Hey all, a friend of mine kindly brought me back these sweets from Japan.
I started eating them already (they taste great), but soon noticed that the date says 09/21/25. Given this is mochi, and old rice can make you pretty sick, I was wondering if this is an “expiration” date or a “best before” date. My friend told me these particular mochis are in between the packaged and fresh spectrum (i.e., not shelf stable forever).
by EngineerAny1098
2 Comments
Best before.
Expiration would be 消費期限
The dot matrix kanji reads 賞味期限, or “best before date”.
These are from Honke Nishio Yatsuhashi 本家西尾八ッ橋 (8284.co.jp) in Kyoto. They are thin crepe-like mochi with filling called nama yasuhashi 生八ツ橋 and doesn’t have much shelf life to speak of (probably 2 weeks before they harden up). The baked ones (no filling) are more like sweet senbei crackers, look like pieces of bamboo and can last a while.
I like the ones from Shogoin Yatsuhashi Souhonten 聖護院八ッ橋総本店 myself.