Are mochi or daifuku okay for halal diets?!
Answers:
It really depends on what kind you are getting.
Mochi is a wonderful treat for those who are on a gluten diet or their bodies cannot process the gluten inside of them and they get very sick. However, recipes vary for mochi with and without gelatine. I have made mochi without gelatin before, but in buying mochi from a store, packaged is what you will most likely find, then you can only really read the ingredients.
Usually people who have diets without gelatin, are people that, for whatever reason, do not want the gelatin...from ANIMALS. This is mostly the case in school, because certain animals can be sacred in a religion, and so they do not want to risk consuming animal gelatin. Lots of vegetarians do not eat gelatin, because again, its an animals product.
But there are many types of gelatin that are not made from animals, and one of these, "Agar" (or agar-agar) is a Japanese gelatin, made from seaweed! :) If Agar is listed in the ingredients, you should be safe.
Here's some more gelatin made from sources other than animals that should be acceptable for the school:
Isinglass (made from fish air bladders), Carrageen (made from Irish seaweed/Irish moss), Pectin (made from fruits and vegetables).
The jellied parts of in mochi and daifuku are not animal based.
The outside is rice flour and the insides are either bean paste or ice cream.
They should be fine, just be sure to read the ingredients closely or be aware of your ingredients if you are making them.
http://www.wellness.com/reference/diet/h…
Look under diet for examples.
there shouldnt be any problem because the gloutinous rice in making mochi contains high amount of starch as their gelling agent.
anyway in these modern food production, gelling agent are made from vegetable product (mostly seaweed) because it is cheaper to produce and lasts indefinitely. new products like carrageenan, algin and xanthan gum is 100% vegan.
i am a chef
dont worry about it mochi is nothing but plain botan rice : ) the jelly like stuff is made out of rice so it's absolutely nothing like gelatin.