This year, I skipped most of the New Year's traditions, but the one thing I couldn't do without was mochi. If I don't have mochi on New Year's day, it just doesn't feel like New Year's. Things were so hectic at the end of last year that I hadn't bought any mochi, so I decided to make it from scratch. Nowadays, we have all sorts of recipes online. It was easier than I expected. Here's a photo of the mochi I made. I'm happy with the results.
By the way, in Japan, about 3,500 people per year choke on mochi. This is roughly the same number as traffic fatalities. More than half of them die in January. A lot of elderly people only eat mochi in January, so they don't realize how weak their ability to swallow has become after a year to the point that they can't eat mochi properly. I don't think it'd be so bad to die that way if I was over 85.
I never knew mochi had this many accidents wow! I never had plain mochi but made some mochi brownie from a box and the texture was very interesting, I can somewhat imagine why people might suffocate but great job on making your own!
あけましておめでとうございます。ゆっくり食べてくださいね🙂
@Car1bbeanpolyglot Thank you for commenting! I assure that mochi brownie will never kill us, but we tend to fill our mouth with big plain mochi. So if you can't bite it into small pieces in your mouth and swallow properly, plain mochi goes to trachea. It's very dangerous, but we can't celebrate new year without mochi.
@Aki_ あけましておめでとうございます🎍 私はいろいろなことを甘く見がちなので、心して餅を食べることにします◻️
I miss mochi! And it's true, it's a deadly weapon. I don't let my parents eat it anymore, well, unless when I'm with them. Thankfully, they don't like it as much as I do, or you do, so it's not a problem.
@Lariza The simplest way to make me happy is to stuff my mouth full of mochi! I only used a wooden pestle to pound my homemade mochi, thus it wasn't as dense as good mochi. Compared to other mochi, it might be safer.