I have no idea what it is exactly, but it is not mochi and yet I know that is in the naming of this Japanese summer dish. 蕨餅 is technically called warabi mochi and yet, every time I hear it I could swear they call it Wanna-be Mochi (or that is could easily be interpreted that way).
This is not mochi as you might think of it. Mochi is rice that is pounded again and again so thoroughly that is is effectively mush re-solidified again. Ok that was a very un-eloquent way to put it...Mochi is rice that is indeed pounded very thoroughly, though they might also have machines that are able to perfect this technique in lieu of human hammering, and as pounded the rice becomes very sticky and naturally will mush and stick together forming a spherical like mound of dough-looking substance. It is then pulled apart and made into these sticky bite-sized dough-like balls and served to be dipped in a number of fixings, such as sesame powered, soy sauce, ginger soy sauce, sometimes innard fixings of red bean or sesame, and many others, but really I can just stop with the sesame powder, it is by far the most popular that I have seen and for this post, the only one that matters.
But again as stated, wanna-be mochi is not mochi. It is more so as my name states it. It is not made of rice but a transparent gelatinous substance. It is often clear, green or pink. The clear should be normal flavored and the green is green tea, and the pink might be sakura, but if you ask me those have no natural flavorings. I suspect that wanna-be mochi is made of some sort of agar or gelatin, but then again I cannot read the Japanese in the ingredients and cannot accurately tell you this is the way it is. They are the same shape, the bite-sized little balls, as mochi and are just as stick as it. They have a sticky jello-like feeling to them but more solid than jello, as you stick a toothpick like object in them to pull them apart to eat them. If you do the same to jello and try to eat it with toothpick prodding, then you have far more patience than I for all the jello you will be able to obtain in a single bite...If you eat them plain, there is again the jello texture and hints of flavoring but really there is not much to it. For their flavoring you are supposed to roll them around in sesame powder, much like you would with plain mochi, and then stick them with the little pick and pop them into your mouth.
This mochi can be served cool or room temperature and is a special summer delight for Japanese people. The texture and ingredients of the mochi give it a naturally cooler sensation and therefore it is seen as refreshing in the face of the splendid summer heat.
