🍱 Mame-shitogi
Mame-shitogi is a fresh sweet made by kneading boiled and ground green soybeans with rice flour and sugar. “Shitogi” means “to grind,” and normally, it refers to food offerings made with rice flour. Mame-shitogi is made with beans as a substitute. It is also known as “mame-suttogi.” The northern part of Iwate Prefecture is extremely cold due to the cold wind from the east called “yamase,” and because rice paddies were scarce, rice was precious. Therefore, beans, buckwheat, and millet were also cultivated and often eaten as supplements to the staple food. Mame-shitogi is also thought to be made by adding bulk to rice flour with green soybeans. Unlike edamame, which are soybeans before they ripen, green soybeans retain their green skin and insides even after maturity. Mame-shitogi was often made at home from autumn to winter when soybeans were harvested, but in particular, there was a custom of offering it to Daikoku-sama (December 9th in the lunar calendar) and Toshitori (December 12th), the mountain god. Also, in early spring, it was made to call for the nightingales. Even now, it is made at events such as Niwajimai (Akijimai), a farmer's event to give thanks for the year's farm work and harvest.