Review of Kohaku Maru Mochi - Taimatsu by kyu

Mochi is one of the foods that I most strongly associate with the festivities of the new year. In addition to making #rice cakes from scratch, I also bought some extras from the Japanese supermarket to share with friends. These are small and dainty, about 5 cm in diameter; the rounded shape and cute color make them stand out from the typical rectangular blocks of kiri-mochi. On New Year’s Day, you’ll most likely find it served in traditional ozoni soup. Unfortunately, my family uses bonito dashi in theirs, so I usually grill my mochi on the stovetop instead. Although it started out hard as a rock, the texture was perfect after a few minutes of toasting: crisp on the outside, soft and chewy inside, and ready to be eaten with kinako or a sludgy mixture of shoyu and sugar. #deathbyplastic warning: it’s a lot of packaging and desiccant for a dozen mochi, but I suppose I begrudgingly accept that because they can go bad quickly (although I love mochi so much that it rarely sticks around long enough to spoil!)