Machine Production of Mochi and Daifuku: Anti-Stick, Wrapping Strawberries, and Mochi Ice Cream

Mochi-type confections are called mochigashi (餅菓子) in Japan, and daifuku is the most representative of them. Their wrapper is made of glutinous rice, which is extremely sticky and highly extensible, but also the material most likely to stick to a machine. Throughout the history of Japanese encrusting machines, handling this kind of sticky material has always been a focus.

How Do You Run Sticky Mochi on a Machine?

The stickiness of mochi is the nature of glutinous rice starch (mainly amylopectin) after gelatinization. Machines deal with it mainly in these ways:

1. Anti-stick dusting flour: Cooked glutinous rice flour, corn starch, or potato starch is used as dusting flour, sprinkled at the hopper outlet and on the conveyor. The peripherals on RHEON's Japanese website include a "hygienic brushless flour coater" (サニタリーブラシレス粉付機, for dusting formed products) and a "flour remover" (手粉払い機, for removing excess dusting flour).
2. Material temperature: Mochi is softest and stickiest when warm, and hardens and loses extensibility as it cools. The machine temperature must strike a balance between "soft enough to wrap" and "not so sticky that it glues up."
3. Sugar in the recipe: Sugar slows the retrogradation and hardening of glutinous rice and keeps the wrapper soft after refrigeration or freezing; gyuhi (求肥) is glutinous rice dough with a large amount of added sugar.
4. Contact surfaces and structure: The parts of the encrusting machine that touch the mochi and the feeding method affect how sticky materials perform. RHEON's company history also records that the N208, released in 1986, used a "non-stick encrusting mechanism" (非粘着インクラスター).

Can Strawberry Daifuku Be Made by Machine?

Yes, but a strawberry is a "solid" and cannot be extruded from a nozzle like red bean paste. The strawberry daifuku (いちご大福) page on the website of Japan's RHEON lists the universal encrusting machine KASEIJIN (火星人) CN700, a "solid-ingredient encrusting unit" (固形物包あん装置, an option that feeds solids into the encrusting machine), and a flour duster. In other words, wrapping whole fruit requires a dedicated solid-ingredient feeder.

Two common methods:

• Solid-ingredient feeder: The strawberry is first wrapped in a layer of red bean or white bean paste, and then the encrusting machine wraps it in mochi.
• Semi-manual: The strawberry is first wrapped in filling by hand to make a filling ball, and then the machine wraps the mochi around it.

Strawberries vary in size and have high water content, and juice from cut surfaces makes the mochi wrapper wet and soft. Strawberry daifuku is usually sold refrigerated and has a short shelf life.

How Is Mochi Ice Cream Made?

Mochi ice cream (called 餅アイス in Japan) is listed among the wagashi products on RHEON's Japanese website, and the products the KN551 can make on its U.S. website also include Mochi Ice Cream. The key to making it is "temperature":

• The ice cream must be frozen firm enough to be handled as a "filling."
• The mochi wrapper must stay soft after freezing, so the recipe often includes more sugar or other moisture-retaining ingredients.
• After wrapping, the products go into blast freezing immediately to keep the ice cream from melting.

During production, as soon as the ice cream softens, it deforms and leaks out, so the work environment, encrusting speed, and the handoff to freezing are all critical.

Applications of Dong-Yih Models

The suitable products listed on Dong-Yih Machinery's website for the DY-528MS Taro Ball and Sweet Potato Ball Dividing Machine include mochi, as well as dividing fillings such as red bean paste and mung bean paste, with an output of 3,000–12,000 pieces/hour at 10 g–30 g per piece or heavier. When making mochi and daifuku, you can use it to portion the mochi dough or filling first. Products that require solid-ingredient feeding, such as wrapping strawberries or ice cream, are not on the website's list of suitable products; please call 06-257-4644.

For tangyuan, see Machine Production of Filled Tangyuan and Small Tangyuan.

Cleaning

Once mochi residue dries, it hardens and is very difficult to clean out of crevices. We recommend disassembling and washing immediately after finishing work. Before disassembly, stop the machine, cut the power, and apply lockout/tagout; this is required by Article 57 of the Occupational Safety and Health Facilities Regulations (職業安全衛生設施規則) for cleaning and servicing.

FAQ

Q: Can mochi be wrapped with an encrusting machine?
A: Yes. Wrapping filling in mochi is a classic application of encrusting machines; the keys are anti-stick dusting flour, machine temperature, and the recipe.

Q: Can strawberry daifuku be produced fully automatically?
A: Wrapping whole strawberries requires a solid-ingredient feeder; otherwise, the strawberries are first wrapped in filling by hand, and then the machine wraps the mochi around them.

Q: Why does the mochi ice cream wrapper stay soft after freezing?
A: The recipe usually includes more sugar (similar to gyuhi), which slows the retrogradation and hardening of glutinous rice.

Q: Can Dong-Yih's machines make mochi?
A: The suitable products listed on Dong-Yih's website for the DY-528MS include mochi and dividing fillings such as red bean paste and mung bean paste; for encrusting needs, please call us.