zundamochi

Zunda-mochi (ずんだ餅) is a type of Japanese confectionery popular in northeastern Japan. It is sometimes translated as "green soybean rice cake." It generally consists of a round cake of short-grained glutinous rice with sweetened mashed soybean paste on top. In some varieties, the green soybean paste entirely covers the white rice cake. In all cases, immature soybeans known as edamame are used. A closely related product is "kurumi-mochi", which uses walnuts instead of soybeans.

== Etymology == There are various theories about how the term zunda-mochi arose. According to one theory, the word zunda traces its roots to zuda (), which refers to "bean-mashing." Another theory suggests that zuda is derived from the jindachi sword of the famous warlord Date Masamune, who reputedly mashed beans with his sword during the Warring States period. A third theory holds that a farmer named Jinta came up with the idea for this dish. Reputedly, the warlord Date Masamune liked this farmer's idea and named the product "jinta mochi." Terms of zunda-mochi have evolved into several variants in diverse parts of northern Japan. Moreover, in some dialects the word "mochi" itself is pronounced "mozu".