This is miso flavored gyuhi mochi from Honda Miso and it is a masterpiece! In addition to the novel and exceptional taste, this is a foodie souvenir that you ought to be able to take back home with you when you visit Kyoto. Even if you are not into wagashi confections, you might still like this as it is similar in taste and texture to caramel — but even better!

Miso Chigiri Mochi Package - Wrapped

Miso Chigiri Mochi Package - Unwrapping

Miso Chigiri Mochi and Wasanbon Sugar

How Does Miso Chigiri Mochi Taste?
While miso and mochi together are not unheard of, before sugar was widely available miso was often used to flavor mochi sweets in Japan, this is different. This is reminiscent of caramel in taste and feel yet without a trace of actual caramel in it, which I find very intriguing.

It is made with gyuhi mochi which is mochi with air whipped into it, so the texture is bubbly soft rather than firm like mochi used for cooking.

The fragrance is pronounced and includes the pungent punch of miso, but not too much.

The taste is quite extraordinary. The combination of sweet, miso and mochi come together in a really novel and delightful way. The flavor is not at all understated, it is a pretty huge flavor for any wagashi. I think the miso gives it a lot of body. It is very caramely and ‘misoy’ and has a hint of butter too. The miso paste that is used is Kyoto’s famous white miso (Saikyo shiro miso) which has little salt and is not as pungent as darker and longer fermented miso varieties.

The mochi comes in two colors; brown and pink. The brown ones are miso flavored and the pink ones are plain gyuhi mochi. The miso flavored pieces account for about 8 or 9 in 10 of the total. I think that the pink ones add a real ‘Kyoto’ touch of understated sophistication to it. If they were all miso flavored it would be monotonous and if the pink ones had their own flavor, that would be excessive and lack harmony of flavor.

This gyuhi mochi is packed in light brown colored wasanbon sugar. Wasanbon is the powdered sugar that is native to Japan. It is usually steamed, kneaded and pulverized several times. Wasanbon is somewhat caramely in flavor with a slight burnt sugar flavor to it, yet it is extremely delicate. The pieces of mochi have a generous coating of wasanbon on them which you can brush off a bit for a different flavor variation.

Miso Chigiri Mochi and Wasanbon Sugar - detail (The pinks ones are not miso flavored.)

Where to Buy
I think that this product is only available at Honda Miso Honten. The location is just west of the Gosho Imperial Palace at the intersection of Ichijo Dori and Muromachi Dori streets. In the neighborhood is the famous Toraya wagashi confectionary and Sawai Shoyu Honten soy sauce brewery.

Honda Miso also offers white miso caramel which is also very good.

Honda Miso Honten Entrance and Noren Curtain

Honda Miso Honten Interior

White Miso Caramel

Samples are available just to the left of the entrance.

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Map to Honda Miso Honten

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Rakanmochi is sesame flavored mochi encased in a firm but dry and crumbly block of Japanese wasanbon sugar and requires a slight bit of excavation in order to enjoy.

Peko discovered this unusual and very tasty wagashi from Tawaraya Yoshitomi while working on the ayugashi article.

About the Mochi
Rakanmochi comes packed in dry wasanbon sugar which in addition to sweet has distinct butter and honey overtones and is very creamy on the tongue as it quickly melts. The mochi tastes and feels completely different from the wasanbon. The outside is somewhat tough and al dente, but inside it is moist and gooey. It is dark, reddish brown and rich and complex in taste. Sesame is prominent with a base taste that is nutty and molasses-like due to the traditional Japanese sweeteners used.

Rakanmochi is genteihin (限定品), or a limited product. It is only sold at Tawaraya Yoshitomi Karasuma location. At just 157 yen, it is a steal!

Rakanmochi Under Excavation

This image makes me think of images still in my mind from stone quarries.

About Wasanbon Sugar
Today, wasanbon is mainly used for high quality Japanese confections. Traditionally, sugar was an imported luxury that most people had never even seen, much less tasted. In Kyoto only a handful of wagashi stores were licensed to use sugar.

In the early 1700′s (Edo period) domestic sugar production was encouraged by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Of the main islands of Japan sugar cane would only grow in a few areas. In Shikoku, mainly Tokushima chikuto, or ‘thin’ sugar cane was cultivated and modern-day wasanbon sugar was produced there.

Chikuto sugar cane only grows 2 meters high and is not even as thick as a corn stalk. Therefore, it is called ‘thin’, as compared to sugar cane that grows in tropical areas.

Wasanbon, literally ‘Japanese three tray’ sugar as the purification process of pressing, washing and kneading was done three times on wooden trays. This labor intensive process is still done by hand but usually done 5 times rather than just 3.

In appearance wasanbon at first seems like Western powdered sugar, however it has slightly larger granules. The color is slightly golden rather than pure white, it looks and feels more natural than overrefined white sugar.

The taste of wasanbon is different than normal sugar. It has that natural flavor of raw sugar that has not been too refined, even though it is quite refined – washed, kneaded and pressed 5 times! It is not overly sweet. It is caramely and earthy, yet dry and crumbly.

When wasonbon arrives on the tongue it melts – it goes from dry and powdery to syrupy and creamy in an instant and then just vanishes into a sweetness on the tongue.

Rakanmochi Package

On the top it says, 羅漢餅 (rakanmochi).

Rakanmochi Package

Sorry, I didn’t research the story of the two characters on either side of the package.

Rakanmochi Straight Out of the Package

Rakanmochi ‘Excavation’ Process

Starting to breaking it apart

Rakanmochi ‘Excavation’ Process

It’s actually quite a bit of sugar which can be used for creating other yummies or just nibbled upon.

Rakanmochi Served

Rakanmochi – bite

Wasanbon – detail

Tawaraya Yoshitomi Karasuma Store 俵屋吉富 烏丸店
Location and Access: Approximately 5 minute walk from Imadegawa Station (Karasuma Subway Line).
Address: 602-0021 Kyoto-shi Kamigyo-ku Karasuma-dori Kamidachiuri-agaru Yanaginozushi-cho 331-2 (京都府京都市上京区烏丸通り上立売上ル柳図子町331-2)
Telephone: 075-432-3101
www.kyogashi.co.jp/b-1.html (Japanese language only)