Torch Tries is making a comeback! After a school year of concurrent learning, the entire staff is finally back in one room, bringing the crazy, but lovable, environment we know so well.
In this segment, the Torch staff were given unidentified flavors of mochi ice cream and had to guess which flavor they were eating, then give a rating out of five Torches. Mochi is a Japanese dessert that is made of a type of glutinous rice called mochigome. Traditionally, mochi refers to a plain rice cake typically eaten on holidays, but over the years, modern variations have surfaced, including the mochi ice cream the Torch staff tried. Are their taste-testing skills up to the challenge?
*Disclaimer: Photos of all of the flavors could not be taken as the mochi were distributed quickly to avoid melting.*
Participants:
- Twelfth-grader Sarah Hassan (Interviewer/Conductor)
- Twelfth-grader Grace Johnson
- Eleventh-graders Alyson Mizanin and Lora Rini
- Tenth-grader Isabella Kulawik
- Ninth-grader Jiayi Zhu
Mochi #1: Mango
Initial Guess and Thoughts:
Grace: “I can’t really smell anything. I first thought it was peach, but I know normally it’s mango flavor for mochi.”
Lora: “It’s orange, maybe like mango?”
Isabella: “I’m smelling it, definitely getting mango vibes.”
Jiayi: “Now I’m losing my sense of smell.”
Alyson: “Yeah, now I can’t smell anything.”
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Alyson experiences the taste of her first ever mochi.
Tasting:
Isabella: “Very mango-y.”
Grace: “Definitely mango, it’s delicious though.”
Lora: “Very good, I would give it a 5/5.”
Grace: “I would too, mango is really good.”
Isabella: “I’m going to say 3.5, I’m a mochi fan, but not really a mango fan.”
Grace: “Can I eat this other mango?”
Conclusion:
The flavor was well liked by all but one member, and was guessed correctly.
Rating: 4.4/5 Torches
Mochi #2: Cookies and Cream
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Jiayi (left) describes the appearance of the mochi while Lora (right) discusses with the others.
Initial Guess and Thoughts:
Grace: “I’m already seeing some black speckles in the white, so I’m thinking vanilla.”
Lora: “I think it’s black sesame.”
Everyone: “Black sesame?”
Grace: “Is that a flavor of mochi?”
Jiayi: “Yeah… I can’t really tell [the flavor].”
Lora: “It’s probably vanilla though.”
Isabella: “It’s definitely giving vanilla vibes.”
Grace: “It doesn’t really smell like vanilla though, it smells sweeter it smells like…”
Jiayi: “…red bean.”
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Grace and Jiayi writing their guesses and rating the mochi eaten.
Tasting:
Grace: “Definitely vanilla.”
Sarah: “Who wants to eat the second one?”
Lora: “Can I eat it?”
Grace: “The dough wasn’t as good though.”
Lora: “The ice cream was so good.”
Conclusion:
Everyone incorrectly guessed the flavor as vanilla. The cookies and cream received high ratings, but mango remained in first place.
Rating: 4.2/5 Torches
Mochi #3: Double Chocolate
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Jiayi and Lora examine and smell mochi #3, which they guess is chocolate.
Initial Guess and Thoughts:
Isabella: “Observing this, it’s definitely chocolate.”
Grace: “Is there coffee or maybe tea?”
Jiayi and Isabella: “It’s definitely chocolate.”
Lora: “Can I get a chocolate?” (She was forgotten.)
Grace: “I’m just trying to be creative you guys, it might not be chocolate.”
Alyson: “[She’s trying to be] different.”
Isabella: “Maybe it is coffee.”
*While eating, Grace somehow got flour residue in her eye.*
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Isabella attempts to eat the melting mochi in a clean fashion.
Tasting:
Jiayi: “It’s good.”
Grace: “There’s chocolate chips in here. The mango was the best so far.”
Lora: “I agree.”
Isabella: “Really?”
Lora: “I forgot you hated mango.”
Conclusion: The gang guessed correctly, for the most part. They did like the double chocolate; however, the mango still reigned supreme.
Rating: 4.2/5 Torches
Mochi #4: Dulce de Leche
Initial Thoughts and Guesses:
Jiayi: “I said it’s peach cobbler.”
Lora: “Maybe it’s dulce de leche.”
Isabella: “Why would they make a caramel?”
Lora: “Sarah, could I have one?” (Again, she’s forgotten.)
Isabella: “Definitely dulce de leche.”
Grace: “I think it’s caramel.”
Jiayi: “I can’t smell anything.”
Grace: “Yeah, there’s no smell at all. Can I ask a question before tasting it? What is the difference between dulce de leche and caramel?”
Lora: “They just taste different.” (Well said Lora.)
Grace: “What? They always taste the same.”
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Jiayi and Lora ponder the flavor of #4 while eating it.
Tasting:
Grace: “Is this coffee?”
Isabella: “I’m definitely getting coffee and caramel vibes.”
Jiayi: “It’s coffee.”
Lora: “The middle is definitely caramel.”
