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PROCESSING OF MOCHI:

Basically, Mochi is kind of a low-calorie, low-fat rice cake. The cake has two essential raw materials, which are rice and water. The sticky rice (also called sweet rice, Oryza Sativa Var/Oryza Glutinosa, Glutinossticky rice, Glutinous rice, Waxy rice, Botan rice, Biroin Chal, Mochi rice, Pearl rice, and Pulut) (Schilling, 2014), whether brown or white, works the best for processing Mochi, while long-grain varieties, would not expand perfectly. Another important ingredient, which is water, is essential in the early stages of preparation. The other additives like salt, other seasoning and flavouring are important in terms of nutrition value and taste. However, the additives (like seeds, herbs, and spices) can cause the breakage of the cake, for this reason, they should not be added to the rice before the cake was made. When the proper combination of heat and pressure have applied the characteristic of rice will come up. The cake must be steamed rather than boiled until it gains the smooth and elastic texture. Then, the balls of rice will be flattened or cut into pieces or shaped into rounds (Okumura, 2016). The machines for mass production are a hugely expensive investment. Although the mass production made Mochi more accessible, time saving and simple, the manufacturers fear of preserving the popularity of this cake, which is the combination of ingredients, time, moisture and temperature. (Made How Forum, 2016)

The steps of manufacturing process of Mochi are as follows (according to the (Made How Forum, 2016) & (Schilling, 2014)):

1-     The first step is to sprout rice, which can be obtained by either the soaking method or the humidity method. In the soaking method, the rice is soaked in water until the desired moisture level attained (for example 10 kilogram rice is soaked for 6-12 hours). The final soaked rice volume should be 50% greater than the dried rice. Whereas, in the humidity method, the rice is removed in a circulated manner in the device similar to the grain dryer. The device would blow warm and moist air into the circulated rice.

2-     After sprouting, the rice should be dried. For this to happen, a mechanical dryer or heated environment is essential. Usually 38°-82°C is used. However, the length of time of drying depends on different factors, such as the quantity of the rice, the chemical component and the temperature of the environment.

3-     The next step is roasting. For roasting, the soaked and dried rice, an oven or a mechanical roaster is used. The rice would be transferred in long trays with approximately 1.3-centimeter depth to 90°-200° C for 30-60 minutes or until the rice become light brown.

4-     By removing the roasted rice to the environment below 27° C, the rice would be cooled down.

5-     The cooled rice should be ground by utilizing devices such as; a roller mill, burr mill, attrition mill, disintegrator mill or hammer mill.

6-      Then, the rice flour is placed in the rice cake machine. Each manufacturer has approximately 80-90 machines, and each machine has 1-3 cooking heads, which each makes one Mochi every 15 seconds.

7-     The rice flour should be soaked to a liquid. Different kinds of Mochi are soaked in different to different types of liquids such as water, milk, broth, juice, gravy, or artificial milk (like; soy, almond).

8-     There are hoppers above the machines. The soaked rice flour is placed into the hoppers.

9-     Then the soaked rice flour is removed from hoppers to the iron molds or cooking head in the machines by gravity force. The molds are heated to hundreds of degree.

10- While the molds are heated to hundreds of degree, the slide plated are opened and the molds exposed to a vacuum (the combination of heat and pressure).

11- After 8-10 seconds, the lids of the molds expands, so that the pressure would increase. At the end of the process of the combination of pressure and temperature, the cake would completely expand into the molds.

12- Once the desired expansion of molds received, the iron molds/cooking heads would open, and the rice cakes would softly fall on the conveyor belt.

13- The belt carries the cakes around different spraying heads, where different flavours and additives would be sprayed on them. The diverse flavours depend on different types of Mochi. However, usually the natural flavours are more preferred, for instance; salt-only, strawberry, mango, blueberry, apple cinnamon, caramel, almond, salsa, nacho, taco, and Tamari seaweed.

14- After adding different flavours, the cakes will be carried to the dryer tunnel, by the belt. In the dryer tunnel the moisture of the rice cakes will vanish.

15- At the last stage the belt moves them to the bagging area. In the bagging area, the cakes, are inspected carefully for any breakage or damage, then will be stacked, packaged, sealed, and labelled properly.

PRESERVATION OF MOCHI:

Keeping in the refrigerator for small amounts/short storage time is a proper method. But for preserving huge amount for a long time period, freezing is highly recommended. The best method for freezing is that wrap each Mochi tightly in sealable plastic bags and then freeze them. Although they can be kept in a freezer for almost a year, the freeze Mochi may suffer from losing flavour or softness or get freezer burn (Rice Cake, 2016).

REFERENCES:

·        CBS NEWS. (2015, January 02). Mochi deaths: Traditional New Year's food proves deadly again in Japan. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mochi-deaths-traditional-new-years-food-proves-deadly-again-in-japan/

·        Made How Forum. (2016). Rice Cake: Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Rice-Cake.html

·        Okumura, A. (2016). Processing Rice's Treasures. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.kikkoman.com/foodforum/thejapanesetablebackissues/18.shtml

·        Schilling, R. L., & Schilling, J. (2014, September 30). Patent US8846128 - Method of producing granulated and powdered mochi-like food product and wheat flour substitute. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.google.com/patents/US8846128

·        Sekiguchi, T. (2011, January 04). Mochi: New Year’s Silent Killer. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/01/04/mochi-new-years-silent-killer/