Store specializing in warabi mochi opens in Tenmonkan, Kagoshima, offering desserts made from bracken
Owner Matsumoto (left) and a staff member welcoming customers
On November 10, Fuwatoro Kashiho Warabi (Phone: 090-5360-6602), a store specializing in warabi mochi, opened on Tenpark Street in Tenmonkan, Kagoshima City.
All Right Temmonkan Office operates the store, and its president, Kosuke Matsumoto, launched the business as part of its Type A Continuous Employment Support Program. Matsumoto, who has always been fond of warabi mochi, a Japanese jelly-like dessert, has been pursuing his dream of making “fuwatoro,” meaning fluffy and melty, warabi mochi by trial and error, paying particular attention to the taste and ingredients. He opened the store with the hope that many people would enjoy the warabi mochi he had finally perfected. The store, accented with neon lights, has a table with six seats and a counter with five seats.
Its fresh warabi mochi is made with warabi starch obtained from the root of the bracken fern, lotus root starch, and deep-roasted soybean flour from Kumamoto for the finishing touch. The Kuromitsu syrup is homemade in the store’s kitchen using brown sugar from Amami Oshima Island. The store offers Fuwatoro Fresh Warabi Mochi (390 yen for a small size, 500 yen for a medium) and Cream Fresh Warabi Mochi Drink in kuromitsu and matcha flavors (500 yen each).
It also serves Powder Snow Dolce Shaved Ice, made using a machine imported from South Korea. The milk is flash-frozen and shaved and has the characteristic of “melting in the mouth like powdered snow.” “It is different from regular shaved ice and more like ice cream. You can enjoy it even in winter,” says Matsumoto. It is available in strawberry and tiramisu flavors, prices range from 500 to 900 yen.
Matsumoto added: “We want to expand our online sales and event participation and introduce gift-wrapped warabi mochi in the future. We also plan to add other desserts with a ‘fuwatoro’ texture.”
Opening hours: 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Closed on Sundays and holidays.