Rice Flour

More about the unique ingredients and processes used to make Japanese wagashi confectionery.

Rice is broadly divided into two categories: uruchi-mai non-glutinous rice, commonly eaten as steamed rice; and mochi-gome glutinous rice, used to make mochi. Both types are used in making rice flour, which is a primary ingredient of wagashi. Depending on milling and preparation processes, the rice yields characteristic flours intended to produce a specific quality and texture of wagashi—a clean bite, chewy-sticky or smooth, for example. The three essential types of rice flour are joshin-ko, domyoji-ko and dango-ko.

Made from uruchi-mai non-glutinous rice, joshin-ko is produced by washing, drying and milling the rice into flour, then sifting it to obtain uniform particle size. Mixed with boiling water and kneaded, this dough has a firm, springy texture. Joshin-ko is commonly used to make wagashi such as uiro steamed rice cakes, kusa-mochi mugwort mochi and kashiwa-mochi wrapped in oak leaf.

Domyoji-ko is made by steaming, drying and then coarsely grinding glutinous mochi-gome. This unique process preserves the distinctive flavor and aroma of glutinous rice, which are fully elicited when the dough is steamed to make wagashi. Wagashi made using domyoji-ko are soft and slightly sticky, distinguished by a chunky appearance containing visible rice granules. The best-known example is Kansai-style sakura-mochi—light pink rice cake filled with anko sweet red bean paste, wrapped in a fragrant, salt-pickled cherry leaf.

This flour is milled from a blend of washed and dried uruchi-mai and mochi-gome. Dango-ko dough comes together rather easily when water is added for kneading, thanks to the sticky quality of the glutinous rice. The dough is shaped into small balls and boiled to produce dango, which have a smooth, chewy and pleasantly springy bite. Cooked dango are typically threaded onto skewers and enjoyed with a variety of toppings like anko sweet red bean paste or mitarashi sweet-savory soy sauce glaze.