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| | Making Mochi – Traditional and Modern Methods |
 | | The mochi is pinched off in small balls of dough, and usually either filled with or coated in various tasty things, such as kinako (roasted soy flour), adzuki (a sweet bean paste), shoyu (soy sauce) or even pan fried in butter. |
 | | Two round, disk-like mochi cakes are stacked, the top one being slightly smaller than the bottom, and then a citrus fruit, usually uzu, or small orange is placed on top, and placed as an offering at the family shrine, or in some other prominent location for households without a shrine. |
 | | Aside from the men who pound the mochi, another job is the “mixer”, who sits or squats by the usu and reaches in to flip and move the mochi glob in between strikes of the hammers. |
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