Hi there, and...

[takanohana]

Hi,
Was just surfing, looking for a source of glutinous brown rice for making my own brown rice mochi. You can buy brown rice mochi in many places here in the US, and you can buy good short grain brown rice for rice cooking. But I can't seem to find brown rice (genmai) for brown rice mochi (genmai mochi).
Can anybody point me in the right direction?

[ChristinLee]

maybe I'm mistaken, having never actually made mochi before, but according to many of my macro cookbooks (including The Self-Healing Cookbook, by Kristina Turner) "Sweet Brown Rice" is used in mochi. It is a very glutinous brown rice that is also great cooked with aduki beans, made into patties and fried. I've found it in bulk in many natural food stores, including Whole Foods, and is probably available online via the Kushi Store...

[Klara]

Please everybody,

This forum is supported by your support for the shop on this site - and it has amazing products. I highly encourage all of you who live in the States to take advantage and shop on this site.

Here's the link for the Sweet Brown Rice:

Lundberg Organic Sweet Brown Rice 2 lb. Clear Bag

and here are six different mochi's you can choose from:

Natural Foods - Mochi

and there's plenty of non-food items, personal items, books, so much. Have a look.

I have no personal interests in the store, but have been ordering whenever I make a visit to the States and am thrilled to be able to get items in large quantities so they last me a while.

Klara

[WonderlandAlli]

>.>

Isn't that just short grain brown? I didn't think there was a special rice for mochi, just that its short. I know white tends to be used because it gets extra gooey and sweet from the starch. (I'd definately use brown tho, I never buy white anymore. Why waste good fiber?)

Essentially its made by boiling, pounding (a LOT) and then shaping, right? maybe with a sweetener in it? Never made it but seen it in anime a lot. *dork*

[garymill]

Bruce let me know that the info on my site which I originally took from Lundberrg Farm's web site really referenced only regular brown rice and not sweet.

I just updated the information and this is the main part.


Brown Sweet rice has a natural sweet taste and offers the benefits of whole grain goodness. On cooking, the grains cling together because of the sticky texture. This rice is ideal for use in Asian recipes and rice puddings. Lundberg® Brown Sweet Rice is not processed and has only the husk removed to ensure full flavor and purity.


Sweet Brown rice is of course most often used to make mochi and also amasake.

[WonderlandAlli]

Sounds like something I'll have to try someday. I wasn't sure if there was a difference or what.

[azulparsnip]

Thanks for the link Klara. I made what I thought was mochi last year. I procured a pounding stick at the oriental market and went to work on some cooked short grain brown rice pounding for about 30 minutes. Then I shaped it into a rectangle log and dried it and then put it in the frig. I sliced and pan fried it and it did puff up a tiny bit.....but then we went on vacation and it went to the bad. What does mugwort taste like. Which of these varieties do you suggest trying first?

[Bruce Paine]

Hi,

I was introduced to mochi sometime in 1980 when Grainnaissance started producing it in the East Bay of San Francisco.

I have made it a few times using organic sweet brown (glutinous) rice.

The following is an excerpt from The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eating by Rebecca Wood :

"RICE (Oryza sativa)


Grain upon grain
Fresh and delightful as frost
A dazzling jewel
To what can I compare this treasure.
-Yang Ji (Ming Dynasty


Rice is the staple food for more than half the world's population. What an incomprehensible number of people are probably sitting down right now to a bowl of rice. The word meal is synonymous with rice in both - the Chinese and Japanese languages, just as in English the word meal originally referred to our staple food-ground grain. As grain no longer enjoys this prominence in United States, it is sometimes difficult to appreciate the importance of rice to cultures where it is the staple.

Americans eat about 25 pounds of rice person per year, compared to more than I pounds per person per year in the Far East. The United States grows about I percent the world's rice and exports about 60 percent of this crop. Less than 2 percent of the U.S. production is brown or whole grain rice.

Health Benefits Rice generates energy and promotes good digestion. it quenches thirst, . relieves mental depression, and stops diarrhea that's been caused by spleen-pancreas defeciency. White rice digests more quickly than brown; however, because it is refined it is not a strengthening food. Basmati rice is tridoshic.

Brown rice reduces vata and may slightly aggravate kapha and pitta.

Brown rice is the highest of all grains in B vitamins, but somewhat lower than others in protein. It contains iron, vitamin E, amino acids, and linoleic acid. Shortgrain brown rice contains less protein but more minerals; it is heartier and more strengthening than the long-grain.

Sweet, or glutinous, rice is more warming, higher in protein, and more easily digested than regular rice. It strength the kidneys, spleen-pancreas, and stomach.... "
(to read the rest of this article and the rest of the book please visit the macrobiotic or vegetarian and vegan book section of Simply Natural or your local public library.

The following excerpt comes from
Macrobiotic Diet: Balancing Your Eating in Harmony with the Changing Environment and Personal Needs: by Michio and Aveline Kushi with Alex Jack :

"14. Pounded Rice. Cooked or steamed rice that is pounded, crushed, and
prepared into small bite-size squares is called mochi. In addition to regular brown rice. sweet brown rice is traditionally used for this preparation because of its light, sweet taste and glutinous texture. Sweet brown rice mochi is often called "pounded rice cake." After drying, the pounded rice cakes can be preserved for long periods, prepared by baking, steaming, or boiling in soup, or soaked in hot tea.

In the Far East, mochi is traditional served on New Year's and other special occasions. During pounding, steamed beans, mugwort, and other ingredients may be added to make many unique varieties. Mochi may be enjoyed plain or served with a variety of toppings, ranging from sea salt and tamari soy sauce to brown rice syrup. Today, modern mochl is often made with white rice, white flour, sugar, and other highly refined ingredients. On the macrobiotic diet, these are carefully avoided.

Snacks may also be made from dried mochi. These are produced by drying thin flattened slabs of pounded rice in the shade and either puffing them up or lightly roasting. Depending on the size, they are called sembei (for flatter and larger sizes) or okaki (for fatter and smaller sizes). Seasoned and flavored with a touch of sea salt, tamari soy sauce, roasted sesame seeds, and/or sea vegetable as nori, these make chewy and healthful snacks.

15. Pounded Sweet Rice Balls. Lightly pounded sweet rice balls known as ohagi may also be prepared for parties and special occasions. Simpler to make than mochi, they may be coated with various ingredients including ground sesame seeds, ground roasted walnuts, azuki beans with a little rice syrup, pur'eed chestnuts kinako soy flour, and squash pur'ee."

Sweet brown rice can also be used to make amasake.

I'm sorry that I have so little to share. Maybe I will have more, next time!

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[azulparsnip]

Bruce, can you tell a little about your personal experience making mochi? How long did you pound the rice? When did you know when to stop? What was the size/dimensions of the shaped pounded rice? Did you dry it? How did you prepare & eat it? Where/ how did you store it? Wrapped ? in frig?

[azulparsnip]

probably should move this to the food forum

[Bruce Paine]

Here is fine for the moment, azulparsnip!

It's more than 20 years since I last made mochi and since I did not do it regularly, I forget what my entire process was.

I have made ohagi when visiting Rosanna Martella, and here is her newsletter containing the mochi recipe that she uses often.

If you want to have a public discussion with her on this subject or any other appropriate one, please visit macrosy7 and post, there!

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine