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Mayudama(Cocoon Balls) ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

  • Gunma Prefecture

    Mayudama(Cocoon Balls)

Mayudama(Cocoon Balls)

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  • Mayudama(Cocoon Balls)
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    Image Provider: Gunma Food Culture Study Group NPO

  • Main lore areas

    Entire Prefecture

  • Main ingredients used

    Ingredients like rice flour, millet flour, or corn flour

  • History/origin/related events

    The sericulture industry has been thriving in Gunma for quite some time, and even now the prefecture is focused on the industry’s further cultivation via such methods as the use of original silkworm breeds to make “Gunma silk,” as well as practical applications for genetically modified silkworms. For that reason, “cocoons” became highly valued and indispensable in the sericulture industry, and “cocoon balls,” an event food made from rolling right flour, millet flour, and corn flour became popular. However, unlike many other local delicacies, rather than being made for immediate consumption, cocoon balls are traditionally served as offerings. For example, on January 13, two days before the Little New Year festival, it is customary to make cocoon balls from millet flour and attach them to the branches of mulberry trees, resembling flowers. Additionally, Hatsuuma, a celebration of the first day of the ox in February, is a day for plentiful silkworm harvests within Agatsuma County, Gunma. 16 cocoon balls are made and offered to shrines and wells. It could be said that these customs show vividly the value people place on the cocoons that bolster the sericulture industry.

  • Opportunities and times of eating habits

    On the evening following the decorations of the cocoon balls on January 13, they are brought out to the rice fields and grilled during the “Dondo-Yaki” held during Little New Year. It’s said that eating toasted cocoon balls will prevent illness. In addition, sometimes azuki bean porridge with cocoon balls added in is made on the morning of Little New Year. Similarly to Dondo-Yaki, this is also a prayer to avoid epidemics, as well as for the prosperity of the sericulture industry.

  • How to eat

    Dissolve millet flour in hot water, roll into balls, and boil. After grilling it for Dondo-Yaki or offering it to a Shinto altar on New Year’s day, it is common to eat it with sugar or soybean flour. Also, be sure to make the azuki bean porridge with pre-boiled beans and rice before adding the cocoon balls, and eat them together with others.

  • Efforts for Preservation and Succession

    (Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)
    Cocoon balls are still popular now as event food in each household. In addition, according to “Gunma’s food culture inheritance text,” a document provided by Gunma Prefecture, there is a custom of offering cocoon balls as a type of “mochi flower” at the Kagamibiraki event on January 11.

RECIPE

Ingredients (for 24 balls)

  • Joshinko (non-glutinous rice flour) 250g
  • warm water 220g
  • red food coloring A little

How to cook

  • 1. Put the joshinko in a bowl and lukewarm water a little bit at a time until it becomes as hard as an earlobe.

  • 2. In a separate bowl, put the desired amount of food coloring for part 1, then add the food coloring dissolved in water slowly, while watching the mixture.

  • 3. Roll 1 and 2 into balls with a diameter of about 2 cm each, then boil in excess water in a pot.

  • 4. When the dumplings are cooked, cool them in water.

provider : Recipe provided by: Gunma Food Culture Research Association NPO

Recipes vary depending on the region and home.

Contact

Food Cultures Office, Overseas Market Development and Food Cultures Division, Food Industry Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Tel:+81-3-3502-5516

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