On Sunday, December 26th, family and friends came over to continue our 50+ year tradition of making mochi or
mochitsuki. I was talking to my dad and he said one of our mochi machines is over 50 years old. He was trying to figure out the timeline based on his service in the Air Force during the
Korean War. Yeah...let's just say my family has been doing this forever.
Mochi making starts with washing the rice. My mom washed 150 pounds of the special sweet mochigome rice from
Koda Farms (that is 15 bags of rice!!!). It soaks overnight, then small batches are placed in steamers. Yes, we've taken the gas line from the dryer in the garage to make these outdoor steamers.
The hot rice is placed in the mochi machine. It's ground up and comes out piping hot!
Each mochi is cut off the machine and handed to the catcher who forms it into a ball and places it onto a full sheet tray (photo on right). Friends and first time mochi makers Alison and Nicole! They were awesome!
After sitting on a cooling rack for a bit, the mochi get transferred to tables covered in mochiko flour. Then they go off and get packed up. This goes on for HOURS. Serious...we start about 9 am and end around 2 pm.
The mochi packaging "store". We make packages for family and friends. After mochi making, the
Mochi Express delivery process begins. We deliver most of it by car, but also vacuum seal some and ship it off to relatives in Vermont!
Food. Food. Food. We had the typical Japanese American potluck...some sushi, rice dishes and lots of Mexican. :) See the Mochi Factory Gingerbread house? JustJenn made it and you can read the post
here. I made a few food items and will be posting them soon!
The Japanese have been making mochi since them
ancient Japan years. I'm sure the Samurai Warriors had a bouncy house too, no? Since we have lots of kids coming, the bouncy house is awesome.
Oh yeah, not just kids end up in the bouncy house! :)
Finally, this was Cidney the Dog's first mochitsuki too! She was so excited to meet everyone and was very good. However, when everyone left, she whined for a few seconds, "Where did the party people go?!"...and then crashed out. Mochi making is exhausting!
A friend of the family came for the first time and said, "My best friend is Japanese American, my husband works for a Japanese company...and I've never heard of anyone doing this." Yeah, that's pretty much true! Some families may make very small batches, but most Japanese and Japanese Americans will buy mochi from the store. Our family is kinda crazy making 150 pounds of mochi. Ha ha. However, it's sometimes the only time I see my cousins and their kids all year...so I'm glad we have this tradition!
Happy New Year everyone! I'm looking forward to heading over to
JustJenn's New Year celebration where she makes all the traditional Japanese New Year's food and puts a toasted mochi in a bowl of special soup called ozoni...bringing you luck and good health in the new year.
Links:
JustJenn's recap of my family's mochi making
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