochi — mochi made with millet, foxtail millet, or horse chestnut instead of rice alone
In the mountain villages of Tanba, where rice alone was hard to grow, mochi has long been pounded with millet, foxtail millet, or horse chestnuts mixed into the sticky rice. Once a stand-in for a rice-scarce staple, its rustic flavor is now valued again and sold by confectioners at year's end.
- Origin: Kyoto
- About 390 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
This mochi is made by steaming and pounding grains like millet, foxtail millet, or horse chestnuts. It carries a distinctive flavor unlike mochi made purely from glutinous rice, along with a simple, faintly sweet taste, it's said. Grilling brings out more fragrance, and it's eaten in all kinds of ways — dipped in soy sauce, wrapped in nori for isobeyaki, or dusted with roasted soybean flour for extra sweetness. Since rice varieties were bred to be easier to grow, these grains have reportedly become scarce in their own right.
How it's made
Glutinous rice soaked overnight in water is mixed with millet or foxtail millet and steamed. Once drained, it's pounded in a mochi machine and shaped into round or cut mochi. For chestnut mochi, horse chestnuts are de-bittered and steamed together with the rice before being pounded the same way. The finished mochi is grilled or boiled, then enjoyed with soy sauce, nori, roasted soybean flour, or whatever a household prefers, it's said. Horse chestnuts are harvested from September into October, and mochi made from them is said to have long been enjoyed in that season.
Why it took this shape
With mountains covering the north and center of Kyoto Prefecture, the hilly areas had little flat land, and rice and wheat alone are said to have been hard to grow in sufficient quantity there. Millet, foxtail millet, and horse chestnuts were used to make mochi instead, said to have stood in for a staple grain in eras when rice couldn't be had reliably. In recent years these grains have reportedly drawn fresh attention as a health food for their nutritional value.
Before you go
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- At kissaten, cafes, and kanmi-dokoroThe difference between jun-kissa and chain cafes, the morning-set custom, and kanmi-dokoro staples like anmitsu and zenzai.
Dishes in the same style
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Kyoto
- Chirimen SanshoChirimen-jako simmered sweet-salty with fresh sansho peppercorns in sake, soy sauce, and mirin — a Kyoto side dish said to have begun as a cook's gift in the mid-Showa era. The peppercorns leave a sharp, fragrant aftertaste.
- Ebiimo to Bodara no TaitanEbi-imo, a striped Kyoto heirloom taro named for its shrimp-like ridges, simmers together with bodara, cod dried in Hokkaido. Gelatin from the dried cod is said to keep the taro from falling apart, while the taro's bitterness softens the cod — a textbook 'deaimon' pairing.
- Fushimi no SakeSake from Fushimi in Kyoto, a district fed by groundwater from the Momoyama plateau. Its water is said to be softer than Nada's, giving a round mouthfeel and gentle, full sweetness that overlaps with the profile recognized under the GI Kyoto geographical indication.
- GanmodokiTofu mixed with vegetables, rolled into balls, and fried. Known in Kyoto as hirousu or hiryōzu, thought to have taken this form through the vegetarian temple-cooking idea of a filling dish made without meat.
- Hamo no YakimonoPike conger, riddled with fine bones, is scored with the skilled honekiri cut and then grilled — teriyaki-glazed or salted — in Kyoto cuisine. Said to have taken root in landlocked Kyoto because the hardy fish could be carried in alive, it is also a festival food for Gion Matsuri, nicknamed the 'hamo festival.'
- Kamonasu DengakuKamonasu, a round Kyoto heirloom eggplant over 10cm across sometimes called the 'queen of eggplants,' is sliced and pan-fried in plenty of oil, then topped with a sweet miso reduced with sake and mirin. It is said to have long been grown on the alluvial fan of Kamigamo.