Warabi Mochi is a chilled, chewy, and jelly-like mochi made of bracken starch. Dusted with nutty roasted soybean flour and drizzled with kuromitsu syrup, this Japanese confection makes a beautiful and refreshing summertime snack or dessert.
I usually spend my summers in Japan with my children, and that’s when they explore new Japanese foods that are not always available in the SF Bay Area. Warabi Mochi (わらび餅) was their new “discovery” this year and I’ve enjoyed making it at home after we came back.
What is Warabi Mochi?
If you haven’t heard of Warabi Mochi (わらび餅), don’t worry, you’re not alone. There are many types of “mochi” in Japan, and this is just one of them. And unfortunately, this type of mochi is not so well-known outside of Japan. Maybe it’s due to the lack of available ingredients to make them.
Warabi Mochi is made of warabi starch or bracken starch. Warabi/bracken is a type of fern, and the starch comes from the rhizomes (underground stem).
Unlike typical mochi made from glutinous rice, warabi mochi’s texture is more jelly-like and it’s chewy yet dissolves quickly. Because it is clear and looks refreshing, warabi mochi is often enjoyed in the summertime.
What does it taste like? Believe it or not, it has almost no flavors – the only thing you taste is the sweet toasted soybean flour or kinako and the kuromitsu (黒蜜, brown sugar syrup). Sometimes red bean paste is wrapped inside the warabi mochi too.
2 Types of Starch used in Warabi Mochi
Making this dessert is the easy part. The hard part is getting the main ingredient – warabi/bracken starch. Most likely typical Asian grocery stores won’t carry it so you’ll need to check Japanese grocery stores. There are 2 types of warabi/bracken starch.
Hon Warabiko (本わらび粉) – Warabi 100%
This is the pure starch from warabi (but please read the next section for more details). It’s very expensive because it’s difficult to harvest, and only a small amount of the roots (just 5%) becomes starch. It is also very time-consuming to process it into powder. If it’s made from hon warabiko then the price is usually very expensive.
Warabi mochi made with 100% warabi/bracken starch is more brownish or blackish color. The package comes in clay-colored pebbles (not powders). If you refrigerate warabi mochi, it gets hard. Therefore, true warabi mochi is stored at room temperature all times and it only lasts for a day.
Warabi Mochiko (わらび餅粉) – Made of other starch
The majority of warabi mochi that you can purchase is made with other starch, not warabi starch. If you look at the ingredients, it should say sweet potato starch (甘藷(サツマイモ)澱粉) or tapioca starch (タピオカ澱粉). Warabi mochiko is more reasonably priced, and you will probably find this type in a Japanese grocery store.
Where To Buy Warabi/Bracken Starch
The Warabi starch I used for this recipe is “warabi mochiko”, the sweet potato starch type.
While I was researching where you can buy bracken starch, I found out that you can get “hon warabiko” (本わらび粉, 100% warabiko) on Amazon here and here. However, I’ve also read that because there is no regulation, a lot of places sell the mixture of warabiko and other starch as “hon warabiko”. So keep in mind that it might not be 100% bracken starch even though the box says so, especially if it’s a relatively affordable price (but it’s more expensive than warabi mochiko).
If you’re looking for kinako, toasted soybean flour, you can find a really good quality one from Hokkaido, Anything From Japan ships internationally, or here on Amazon.
For kuromitsu syrup, you can purchase it here on Amazon. Or, you can make it with an equal part of brown sugar and water to make the syrup.
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Warabi Mochi
Ingredients
- ¾ cup warabi mochiko or warabiko (bracken starch) (you can substitute potato or tapioca starch, but the consistency will be different)
- ½ cup sugar (the ratio of warabi mochiko to sugar is usually equal, but you can reduce the sugar to ⅓ cup or 80 g if you use a generous amount of kuromitsu syrup)
- 1¾ cups water
For the Toppings
Instructions
- Prepare all the ingredients. Sprinkle some of the ¼ cup kinako (roasted soybean flour) on a baking sheet.
- In a medium saucepan, combine ¾ cup warabi mochiko or warabiko (bracken starch), ½ cup sugar, and 1¾ cups water. Mix all together.
- Heat the mixture over medium heat until it starts to boil.
- Then, reduce the heat. Using a wooden spatula, stir (more like beat) constantly and vigorously for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and evenly translucent. It’s quite a workout, but be patient! It’ll eventually transform into a clear color.
- Remove the mochi from the heat and pour it onto the baking sheet covered with kinako (soybean flour). Sprinkle more kinako on top. Let it cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
To Serve
- Once it’s cooled, take it out from the refrigerator. Transfer the mochi to a cutting board and slice it into ¾-inch (2-cm) cubes. Toss the Warabi Mochi with more kinako and serve on individual plates. If you‘d like, drizzle kuromitsu (black sugar syrup) on top. Enjoy!
To Store
- You can store it at room temperature for 1–2 days. Warabi mochi will get hard and turn a white color if you store it in the refrigerator. Warabi mochi is tastier if you chill it in the refrigerator for 20–30 minutes before serving. If you use real warabi starch, it lasts only for a day and must be enjoyed soon. If warabi starch is mixed with other starch, it lasts longer, but the color is not as clear.
I was eating some Warabi Mochi I brought back from my recent Kyoto trip, and started searching to see if it could be made at home. Thanks for teaching the recipe but more than that explaining the difference between those made from hon-warabiko and the other. That’s why the shop counter carried two types where they told one needed to be consumed the same day while the one I eventually bought could last for 2-3 weeks in refrigerator. Fortunately I’d tried what I believe now to be made from hon-warabiko which I bought from other traditional shops where they usually warn to consume the same day. This is really good information for my future trips to Japan since I like Warabi Mochi very much.
Hi Ling! Thank you so much for taking the time to read Nami’s post and try her recipe!
We are glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe and reading her post. Thank you for your kind feedback!🤗