Mochi from my hometown

It’s spring again, and I can’t help but miss the mochi from my hometown.

Mo Ci is a specialty of Zhejiang and Jiangxi. Mochi is a unique glutinous rice food in Yongkang, Jinhua. It is eaten by almost every household during folk house building, farming and the first half of the seventh lunar month. They are often sold in the market, but the Tianzhai mochi in the suburbs is the most famous. There are many kinds of it, including mochi diarrhea, mochi slippery, rice sieve flower, mochi edible fruit, etc. The finished product is as white as snow, soft as cotton, smooth and delicate, non-stick to the bowl, and can be eaten without nailing teeth. It is suitable for all ages. There are no taboos for eaters and it is very popular among people.

The production of mochi has a long history in the area where Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian meet. During the winter leisure and during the New Year and festivals, relatives and friends always gather together in a lively manner, and children are even more impatient. Looking at the hot and fragrant mochi, they all scramble for it. Very delicious.

After the autumn harvest, almost every household will make mochi, which is called "washing bucket" (the grain bucket used for threshing in the past). This means that during the autumn harvest, farmers are covered with chaff husk flakes, which makes their skin itchy. It is even inevitable that the chaff husk flakes will be inhaled into the stomach and may lead to illness. By eating mochi, these chaff husk flakes can be removed and eliminated. net. The mochi that has just come out of the mortar can be eaten with soybean flour and sesame seeds. It is sweet and soft, and is deeply loved by people.

Those made from glutinous rice are called mochi, and those made from late rice are called rice cakes. Making mochi during the Qingming Festival and rice cakes during the New Year are customs that have been passed down to this day among the people of Xinchang. In the past, it was customary to share sesame cakes when sweeping Taigong's tomb during the Qingming Festival. When it is the turn of the sacrificer, he must make preparations in advance. When the sacrifice is done, the mochi will be divided among the people on the spot in front of the tomb altar. This is the basis for the folk saying that "when you take mochi during the Qingming Festival, you will divide the mochi when you see people's heads." Xinchang County Chronicles: "There are many people sweeping the tomb of Taigong in the clan... After the memorial ceremony, the meat and mochi are divided." After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the custom of dividing mochi during the Qingming Festival has become rare, but making mochi during the Qingming Festival is even more popular. It's common. But its meaning is not just grave-sweeping. In Xinchang, there is also the custom of sending mochi during Qingming Festival. This is a kind of etiquette before getting married after two families get married. This custom has been popular in rural areas throughout the county for a long time. The same is true in the rural areas adjacent to Shengzhou City and Xinchang. When someone's family is about to marry a daughter-in-law, the man's family usually sends Qingming mochi to the woman's family before the Qingming Festival, which indicates that a new wife will come before the next Qingming Festival. After a daughter gets married, her parents have to send Qingming mochi back to the groom’s family during the Qingming Festival. It is said that this is a wish for the young couple to live a happy and sweet life as a couple. The most particular place to send Qingming mochi is the Huishan area. One week after the Spring Equinox, we start planning the ingredients. There are still five or six days before Tomb Sweeping Day, so we have to arrange the delivery. It would rather be one day earlier than one day later. The delivery time must be in the morning, so the mochi must be made in the afternoon or evening the day before. All ceremonial mochi must be filled with stuffing, which is called sugar-embedded mochi. The production is also more refined and pounded more thoroughly than usual, and the appearance is as good as possible. The size should be even, the length should be consistent, and the filling should always be sweet enough. The guy who delivers mochi also has his own way of doing things. Most of them are made of Tuankong (made of bamboo strips with fine craftsmanship and shaped like a shoe basket) or cut baskets. Arrange the mochi neatly inside one by one, put a green sack on the outside, and then tie it with a strong knot (to express auspiciousness and marriage). When delivering a gift to a daughter-in-law's family, the new son-in-law should usually carry it personally to show sincerity. If a new son-in-law is unable to leave on his own for some reason, his brother may send him off on his behalf. When a woman sends a gift to her husband's family, it is usually given by the new wife's brother. After the mochi is delivered, the mochi should be distributed immediately to the neighboring houses to show hospitality and generosity. At this time, the neighbors and villagers would gather around to see the new "hairy son-in-law" and get to know each other. Everyone would also know that this girl would get married soon. Therefore, there is also a saying among the masses that "if you eat Qingming cake, your baby will not be able to eat it properly". The same goes for the Qingming mochi sent by the girl's family to the man's family. They are always given to the neighbors and villagers to enjoy the meal. The villagers will always happily return the favor with a few polite words after receiving the mochi presented as a gift. Regarding sending Qingming mochi, there is a record in the new county annals that "some men's families in the countryside send Qingming mochi to the girl's family for three years to show that the family is well off." This is a thing of the past, now most people only give it away for one year.

To make mochi, you need to soak the glutinous rice in water first, wash it out and drain it when it is swollen enough, steam it in a steamer, mash it into a ball in a stone mortar, pound it, and then pull it while it is hot. Form into a dough of equal thickness and then fill with filling. The time for making Qingming mochi varies depending on the purpose. The earliest time to visit a new grave is three days after the Spring Equinox. Making mochi requires a certain amount of manpower and labor. Therefore, we often make appointments with brothers, uncles or neighbors to do it together. Everyone divided the work and cooperated, each dedicated his or her own efforts, which was both busy and lively. The young and strong men took turns pounding the mochi with a pestle (both sandalwood and stone), and one person was responsible for breaking the mochi while pounding. The man who pounded it was sweating profusely, and the person who was doing it was so hot that he made a fuss from time to time. Hiss. The housewives and the helping women are also setting up the fire to steam, preparing the dumplings (bamboo straw) and panels for spreading the mochi, as well as preparing the fillings. The main characters who join in the fun here are the children. They just crowd together around the stone mortar to watch the fun and wait to eat hot mochi. Most of the older elders were there, smoking, drinking tea, talking and laughing... There are many kinds of fillings used to embed mochi. There are bean paste, cowpea, oil sesame, etc. You can also use pickle filling or other mixed fillings according to your personal taste. There are also green mochi made by chopping the cotton green (called Ai in Shaoxing) into fine pieces and pounding it in in advance.

There are many ways to eat mochi, it can be fried, grilled...

Nowadays, few people in my hometown can make this kind of mochi, and it can only become a kind of hope for me. Memories that are out of reach