Kuohua Japanese Style Mochi

From July to August 2010. On sale at a Taiwanese supermarket in Richmond, works out to $1 a box! Great price! Each box has 6 pieces. There are 6 flavours. Not all are good, though.

First of all, the common denominators are, the mochi skin is not too sweet (which is good), and doesn't really stick to your teeth (which is good too). Fillings varies, while topping is mainly that powdery stuff (starch?) to prevent sticking (with the exception of sesame, which is real grains of sesame). The ingredients look very healthy too.

Sesame
My personal best. They're topped with real sesames and tastes very healthy. The filling feels real too (as to artificial). Most of all, delicious. Nothing bad I can think of.

Red Bean
Second place. Very good, very real, also delicious, except for just slightly too sweet.

Peanut
Third place. The filling is like peanut butter. Perfectly balanced. It would have been first place but lost to sesame and red bean's fragrant.

Green Tea
Forth place. It would have been second place if it could be a bit stronger. The tea flavour is too weak. Otherwise, my cup of tea. (No pun intended.)

Black Sugar
Fifty place. Smells roasted. Kind of reminds me of coffee. Isn't this "black sugar" "caramel"? The fragrance is intense. Tastes is just slightly on the strong side. It's sweet, but not just "sugar". It's "black sugar" alright.

Taro
Last, and least. Yup, unfortunately, this isn't working. Perhaps taro fans would rate it higher? I don't like the taste. It's very bland and the flavour doesn't match with the mochi skin.

As of June 2011, there's been a Taiwanese scandal of clouding agent containing toxic plasticizer... I've eaten many, many, boxes of these mochi for a year... (T_T)