"Kakimochi," farming families' traditional between-meals refreshments

Due to Sado's climate, a lot of people has traditionally been engaged in the production of rice. Because glutinous rice has also been grown, people's lives have had the custom of eating mochi (rice cake). Sado also produces the "Okesagaki" brand of persimmons, and these two specialties have led to the production of "kakimochi."
Traditionally, "kakimochi" has quietly been eaten as farming families' between-meals refreshments several times a year. "Okesagaki" persimmons, however, contain tannin and their Brix value is very high, and it is not easy to process dried persimmons. Partly because of this, people who make "kakimochi" have been decreasing in number, so even on Sado Island people who know that there exists "kakimochi" are growing fewer and fewer every year.

To develop "kakimochi" into "Sado's representative confectionery"

In the autumn, 2009, Mr. and Mrs. Igarashi, who had moved to Sado, launched out on the commercialization of this "kakimochi." The whole thing started when the desire of the wife, Naoko, whose orginal home was on Sado, led her husband Toshiro to try making kakimochi along with her. Naoko's desire was "to have many people know kakimochi as Sado's confectionery, because kakimochi is made from Sado' specialties and has been eaten from old times."
As the result of many trials and errors and studying, such as changing the amounts of the ingredients and changing the timing for mixing the ingredients, they finally succeeded in commercializing fried kakimochi as "Kakimochi-age," after adding to their preservability. Even after the commercialization, they have continued their everyday studies to stabilize the good quality of kakimochi which depends so much on the change of the weather.

Scrupulousness about raw materials

In making kakimochi, which is "Sado's confectionery," Mr. and Mrs. Igarashi have had a desire to make them from materials which are all produced on Sado.
One of the chief materials, glutinous rice, is the "Koganemochi" brand of rice produced on Sado while the other is Sado's "Okesagaki" brand of persimmons. The salt which is indispensable as a secondary material is "Sado-no-shio" (Sado's salt), which is made from Sado's sea water.
As for "Kakimochi-age,"they persistently stick with the principle of making it a noted product 100% produced on Sado.

Kakimochi-age is a little hard Japanese confectionery. The sweetness you feel wafting in your mouth after eating is the natural sweetness of the persimmon. No sugar or additives are used. The natural flavor is one of the charms of Kakimochi-age.