Trick or Hawaiian Treat

Any kid growing up in Hawaii will tell you about the trick of tossing Japanese rice crackers (mochi crackers with a soy sauce coating) with popcorn, getting your own special Hawaiian trail mix.

It’s the mix of savory crunch of the mochi crackers (which we called “kaki mochi” as a kid but I forget why; some kids call it “arare” because of the major brand that produced them) with the buttery popcorn that kids love. Meh, I thought it was all right. (Again, proof that I wasn’t a normal Hawaiian kid.)

Anywho, recently my friend David went to Hawaii for a vacation, and he brought me back this box of treat called “Mochi Pop,” and it turns out it’s the childhood trick of mixing the rice crackers with popcorn, except they took it up a notch by mixing it with caramel popcorn instead of just plain popcorn.

Eating this brought back memories of going to the movies and snacking on this mix, but it was different with the sweet caramel. If you try the mochi crackers, though, I’m giving you fair warning that your breath will give Dracula’s garlic breath a run for the money. You Hawaii people know what I mean. ;-)