Mochi is a beloved Japanese rice treat made from glutinous rice, prized for a texture unlike anything else: soft, bouncy, satisfyingly chewy.
Don't let the name fool you — "glutinous" describes the rice's sticky, glue-like texture, not wheat gluten (there's none in the rice itself). Milled into flour, it's the secret behind everything from daifuku to Hawaiʻi's famous butter mochi.
Mochi came to Hawaiʻi with Japanese immigrants over a century ago and never left — from butter mochi at family gatherings to mochi pounding at New Year. That's the tradition HOLO grew from.
