Mochi (pounded sticky rice) is a very popular traditional food in Miyagi. The prefecture has more than 50 different ways of eating it, of which zunda-mochi is the best known. Edamame (young green soybeans from the pod) are boiled, then mashed to a paste and sweetened with sugar, with a little salt to taste. The pounded sticky rice is covered with a layer of the green soybean mash: this is zunda mochi.