Unwrapping is the first fun part in having this.
Shingen-mochi by Kikyo-ya, Japan's favorite souvenir from Yamanashi prefecture named after a historical warlord Takeda Shingen (1521-1573). Inside the pretty cloth wrapper is a set of three bite-size pieces of tender mochi (rice cake) nestled in a pool of kinako (soy bean flour) along with a tiny bottle of kuro-mitsu (dark brown sugar syrup). Kinako and kuro-mitsu is by far the best combination of flavors among Japanese sweets in my book, and this one has been my all-time favorite.
9 comments:
i love it! i love all the detail, the wrapping, unwrapping, layers, procedures...does the little sharpened stick come with it as well?
Posted by santos.
Mmm...that looks quite tasty! I feel like eating mochi now. =) I have bought something similar at a korean supermarket except it was only mochi covered with kinako - no syrup. The mochi was salty though...is that how it's supposed to be?
Posted by Tea
That is one of my favorite sweets! Oishisooooooooo.
Posted by Mariko
Hi,
santos - yes it comes with every sinble bundle, just like you see in the first pic. Pretty :)
Tea - you absolutely can eat mochi with kinako only (no syrup), but was it salty? you mean, not sweet at all but just salty, or sweet AND salty? we usually sweeten kinako in most cases, but if it was a Korean food, it might be the way they do it, or what?
Posted by chika
Well, the mochi I ate was just salty. No sweet taste at all. Maybe it IS the korean style of mochi and kinako. =) I hope to try some of the Japanese style one day. Maybe I'll try making some myself since I have some kinako. ^-^
Posted by Tea
Hi Chika,
I really, really like mochi, and this one looks and sounds delicious. I've never had it with that sweet syrup before...I'm so jealous!
Posted by Reid
hello again,
tea - that's interesting, I have never had Korean-style mochi before... well like you said it's going to be the easiest to try and make one yourself. mochi with sweetened kinako alone is good enough!
Mariko & Reid - maybe I can send you a box if you don't mind giving me your mailing address. they are supposed to be good for at least 10 days and it should give them a plenty o time to reach you.
Posted by chika
Hi,
I enjoy reading your blog..how do you make your pictures so...deliciously vivid?
Interesting, I just received some shingen-mochi as omiyage last month! One of them looked like yours, and the other was wrapped in a brown and green paper furoshiki. The mochi inside was similar (from Kikyo-ya, covered with kinako) except it didn't come with kuromitsu and the mochi itself had finely chopped nuts in it. Would you happen to know what that one is called? I'd like to buy some, since I might be travelling to Japan this summer!
Thanks!
-Naomi (Oahu, HI)
Posted by Naomi
Hi Naomi,
sorry about the late reply. I'm positive that the one you had would have been "yubeshi", sweet mochi with chopped nuts and/or dried fruits, except that I couldn't find anything looking like yubeshi in Kikyoya's product lines on their website. Yubeshi is pretty popular Japanese sweets though, I am sure you will get to find some in Japan. Good luck!
Posted by chika
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