# Kashiwa Mochi ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Kashiwa Mochi

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
All of Yamaguchi Prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Joshinko (glutinous rice flour), anko (sweet red bean paste), and sarutoriibara leaves

## History, Origin, and Related Events
Tango-no Sekku, May 5, is celebrated as Children's Day in modern times. Depending on the region, various sweets such as chimaki, sasamaki, and beko-mochi (rice cake) are prepared and eaten. Kashiwa Mochi, which is eaten throughout Japan, is a celebratory rice cake made of fine white rice flour and white bean flour, and filled with red bean paste or miso bean paste. The leaves of sarutori ibara, a deciduous tree of the beech family, which wrap the rice cake, have been used since the Edo period (1603-1867) to bring good luck that "the family lineage will never cease" because the leaves do not fall until new shoots appear in early summer.In Yamaguchi Prefecture, it is one of the most popular local dishes, and has many aliases such as "hoten-do-mochi," "iginoha-mochi," "puton-mochi," and "botan-mochi. In the past, it was made and eaten at home during Tango no Sekku, rice planting, and Obon festivals. It is said that the rice planting, which was done by hand, was especially hard work, and the eating of "Kashiwa Mochi" was one of the pleasures. It is also said that once the Kashiwa Mochi were made, they were distributed to next door neighbors. It is also said that it was the role of the children of the household to go to the mountains to gather the sarutori ibara leaves that were indispensable for the kashiwa-mochi.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
Typical celebration rice cake for Children's day.

## How to Eat
Knead rice flour in water or boiling water. Divide the kneaded dough into portions, roll out lightly, and wrap the dough between the rounds of bean paste. Wrap the dough in sarutori ibara leaves and steam.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of traditions, preservation societies, social media use, modern approaches for commercialization etc.)Especially during the Children's day season, they are sold at Japanese confectionery stores.

## Ingredients
- Glutinous rice flour: 100g
- Joshinko (=glutinous rice flour): 100g
- Red bean paste: 200g
- Lukewarm water: 160 ml
- Sarutori bara leaves: 20 leaves

## Recipe
1. 1. Divide the sweet bean paste into 10 equal portions and roll into a ball.
2. 2. Mix glutinous rice flour and Joshinko (=glutinous rice flour), add lukewarm water a little at a time, and knead until the mixture is about the consistency of earlobes.
3. 3. Divide the mixture into 10 equal portions, wrap the bean paste in the mixture, and roll into a ball.
4. 4. Place the dough between two saruto-rii rose leaves that have been washed and drained, press the dough flat, and steam it in a steamer for 15 minutes. Dust the sarutori bara leaves with potato starch or oil to make it easier to peel off the leaves when eating.

## Provider Information
provider : Yae Morinaga

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