Kurumi Yubeshi: Traditional Wagashi Walnut Mochi Cake

“Mochi Gashi (餅菓子)” is the Japanese word for Wagashi confections whose main ingredient is glutinous rice or non-glutinous rice, and the representative examples include “Daifuku (大福)” and “Kashiwa Mochi (柏餅)“. Actually, other than Daifuku and Kashiwa Mochi, there are many varieties of Mochigashi in Japan, which include what I introduce here.

Kurumi Mochi (くるみ餅)

What I bought this time is the product shown in the photo “Kurumi Mochi (くるみ餅)”. As you may know, “Mochi (餅)” is a plain white rice cake made by pounding steamed glutinous rice “Mochi Gome (餅米)”, while “Kurumi (くるみ)” means walnut in Japanese.

Thus, Kurumi Mochi, also known as “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 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 one of the essential ingredients for Wagashi. It is a kind of rice cake 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, and a little sticky with a faint soy sauce flavor and a refined sweetness to it.

It is said that Kurumi Mochi, or Kurumi Yubeshi, has several hundred years of history, and even now, the traditional Wagashi confection is widely enjoyed in Japan and is available at many supermarkets and Wagashi specialty shops.

Ingredients

Lastly, according to the ingredient list on the back of the package, the Kurumi Yubeshi I purchased this time mainly consists of sugar, starch syrup, glutinous rice flour “Mochiko (もち粉)”, dextrose, walnut, starch, soy sauce, and salt.

(Reference Page: Wikipedia ゆべし )