Grace: “The aftertaste is definitely pleasant, but the experience of sucking the mochi to my mouth wasn’t it.”
Lora: “[It tastes like] caramel latte.”
Isabella: “I’m going to give this one a 5/5.”
Lora: “You have such weird taste.”
Jiayi: “Yeah.”
Sarah: “You didn’t like this one?”
Alyson: “No, I don’t like caramel.”
Lora: “Did you write hate caramel on your sheet?”
Alyson: “Yes, I do, I hate caramel but…we tried it.”
Grace: “Have you ever tried coffee?”
Alyson: “I’ve never had coffee in my life.”
Lora: “How have you never had coffee?”
Alyson: “Besides a sip from my mom, I hate it.”
Conclusion: The gang successfully guessed the flavor. Isabella has a unique, but superior, taste compared to the rest of the group as she labeled #4 as her favorite. Alyson, however, was not pleased.
Rating: 3.2/5 Torches
Mochi #5: Vanilla
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Isabella wafts the scent to get an accurate guess.
Initial Thoughts and Guesses:
Grace: “The other one was vanilla, and this looks the exact same. So, I’m thinking black sesame.”
Lora: “Maybe it’s black sesame.”
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Isabella mentions the mochi flavor could be rice-flavored. -
Tasting:
Lora: “I’m going to guess black sesame for the second time.”
Jiayi: “It tastes like nothing.”
Isabella: “Is it vanilla again? Maybe it’s rice flavor?”
Jiayi: “Rice flavor?”
Isabella: “I’ve had this one Korean rice-flavored milk drink, and it tasted a lot like that.”
Alyson: “I thought vanilla was #2, so I have no idea.”
Grace: “The second mochi given tasted more like vanilla.”
Alyson: “This one is a milder vanilla.”
Lora: “You know how Cold Stone [Creamery] has a cream flavored ice cream?”
Isabella: “But I have a question, what about the black spots in this, so how’s it cream?”
Grace: “One of the two is vanilla, but this one was not as good as the last vanilla.”
Conclusion: Lora has an obsession with black sesame, and Isabella confirmed that she has a different flavor taste than everyone else as she gave the vanilla mochi a 4/5 Torches, while the rest of the group thought it was lacking.
Rating: 2.8/5 Torches
Mochi #6: Green Tea
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Jiayi is not thrilled by the scent of mochi #6. -
-
Initial Thoughts and Guesses:
Grace: “This is definitely matcha, but there’s a slight possibility it’s pistachio.”
Jiayi: “That’s what I was thinking, but it doesn’t smell like it.”
Isabella: “It definitely smells like matcha.”
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Alyson is disgusted by the taste and questions the flavor. -
Grace is not impressed with mochi #6.
Tasting:
Isabella: “I don’t know if I liked that. It’s the worst matcha I had, to be honest.”
Lora: “Why does it taste like dill?”
*Jiayi laughs at how bad it is.*
*Grace spits it out.*
Grace: “I’m sorry, that was horrible. You can taste the leftover powder in your mouth.”
Alyson: “Why does it taste like McDonald’s french fries?”
Grace: “It tastes like dill, oh my gosh, did you give us pickled flavored mochi?”
Isabella: “Is it okay to give something a 0 out of 5?”
Lora: “I’m not going to spit out, that’s disgusting.”
Grace: “Sorry about that, wow, call me out like that.”
Conclusion: Everyone was disgusted by the taste, but at least the flavor was given last, so the other mochis’ taste were not tainted. Alyson described #6 as the taste of a McDonald’s straw that has a flavor.
Rating: 0.2/5 Torches
Final thoughts before the reveal:
The hardest flavors to distinguish between were the cookies and cream and the vanilla. The overall favorite was the Mango with the exception of Isabella who liked the dulce de leche and Alyson liking the cookies and cream as well.
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Before revealing the flavors, the members asked for seconds. -
Isabella and Alyson discuss their final thoughts.
REVEAL:
1. Mango
*No one was surprised.*
2. Cookies and Cream
*Everyone was shocked.*
Alyson: “What do you mean? Okay, I can see it.”
Grace: “It is sweeter.”
3. Double Chocolate
Grace: “When I noticed the chocolate chips, [I thought] maybe it’s called chocolate chocolate chip or something.”
4. Dulce de Leche:
No one was surprised by the flavor. However, I pronounced it with French pronunciation and that confused the gang.
Grace: “Why are you still saying it with a French accent?” (still after multiple attempts of pronouncing the name)
5. Vanilla
Isabella: “I realized that it probably wouldn’t have been rice flavored. I tried.”
Grace: “It was creative.”
6. Green Tea
Grace: “I guess that was probably the difference of why it was so bad.”
Jiayi: “It was bad.”
Overall:
The members had mentioned that they had a great time. The favorite was the mango, with a few exceptions, with the least favorite being the green tea. When looking at the ratings, the Torches went down for majority of the gang as the different flavors were presented.
1 comment
im slightly jealous now 👀