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🍚 Botamochi (Japanese Confectionary Made with Rice and Bean Paste)

“Botamochi” is an indispensable dish eaten on “Higan” (=equinoctial week). It is mostly eaten during the week of the spring equinox when peony flowers bloom. For the autumnal equinox, when Japanese clovers are in bloom, “ohagi” is typically eaten. At local confectionary shops, “botamochi” is made by molding mashed glutinous rice and short-grain rice into barrel shapes and covering them in azuki bean paste. Local farmers were busy so when preparing “botamochi”, they would put the cooked rice in a “chawan” and place the azuki bean paste on top. It is also eaten during the Bon holiday. There is a saying, “Botamochi for Bon, udon noodles at noon, and pumpkin soup with rice at night.”