Sweets ── Wagashi (Japanese sweets)
Daifuku
Daifuku — a soft mochi pouch wrapped around sweet bean paste
One of the most basic shapes in wagashi: pounded mochi wrapped around sweet bean paste. A thick, saltier mochi called "harabuto-mochi" is said to have been eaten in the Edo period, later shrinking into the handheld "daifuku-mochi" known today.
- Mochi and dango
What it's made of
The construction is about as simple as wagashi gets: pounded mochi wrapped around sweet bean paste. The draw is the contrast between the mochi's chewy pull and the smooth sweetness of the paste inside, and even small shifts in mochi thickness or in the choice of chunky versus smooth paste change the whole character. Variants folded with strawberries or beans are said to have spread as extensions of this same basic form.
How it's made
Steamed glutinous rice is pounded into mochi, shaped into a ball with a hollow at the center, filled with paste, and finished seam-side down. The wrapping has to happen quickly before the mochi cools and stiffens, and judging the temperature and firmness of both mochi and paste is said to be where a maker's skill shows. Potato starch is often used as the dusting flour.
Why it took this shape
One account holds that a thick, salted mochi called "harabuto-mochi" was eaten in the Edo period, and that it was scaled down into the smaller "daifuku-mochi" from the mid-Edo period onward. The shift toward a size that fits in one hand is said to be tied to its life as a common people's sweet, bought and sold quickly from stalls and street vendors.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- 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.
- Enjoying a bussanten (regional products fair)A guide to what's sold at a bussanten (regional products fair), how to find one, when it gets crowded, shelf life and taking food home, and how to fit one around a trip.
Dishes in the same style
- Ohagi / BotamochiLightly pounded rice coated in sweet bean paste, offered at the equinox. The speckled look of chunky bean paste is said to have been likened to bush clover blossoms in autumn — hence "ohagi" — and to peonies in spring, giving "botamochi."
- DangoA humble sweet of rice flour kneaded, shaped into balls, and steamed or boiled. Its prototype is said to date back to the Jomon period, when ground nuts and acorns were kneaded with water and rolled into balls — a form said to have taken root everywhere as an offering at festivals and rites.