Mochi is one of those treats straight from Japan that is taking the world by storm. In our Part one, we talked plenty about these pounded rice cakes, including their history, cultural significance and more. However, we didn’t have time to talk about the amazing variety that is the types of mochi, so we’re going to talk about it today!
Read on to learn more about some of the most popular varieties of mochi that have kept this treat a staple of wagashi, Japanese sweets, and Japanese culture!
Types of Mochi
Daifuku
When strawberry season hits, this treat is always one of the first things on our list to eat. Image via Unsplash
Daifuku is probably the most popular type of mochi, being a pounded rice cake formed around some kind of filling. The traditional filling is anko (red bean paste), but the most popular is strawberry Daifuku, which is strawberry wrapped in anko and wrapped in mochi. White bean paste, other fruits and cream are also popular filling options for Daifuku.
Botamochi or Ohagi
Botamochi, or Ohagi, is a type of mochi that is unique in a few ways. First, the rice is usually pounded until half of the rice remains, leaving the other half in the rice cake. The rice cake is then enveloped in a thick layer of anko. The red bean paste can be smooth or have some chunks of red bean. It can also be further coated in things like kinako, a roasted soybean powder, or sugared sesame seeds.
Fun Fact: The original red color of the red bean paste tied this treat to spiritual protection from evil spirits. Image via MAFF Official Website
While the origin is still being debated, the reason for the two names is that they’re supposedly derived from two flowers, the spring Botan peony and the autumn Hagi bush clover. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, both were traditionally offered up to honor ancestors and eaten during equinoxes, with Botamochi being served in spring and Ohagi in the autumn.
Kinako Mochi
Kinako mochi is pounded rice cake covered in generous layer of kinako. This type of mochi is both sweet and nutty, creating a perfect combination of flavors. It may also have a Kuromitsu (black sugar syrup) topping for added sweetness and complexity.
Kiri Mochi
This is generally the final form of kiri mochi, grilled before either eating right away or being thrown into another dish. Image via Instagram
Kiri mochi just refers to rectangular blocks of mochi. These blocks are then prepared, often grilled or boiled, and often added to dishes as opposed to being eaten as is. It’s especially common around New Years.
Yaki Mochi
Yaki mochi is pounded rice cakes grilled over either a charcoal grill (the traditional way) or a gas grill. This variety is warm and has a slight crisp on the outside.
Isobe Maki (Isobe Yaki)
Isobe maki is a great and filling snack that puts a crispy, savory spin on the classic pounded rice cake. Image via Instagram
Isobe Maki, also called Isobe Yaki, is grilled mochi wrapped in seaweed and dipped/coated in soy sauce. This treat is usually served warm and has a hint of an ocean taste from the seaweed.
Kusa Mochi
Kusa mochi is very Elphaba-coded with its unique green color. This type of mochi is made by mixing the rice cake with powdered mugwort, giving it a slightly grassy fragrance. However, this treat is often sweet, with an anko filling or topping.
Yatsuhashi
Yatsuhashi is a very popular souvenir from Kyoto as a box of this treat is easy to share in an office among coworkers or a home among family and friends. Image via Instagram
Yatsuhashi is a triangle-shaped mochi from Kyoto, usually with some kind of filling between thin layers of mochi, usually anko. However, kinako and cinnamon are also popular. The soft version is very popular, but a traditional hard-baked version exists as well.
Hanabira Mochi
Hanabira mochi is very similar to yatsuhashi, being a thin layer of mochi wrapped around a slice of burdock root and red bean paste. This creates a pinkish hue that shows through the rice cake.
This treat is also very popular for just how pretty it is on top of the great taste. Image via Instagram
Sakura Mochi
Sakura mochi is a staple of sakura (cherry blossom) season. This type has a pink color and is usually filled with anko. It is finally wrapped in a salty (usually pickled) cherry blossom leaf. The leaf is edible, but some people just use it to keep their hands clean as they eat it.
Dango
Dango in and of itself has a pretty large variety of treats, which is why shops with sampler plates are always a godsend.
Dango is kind of under the umbrella of mochi without actually being mochi. The reason it’s not the same is that dango is made with glutinous rice flour and not glutinous rice. They’re similar to dumplings with a mixture of rice flour and water shaped into small spheres to then be boiled.
