Pound ‘em
Hello! Here’s the latest article I wrote. It’s a collaboration between myself and Baron Sekiya, editor of Hawaii 24/7. I’m visiting family on the Big Island so I got in touch with Baron and he invited me to join him at Donkey Mill Art Center in Kona to watch some mochi pounding:
Mochi, that sweet, sticky rice treat sought by cultists of Two Ladies Kitchen in Hilo, and available in the freezer section of your grocery store via the Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream company, has a more humble history as a traditional New Year’s food.
Traditional mochi is made from an especially glutinous short-grained rice that is first soaked in water for 24 hours then steamed over an open fire for an additional hour. From there, it makes its way to a wooden usu (large Japanese mortar, usually made of wood or stone) where it is pounded by someone weilding a kine (large wooden mallet that serves as pestle to the usu). The grains of rice are mashed to a sticky-smooth doughlike consistency, then transferred to a long wooden table where small chunks are pinched off and molded into round, palm-sized, flat-bottomed rice cakes.
Read the full article here.
