‘Hinakko mochi’ is made in Akita Prefecture’s Kakunodate, in Kawasaki city. People make them at home too for Hina-matsuri (Dolls Festival) and put them on the doll stand as an offering. In Kakunodate, a castle town, not only dolls passed… Read More
Hatsu-uma Dango are a cocoon-shaped sweet offered on the first ‘day of the Horse’ in February (‘Hatsu-uma’) at Inari shrines all over Japan, to pray for good harvest, good fortune, and the safety of one’s family. Sometimes a single azuki… Read More
Sakura-Mochi (Cherry Blossom Rice Cakes) is usually made from Domyoji-ko (mochi flour) and remain a popular springtime sweet loved by children. Although it may be hard to find Domyoji-ko in Australia, I use glutinous rice and make it in the… Read More
Green soybean rice cakes (‘mame-shitogi’) are made near the border of Aomori and Iwate prefectures. Originally they were made with dried soybeans, which were soaked, boiled, and mashed, then combined with pulverised rice. Some say this was a precursor to… Read More
Inoko-mochi is eaten on ‘Day of the Boar’, the 10th day of the 10th month of the old lunar calendar, to express thanks for good health and harvest and to pray for your descendents. Originally from China, this custom was… Read More
’Uki-uki Dango’ (Floating Dumplings) are so named because the millet-flour dumplings float after being simmered in sweet azuki bean soup. They originate in Iwate Prefecture, where traditionally they were made as offerings when thanking or praying to the gods. Millet… Read More
Kenka mochi is a traditional food from Monobe, in Kami District, Kochi Prefecture. The town is a proud producer of sweet potato and taro, and this sweet is made of both of them in equal amounts. The sweet potatoes you… Read More
Today’s recipe is not exactly a ‘sweet’ but a traditional, regional form of ‘okowa’ (sticky rice cooked with other ingredients). Mitori Okowa is made not with red azuki beans but with black mitori beans, a variety of black-eyed pea, cultivated… Read More
This sweet treat has a slightly strange name – Herahera Dango (‘delicate dumplings’). They are originally from Sajima in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and were chosen by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as one of Japan’s ‘100 Best Local… Read More
Himuro Manju, a kind of sake steamed bun, is a summer specialty in Kanazawa. In winter, fresh snow was stored in a ‘himuro’ (ice house), and on the 1st of June in the old lunar calendar (1st of July today)… Read More
