🍡 Kamamochi

In Iwate Prefecture, where the climate is cold and unsuitable for rice farming, different types of millets such as wheat, buckwheat and foxtail millet are grown. Due to this, many types of traditional dishes using wheat flour and millet flour were born. “Kamamochi” is one of such dishes. “Kamamochi” is made by creating a sweet paste using miso, brown sugar and walnuts and wrapping the paste in a flour dough. The “mochi” (=sticky cake) is shaped to look like half-moons. “Kamamochi” can be made using staple ingredients and so this dish has been enjoyed by many over a long period of time. It is said that the name of the dish comes from the Japanese word “kama” (=sickle), which is a tool for cutting grass and has a semicircular blade resembling a half-moon or the word “kamasu” (=bag made of woven straw), which are similar in shape to the “Kamamochi”. The dish has a different name in different regions and in the northern and central parts of Iwate Prefecture, it is called “Kamamochi” or “Kamayaki”. In the southern parts, the dish is referred to as “Ni-agemochi”. In the northern coastal region, it is called “Hyuzu”, and in the southern coastal region, it is called “Kamadango”. The name “Hyuzu” is said to come from the dumpling's resemblance to the shape of a flint. “Kamamochi” is served during short breaks from farming as a snack and is enjoyed by people of all ages. During times when sugar was considered a delicacy, sugar was omitted from the recipe.