Just like the huge variety of mochi types, dango has its own huge variety, including mitarashi dango, shoyu (soy sauce) dango and the tri-color Hanami dango.
Warabi Mochi
Warabi mochi is another non-mochi variety. Traditionally, people use warabi flour created from warabi root, although more inexpensive starches can be used too. It tends to be transluscent and a bit more jelly-like than pounded rice cakes. It’s usually quite sweet with the most common topping being Kuromitsu and kinako powder.
Mochi Ice Cream
This entry is one of our favorite summer treats often found in convenience stores. Image via Freepik
Mochi ice cream can have two different meanings based on who you ask. What most folks not from Japan think of is actually a Japanese-American invention, featuring a thick layer of mochi surrounding ice cream.
In Japan, it’s known as Yukimi Daifuku, a popular product line. The mochi tends not to be as thick with Yukimi Daifuku and the inside is technically not “ice cream” according to Japanese food law. It’s actually “Ice Milk”, meaning that it’s between 10~14.99% milk solid and more than 3% milk fat.
Hishi Mochi
Hishi mochi is a cultural variety of mochi that is often offered for Girls’ Day or Hinamatsuri, a holiday where families pray for their young daughters’ health. This treat features three layers of mochi in pink, white and green, usually naturally colored with things like flowers, mugwort and more.
Mizu Shingen Mochi (Raindrop Cake)
Raindrop Cakes really are a fun bit of food art, whether they are the simply decorated clear versions or the more fun, colorful versions. Image via Instagram
Raindrop cakes are one of the most beautiful Japanese treats and are great for summer and refreshing. However, they’re really only mochi in shape. Instead of rice, mizu shingen mochi is made with agar-agar powder and flavored with Kuromitsu (black sugar syrup) and topped with kinako powder.
They can also have things like fruits, flowers or other edible decorations inside for an extra aesthetic treat.
New Year Mochi Dishes
Kagami Mochi
Underneath the fake kagami mochi are usually packs of plastic-wrapped kiri mochi! Image via Instagram
Kagami mochi is less of a type of mochi and more of a cultural use of pounded rice cakes. Kagami mochi is two mochi stacked on top of each other with a daidai bitter orange placed on top. It can also have various decorations. This tower of rice cakes is usually placed inside of a home before New Year’s and sits until January 11.
In the meantime, the mochi kind of catches the blessings of the Toshigami, the god of the New Year. As the rice cake has hardened by the 11th, people will then break the mochi with a hammer. After that, all that’s left is to grill or boil it to bring it back to life and enjoy it in some dishes to receive the blessings.
It’s really common for people to buy kagami mochi that is a plastic, porcelain or wooden outer shell with real plastic-wrapped mochi inside.
O-zoni
O-zoni is really a warming family dish that is perfect for the colder New Year. In this case, the mochi is nice, warm and chewy.
O-zoni is not really a type of mochi, but a dish where mochi is a core ingredient. This soup is a part of Japanese New Year tradition, usually being eaten on New Year’s Day. The recipe differs from family to family, but it has to contain pounded rice cake and has some combo of veggies and proteins.
Zenzai
While I wasn't used to the idea of a dessert soup, I really came around to zenzai after trying it a couple of time. The rice cake is my favorite part! Image via Instagram
Zenzai is another dish that, although available year-round, is super common around Japan’s New Year. This red bean soup is made with some combination of red beans, sugar and mochi, creating a dessert soup. Mochi in both Ozoni and Zenzai represents a long life with its stretch, which is why it shows up in this and many other New Year’s dishes.
Mochi Baked Goods
We’re finishing our mochi lesson with mochi baked goods. These items are also not necessarily mochi in the sense that it doesn’t actually contain pounded rice cakes. Instead, these “mochi” items use mochiko, the sweeter glutinous rice flour. This gives these sweets its chewy texture. Some of the most popular examples of these are mochi donuts, mochi cakes, mochi waffles (moffles) and the popular Hawaiian butter mochi.
Tons of treats, like these mochi donuts, gain their chewiness and stretch from the use of glutinous rice flour. Image via Unsplash
And that’s our list! There are probably some that we’ve forgotten or other types of mochi that are a lot less well-known. However, we think we did a pretty good job of compiling some very tasty rice cake varieties. Whether you’re a mochi lover or a casual rice cake fan, we sure there’s an option from our list that you’ll love!
