John Liu grew up in Taiwan with a particular fixation on texture, specifically the bouncy, chewy quality known as "QQ" that showed up in mochi, boba, and rice cakes. He loved it enough that he started experimenting with rice flour at home, trying to work that same chewiness into pancakes, waffles, cookies, and pasta. The experiments became family recipes, tweaked over time until they felt right.
When John moved to the United States, he couldn't find that texture in stores and decided to
John Liu grew up in Taiwan with a particular fixation on texture, specifically the bouncy, chewy quality known as "QQ" that showed up in mochi, boba, and rice cakes. He loved it enough that he started experimenting with rice flour at home, trying to work that same chewiness into pancakes, waffles, cookies, and pasta. The experiments became family recipes, tweaked over time until they felt right.
When John moved to the United States, he couldn't find that texture in stores and decided to start KiuKiu to fill the gap. (The name itself is a play on the Taiwanese term for that distinctive chew.) John sources rice from a fourth-generation family farm in Northern California and brings in unique ingredients to build flavors around the texture he grew up with. The products are meant to carry that same chewy bounce he remembers from childhood, now packaged for people who may have never encountered it before.
