All the information you want to know about Mochi Ice Cream.
It is a cool, chewy Japanese treat
Photo: MEGAN BARRIE
Mochi ice cream is a popular Japanese dessert made from a sweet pounded rice dough wrapped around ice cream.
Its texture is similar to the chew of boba and gives a fun spin to homemade ice cream. We love enjoying mochi after a filling meal, like this chicken yakisoba recipe.
Mochi is a dessert hailing from Japan.
Often enjoyed during the Japanese New Year as a celebration food, families used to gather for a mochitsuki, the event of pounding mochi in a mortar with large wooden mallets.
These days, households may instead use a mochi machine—similar to a bread machine—that kneads the steamed glutinous rice for you.
Traditionally, mochi is made with steamed glutinous rice pounded with water and sugar until it becomes a paste-like dough.
Photo: MEGAN BARRIE
When people in the U.S. think of mochi, they tend to think of mochi ice cream, the round balls of sticky rice dough with ice cream in the middle. But “mochi” is only the glutinous rice cake on the outside.
It’s important to use shiratamako or mochiko sweet rice flour in order to get the sticky results.
Another critical ingredient is potato or corn starch to prevent the dough from sticking.
You don’t eat the starch since you dust it off, but it’s an essential ingredient in making mochi.
It has a soft chew and tastes a bit milky from the rice.
Plain mochi can be enjoyed savory, grilled, steamed or sweet.
Perhaps you’ve seen it as a frozen yogurt topping made into tiny squares that look like marshmallows or filled with sweet red bean paste.
Wrapped around ice cream, it’s a refreshingly cool and chewy dessert.
Look for mochi ice cream at Japanese supermarkets
Photo: My/Mo
To compare what you make to the store-bought version, look for mochi ice cream at Japanese supermarkets like Uwajimaya, Nijiya or Mitsuwa as well as in many Korean or Chinese supermarkets in the frozen dessert aisle.
Mochi ice cream is usually sold in boxes of about six balls and and you can choose from flavors like matcha green tea, strawberry, chocolate, mango, black sesame, vanilla, coffee and plum wine.
Supermarkets like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Safeway also carry mochi ice cream.
Look for brands like Mikawaya, My/Mo, Maeda-en and Bubbies.
in 6 steps
Photo: MEGAN BARRIE