Food Review: Taro Mochi (★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆)

Brother-in-law and sister enjoying the view.

So this week, I'm actually on vacation.  In Lake Tahoe to be exact.  

Okay, so maybe not in Lake Tahoe.  More like near Lake Tahoe. I can walk down the trail about a quarter mile to it if I want to jump in...and I will, tomorrow.  When I go kayaking!!!!

I've been wanting to do a week of food reviews and figured this would be as good a time as any.  

I love food.  Hence, I have a baking blog.  I enjoy the cooking part, but mostly I enjoy the eating.  I'm also not afraid to try new things.  I think this is the one area in my life where I think I'm pretty fearless.  

Rollercoasters?  No, thank you.  Tried them.  And still, no thank you.

Doing pretty much anything new or unfamiliar fills me with butterflies.

But food.

I get super excited before trying something new.  

It could be the thing my tastebuds never-knew-they-always-wanted, for all I know! 

Now that I've talked myself up, I feel the need for disclaimer.  I'm excited if it's an actual food somebody eats on a regular basis or enjoys.  No, I will not eat that worm you just dug up out of the ground.  Gross, k?

So this week, I will be posting a new review everyday about something interesting that I've tried.  My hope is that you will go out and try something new yourself.  If I can try a roller coaster that one time when I was nine, then you can take a spoonful of Vegemite (oh, it's coming).  

And my personal goal? To keep it under 200 words. Gulp.  

I'm on vacation people!  But can I do it?  That is the question..

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My first experience with mochi was at a sample booth at Trader Joe’s.  They were giving out green tea mochi ice cream (ice cream encased in mochi).  And, I have to say I am not a fan. 

I thought maybe it was the green tea flavor that was off putting, but I tried the more people friendly “strawberry” and still felt the same.  It was very bland like something was missing.  I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it’s not something I would waste my precious calories on again.

In case you are unfamiliar, mochi is a Japanese gummy substance made out of glutinous rice that has been pounded into a paste.  It has a very subdued flavor, which makes it easy to add to all kinds of dishes.  

My second introduction to mochi was much better.  Self serve frozen yogurt is huge here in California.  And small pieces of mochi are almost always offered as toppings.  

I tried some and to my surprise I really liked it.  The mochi was an accent to the yogurt instead of the main attraction.  As far as flavor balance goes, I thought this was a much better arrangement. 

And it’s like having gummy bears that don’t freeze in your ice cream.

Hear that?
They DON’T freeze.

The six year old girl in me freaked out when I made this discovery.  

So when I saw these mochi cookies at World Market, I thought to myself “Hey, I like Taro (a starchy plant that tastes kinda like a sugar cookie) and mochi has been good to me lately.  Why not?”

All I can say is that these were not gross.
Actually, I couldn't stop saying it.
“Well, they’re not gross.”
“Hey sister, try this.  It may not be the best thing you’ve ever tried, but you won’t be able to tell me that it’s gross.”

These cookies (or whatever they were) were probably one of the most intriguing things I've ever eaten.  Soft gumminess on the outside, pasty gooeyness on the inside. 

One moment my tastebuds were like "oh, yum" and the next "oh, um hey.  uh, no offense, but that was kinda weird."

It took me awhile to figure out how to even describe them, but this is what I came up with:

"A gummy sugar cookie biscuit.  The inside maintains at once the texture of sugar paste and yet also the graininess of a crushed up cookie."

How this is possible?  Please don't ask me.  I haven't the faintest clue.   

I wouldn't recommend you go out and buy these, but I wouldn't caution you to steer clear either.  If you have an appetite for adventure (get it? get it?) then sure head down to your nearest import store and pick some up.

If you do, please please please please please let me know what kind of dance your tastebuds did.

So now the moment of truth.

How did I do?

Word Count: 482

I. Have. A. Problem.

Eh, so sue me.

Tomorrow you get -282 words.  Have fun looking at pictures!