Kurumi Mochi (Yubeshi) : Traditional Sweet Walnut Rice Cake
When it comes to the sweets unique to Japan, I think Mochi-Gashi is the quintessential Japanese confection genre.
“Mochi-Gashi (餅菓子)” usually refers to the Japanese confections whose main ingredient is glutinous rice or non-glutinous rice, and the representative example includes “Daifuku (大福)” and “Kashiwa Mochi (柏餅)“.
Other than Daifuku and Kashiwa Mochi, there are many varieties of Mochigashi in Japan, which include what I purchased this time.
Kurumi Mochi (くるみ餅), or Kurumi Yubeshi (くるみゆべし)
What I bought today for this blog article is this “Kurumi Mochi (くるみ餅)”. As you may know, “Mochi (餅)” is a plain white rice cake made by pounding steamed glutinous rice, while “Kurumi (くるみ)” means walnut in Japanese.
Hence, Kurumi Mochi, also called “Kurumi Yubeshi (くるみゆべし)”, is a Mochigashi sweet whose main ingredients are glutinous rice and walnut.
These Kurumi Mochi rice cakes I have now are individually packed not to stick to each other.
Actually, there are several types of Kurumi Mochi rice cakes in Japan and this one consists of Gyuhi and walnut bits.
“Gyuhi (求肥)” is an essential ingredient for Wagashi, which is made by heating and kneading a mixture of glutinous rice flour, sugar, and starch syrup.
As for this Kurumi Mochi, walnut bits are embedded in the sweet soy-sauce-flavored Gyuhi.
The rice cake is soft, chewy, a little sticky in texture, and has a subtle flavor of soy sauce in addition to a refined sweetness.
Although it is said that Kurumi Mochi, or Kurumi Yubeshi has several hundred years of history, the traditional confection is widely enjoyed in Japan even now.
Kurumi Mochi is available at supermarkets and Wagashi confectionery shops, so if you are interested and get a chance, why not give it a try?
Ingredients
Lastly, according to the ingredient list on the back of the package, the Kurumi Mochi I purchased this time is made with sugar, starch syrup, glutinous rice flour, glucose, walnut, starch, soy sauce, and salt.
(Reference page : Wikipedia ゆべし )
