Tainai-no-Hoshi

Star-shaped cookies made with Niigata rice flour

Tainai-daira in Tainai City, Niigata Prefecture, is famous for its star-filled sky. The area is located on a hilly terrain at an elevation of about 100 meters above sea level, but there is a building called the Astronomy Museum, which is equipped with an observation dome. Tainai City, which symbolizes such a beautiful starry sky, sells “Tainai no Hoshi,” star-shaped cookies made from rice flour produced in Niigata Prefecture.

A sticker indicating that rice flour produced in Niigata Prefecture is used is affixed to the product. The rice flour seems to be produced by a company called Niigata Flour Milling, also located in Tainai City, which manufactures rice flour on a large scale and seems to be working with the prefecture and city to expand sales of rice flour.

It contains three star-shaped cookies. The cookies have a rather firm texture and are thin.

Perhaps it is because it is made of rice flour, but the unbaked inside is pure white.

The cookies have a slightly sweet, rustic flavor, and although you don’t realize they are rice flour until you are told, they are light and crispy compared to flour and butter cookies.