Mochitsuki 餅つき - Celebrating the New Year at Mitsuwa

While mochi (餅) is made and eaten all year round, the Japanese treat is made the old-fashioned way and consumed around the beginning of each new calendar year. Fortunately for me and other Chicagoans, Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington heights, Illinois, has a tradition of holding a mochitsuki (餅つき) or mochi pounding ceremony on January 1st. Since this fun ceremony is rarely done outside Japan, to be able to join in the fun at the largest Japanese market in the Midwest makes the New Year celebration even more delightful.

Let's face it. It's January 1st. Half the city are incapacitated by a hangover. There's not much to do, and you're all holiday-ed out. Might as well find out if there's any mochi pounding going on in your neighborhood and get some fun watching people pounding the heck out of steamed sweet rice. It's free entertainment* which brings about that warm and fuzzy feeling of seeing things done the old way.

Besides -- have you heard? -- they hand out free samples at the end.


There is not a lot of pomp and circumstance. There's no dance troupe. There's no traditional Japanese costume or anything like that. The participants are clearly amateur mochi pounders who are fun to watch even though they are a far cry from mastery. But what I like about the mochitsuki at Mitsuwa is the fact that it's done in a low-key, family-oriented, more intimate manner. There's a lot of laughter. The kids are also invited to take part in the pounding of mochi.


I'm not connected to the company or compensated for my write-up in any way shape or form, yet I have written two posts on Mitsuwa market in the past year. That says a lot about how much I love this place.


To make mochi the old-fashioned way, you need to cook pre-soaked Japanese glutinous short grain rice, Mochigome (もち米), by steaming it. While the rice is piping hot, dump the whole potful into a huge wooden mortar called the Usu (臼) which has been moistened with water.


With a big wooden mallet, Kine (杵), which has also been moistened, slowly mash the hot rice, moistening the mallet along the way, until the kernels start to fall apart and form a thick paste. Once the rice paste is beginning to get thick and smooth, just pound away.

It's important to moisten both the mallet and the surface of the rice paste as you pound to keep the paste from sticking to the mallet and the mortar bowl. Flip the rice paste constantly to make sure no parts escape the wrath of the mallet.


The kneading and pounding going on in the mortar turns the hot rice into a very sticky sweet paste, ready for you to turn it into any one of the several kinds of mochi you like.

My favorite mochi is daifuku mochi (大福餅) -- a small round of mochi with sweet red bean paste filling (漉し餡), generally referred to as anko ((餡子), and hanabira mochi (花びら餅) which is similar to daifuku except for the fact that it's shaped like a flower petal and looks very dainty and delicate with a bit of pink filling peeking through the translucent mochi dough.


At Mitsuwa, at the end of the ceremony, small pieces are pinched off the large glob of pounded rice and served to the eager crowd.


Some is served dusted with roasted soy bean flour (きな粉 or きなこ); some is served with the previously mentioned sweet red bean paste.


I like the latter much better as it is essentially my favorite Daifuku mochi deconstructed, if you will. Besides, there's something about having flour-dusted food close to your face that reminds me of some cruel, created-solely-for-public-humiliation camp games to which I fell victim years ago. But that's just me. I have weird phobia like that.


*In most cases, I believe it's free. However, I know some mochi pounding events require tickets.