 Mochi ice cream in green tea, vanilla, and strawberry flavors | |
| Course | Dessert |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | North America |
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | Mochi, ice cream, powdered sugar |
Mochi ice cream is a confection made from Japanese mochi (pounded sticky rice) with an ice cream filling. It was invented by Japanese-American businesswoman and community activist Frances Hashimoto with help from her husband, Joel. [1]
Mochi ice cream is a small, round confection consisting of a soft, pounded sticky rice dumpling (mochi) formed around an ice cream filling. [2] The ice cream adds flavor and creaminess to the confection while the mochi adds sweetness and texture. [2] The traditional ice cream flavors used are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Other flavors, such as Kona coffee, plum wine, green tea, and red bean, are also widely used. [3] Mochi can also be flavored as a complement to the ice cream filling. When making mochi, it is dusted with either potato or cornstarch to keep it from caking while being formed and handled. [2] [4]
Japanese daifuku and manjū are the predecessors to mochi ice cream, commonly featuring adzuki bean filling. Due to the temperature and consistency of mochi and ice cream, both components must be modified. This is to achieve the right viscosity that will remain constant regardless of changes in temperature. [5] [6]
An early predecessor form of the dessert was originally produced by Lotte, as Yukimi Daifuku in 1981. The company first made the product by using a rice starch instead of sticky rice and a rice milk instead of real ice cream. [7]
Frances Hashimoto, the former president and CEO of Mikawaya, is credited as the inventor of mochi ice cream. [1] [8] [9] [10] Hashimoto's husband, Joel Friedman, conceived the idea of taking small orbs of ice cream and wrapping them in a Japanese traditional mochi rice cake. [8] Frances Hashimoto expanded on her husband's idea, [8] inventing the fusion dessert now popular in the United States and elsewhere. [1] Hashimoto introduced seven flavors in the mochi product line. [1]
Mikawaya, a company in America, began production of mochi ice cream in the United States in 1993. [11] [12] Research and development took over a decade to evolve into the mass production form used today, due to the complex interactions of the ingredients. [11] [5] Trial and error was used in order to successfully pull the delicate mochi dough over the ice cream without leaving a sodden mess. [13] Friedman explained that in order to conduct production of the ice cream, experts ranging from construction to microbiology were brought in to perfect the state-of-the-art production building. [14]
Mikawaya debuted their Mochi Ice Cream in Hawaii in 1994. The frozen treat was so popular, it captured 15% of the novelty frozen treat market during its first four months. [14]
Mochi ice cream gained huge popularity in the UK following a viral TikTok trend, which began in January 2021. The trend of ‘Looking for Little Moons in Big Tesco’ became a sensation, receiving 341.8M views and a surge in sales of 1400% in Tesco alone. [15]
Now, stores like Trader Joe's, sell Mochi Ice Cream with flavors such as Mango, Chocolate, and in some places: Purple Yam.
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of mochigome (もち米), a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year, and is commonly sold and eaten during that time.
Glutinous rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, and the northeastern regions of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. It is widely consumed across Asia.
A mooncake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節). The festival is primarily about the harvest while a legend connects it to moon watching, and mooncakes are regarded as a delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is widely regarded as one of the four most important Chinese festivals.
Wagashi is a traditional Japanese confection that is often served with green tea, especially the type made of mochi, anko, and fruit. Wagashi is typically made from plant-based ingredients with an emphasis on seasonality, and generally making use of cooking methods that pre-date Western influence in Japan.
Yukimi Daifuku is a brand of mochi ice cream manufactured by Lotte. It was also released in Japan in October 1981. It consists of a ball of vanilla ice cream wrapped in a thin layer of mochi. Lotte originally created Watabōshi, a bite-size ice cream wrapped in a thin layer of marshmallow in 1980. Marshmallow was quickly replaced by mochi because it was more popular in Japan and the company perfected a technology to keep mochi soft at freezing temperature in 1981.
A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten. Common variations include cakes made with rice flour, those made from ground rice, and those made from whole grains of rice compressed together or combined with some other binding substance.
Tangyuan are a traditional Chinese dessert made of glutinous rice shaped into balls that are served in a hot broth or syrup. They come in varying sizes, anything between a marble to a ping pong ball, and are sometimes stuffed with filling. Tangyuan are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival, but because the name is a homophone for union and symbolizes togetherness and completeness, this dish is also served at weddings, family reunions, Chinese New Year, and the Dōngzhì festival.
Manjū is a traditional Japanese confection. Of the many varieties of manjū, most have an outside made from flour, rice powder, kudzu, and buckwheat, and a filling of anko, usually made from boiled adzuki beans and sugar. Manjū is sometimes made with other fillings such as chestnut jam. In Hawaii, one can find Okinawan manjū that are made with a filling of purple sweet potato, butter, milk, sugar, and salt, but the most common filling is bean paste, of which the several varieties include koshian, tsubuan, and tsubushian.
Shaved ice is a large family of ice-based desserts made of fine shavings of ice and sweet condiments or syrups. Usually, the syrup is added after the ice has been frozen and shaved—typically at the point of sale; however, flavoring can also be added before freezing. The dessert is consumed worldwide in various forms and ways. Shaved ice can also be mixed with large quantities of liquid to produce shaved ice drinks.
Warabimochi is a wagashi made from warabiko and covered or dipped in kinako. Kuromitsu syrup is sometimes poured on top before serving as an added sweetener.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:
Snow skin moon, snowy mooncake, ice skin mooncake or crystal mooncake is a Chinese food eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Snow skin mooncakes are a non-baked mooncake originating from Hong Kong. The snow skin mooncake is also found in Macau, mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Although snow skin mooncakes are usually made and sold by bakeries, these mooncakes are not baked in ovens like traditional cakes. Further, unlike traditional mooncakes which are served at room temperature, snow skin mooncakes are typically eaten cold.
Frances Kazuko Hashimoto was an American businesswoman, schoolteacher, and social activist. She was a key figure and proponent of Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood. She was the head of Mikawaya confectionery company since 1970, where Hashimoto, the inventor of mochi ice cream, also introduced the dessert to American consumers.
Mikawaya is an American confectionery producer specializing in Japanese pastries, snacks, and desserts. The company's products include traditional wagashi, as well as newer offerings, such as mochi ice cream. Mochi ice cream, which was created by Mikawaya's former CEO and President Frances Hashimoto, now represents the majority of Mikawaya's annual sales.
Daifukumochi (大福餅), or daifuku (大福), is a wagashi, a type of Japanese confection, consisting of a small round mochi stuffed with a sweet filling, most commonly anko, a sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans. Daifuku is a popular wagashi in Japan and is often served with green tea.
Red bean paste or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste or anko, is a paste made of red beans, used in East Asian cuisine. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or grinding them. At this stage, the paste can be sweetened or left as it is. The color of the paste is usually dark red, which comes from the husk of the beans. In Korean cuisine, the adzuki beans can also be husked prior to cooking, resulting in a white paste. It is also possible to remove the husk by sieving after cooking, but before sweetening, resulting in a red paste that is smoother and more homogeneous.
Zunda-mochi (ずんだ餅) is a type of Japanese confectionery popular in northeastern Japan. It is sometimes translated as "green soybean rice cake." It generally consists of a round cake of short-grained glutinous rice with sweetened mashed soybean paste on top. In some varieties, the green soybean paste entirely covers the white rice cake. In all cases, immature soybeans known as edamame are used. A closely related product is "kurumi-mochi", which uses walnuts instead of soybeans.
Butter mochi is a cake made from coconut milk, glutinous rice flour, and butter and is a popular dessert in Hawaiian cuisine.
