I remember trying my first ever warabimochi in Hong Kong, and the nutty and refreshing flavour of it made me want it more. It looks simple, but it is an expensive Japanese sweet. Perhaps it is because of the lack of available ingredients to make them. I have always wanted to try making it at home, but it took me a while to look for all the necessary ingredients in Vancouver.

What is Warabimochi?

Warabimochi may not sound familiar to you, but don’t worry about it. Compared to the typical mochi made from glutinous rice with red bean paste filling, warabimochi is not as well known outside Japan. It is made of bracken starch, which gives a more jelly-like texture to it.

To be honest, it has almost no flavours on its own. The flavour is mainly from kinako (sweet toasted soybean powder) and kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup). Sometimes, matcha powder would be also used as a coating for the warabimochi.

Where to Get the Starch?

Getting the main ingredient is quite a challenge for me. I tried many grocery stores and supermarkets, such as T&T, Superstore, and PriceSmart, etc., but they don’t carry the bracken starch. After some research, I finally found them at a Japanese grocery store on Robson St – Konbiniya. I also found the ingredients in Fujiya.