Two Famous Japanese Pancake Mix Products, Hotcake Mix

Monday, August 28, 2017

Two Famous Japanese Pancake Mix Products, Hotcake Mix

     In Japan, pancake mix is called hotcake mix (ホットケーキミックス), but it's sometimes named pancake mix (パンケーキミックス) as well. Hotcake mix and pancake mix are the same, but hotcake mix is commonly used rather than pancake mix in Japan. Hotcake mix is very useful. It's not only for making pancakes, but it also can be used to make bread, dorayaki, steamed cake, muffin and so on. Did you know that Japanese pancakes taste different from US pancakes?

    When I moved to the U.S. from Japan, I purchased a large box of pancake mix at a grocery store. I thought it's like Japanese hotcake mix, and I was really excited to try US one. However, my pancakes made with US pancake mix tasted different from Japanese one. Even though it had delicious butter aroma, it was too salty to me. I tried to make it several times to use it up, but I couldn't get used to its taste. I believe that taste is subjective, so you might like American pancakes better, not like me.

    Pancakes made with Japanese hotcake mix is fluffy and slightly sweet. The most well known hotcake mix products in Japan are Morinaga Hotcake Mix (森永ホットケーキミックス) and Nissin Hotcake Mix (日清ホットケーキミックス). If you are in Japan, you can find these products at supermarkets easily.

Morinaga Hotcake Mix (森永ホットケーキミックス)

Morinaga Hotcake Mix

Morinaga is one of the most famous confectionery companies in Japan. I wrote about some Japanese chocolate from Morinaga in my previous entry, Haul - Japanese Sweets and Snacks - Part 1. When I lived in Japan, I sometimes used Morinaga Hotcake Mix. This 600g package has four 150g packs of hotcake mix. You can make three medium sized pancakes with a 150g pack of hotcake mix. If you want to make just three pancakes, you can keep remaining three packs fresh.

Morinaga Hotcake Mix

Nissin Hotcake Mix (日清ホットケーキミックス)

Nissin Hotcake Mix

Nissin is one of the largest food manufacture companies in Japan. As I mentioned in my previous entries, Japanese Instant Noodle Haul and A Package from My Mother-In-Law in Japan, they also make instant noodles such as Nissin Raoh and Nissin Chicken Ramen. Nissin Hotcake Mix also contains 600g of hotcake mix. If you use a large amount of hotcake mix at a time, this is perfect for you. This hotcake mix has maple syrup aroma.

I Made Japanese Pancakes Today. :)
It's been a while, since I made pancakes with using Japanese hotcake mix last time. Today, I made pancakes for breakfast because my husband found this Mitake Soy Pancake Mix (みたけ大豆粉と米粉のパンケーキミックス), which is made of rice and soy beans, at Tokyo Central in Costa Mesa. This is perfect for people who are allergic to wheat. We don't have wheat allergy, but it was on sale there, so we decided to try it. If you are in Kanto region such as Tokyo, you can also find this Mitake Soy Pancake Mix at Seijo Ishi supermarkets (成城石井) and Mami Mart supermarkets (マミーマート). This is made by Mitake, which is a Japanese food manufacture company, and Orange Page Magazine, which is a Japanese cooking magazine. Anyway, I'm going to share with you how I made pancakes with this one.