Mochi making masters. Amazing! (not to mention dangerous)

[Cjay]

Take a minute to watch these lunatics - I mean, highly skilled Mochi making masters. Amazing!

Mochi (Japanese: 餅) is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice (not to be confused with gluten) pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time.


Traditionally, mochi was made from whole rice, in a labor-intensive process. The traditional mochi-pounding ceremony in Japan is Mochitsuki:

1. Polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked.
2. The cooked rice is pounded with wooden mallets (kine) in a traditional mortar (usu). Two people will alternate the work, one pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi. They must keep a steady rhythm or they may accidentally injure one another with the heavy kine. [duh, understatement!]
3. The sticky mass is then formed into various shapes (usually a sphere or cube).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6CAN3IznM