M Y/MO MOCHI ICE CREAM
BY CHRISTINA GUERRERO
WE’VE ALL been there. Frantically trying
to lick your ice cream cone before the
scorching summer sun drips it down your
hand in an icky mess. The solution to your
summer woes: mochi ice cream.
Mochi (pronounced mo-chee) ice
cream is the American-Japanese fusion of
ice cream wrapped in sweet rice dough
(mochi). Mochi ice cream flavors include
traditional chocolate, strawberry, vanilla
bean, mint chocolate chip, cookies and
cream, and coffee, as well as exotic flavors
such as green tea, mango, red bean and
plum wine.
“What has made the mochi ice cream
so successful at this point in time is …
we’re taking flavors that everybody already
understands and then wrapping [them]
with mochi to create this really great
inspired treat,” says Russell Barnett, chief
marketing officer for My/Mo Mochi Ice
Cream, a Costco supplier. “So it’s not [us]
teaching a consumer anything; it’s the
idea that you already know the flavor and
the step change is that now you get to chew
your ice cream.”
Mochi history
Traditional Japanese mochi is a rice
dough made by steaming and pounding
glutinous rice. It is often eaten around the
Japanese New Year and during religious
ceremonies, according to mymomochi.
com. Samurai soldiers would carry it dur-
ing battle to satisfy their hunger instead of
being weighted down with other food.
Mochi is often used to surround tradi-
tional Japanese treats, such as red bean
paste. In 1993, Mikawaya, a Los Angeles–
based Japanese-American confection busi-
ness, began wrapping mochi around ice
cream, and mochi ice cream was intro-
duced as a unique, low-calorie snack.
“People aren’t used to eating dough
and ice cream,” Barnett says. “It’s a differ-
ent texture. And what is really nice is it’s
got that nice kind of bite of the dough—
almost the pillowiness of the dough—with
that really sweet, soft ice cream center. It
provides a sensory experience unlike [any-
thing else] you’ve ever had.”
Sweet rice flour is used to make the
mochi, which is sticky. The outside of
mochi ice cream is then dusted with flour
to keep the balls from sticking together.
“Much like a milk mustache, when
you’re done eating it,
you always have a
No cone, no scoop,
no problem I scream, you scream, we all scream for mochi ice cream
FOR YOUR TABLE
THECOSTCOCONNECTION
Vanilla, strawberry and mango mochi ice
cream—and ingredients for dipping them,
such as chocolate chips, chocolate syrup
and whipped cream—can be found in
all Costco warehouses.
little bit of flour on your fingers or on your
lips or whatever, and that’s a sign of a good
time,” Barnett says.
Hot tips for cool treats
According to
mymomochi.com, there
are several ways to enjoy mochi ice cream.
Here are a few ideas.
Eat it whole. This is the classic way to
eat mochi ice cream, because the floured
rice dough makes it convenient to hold, and
it’s small enough to eat in just a few bites.
No bowl or spoon required.
Bite-size portions. Cut the mochi balls
into halves or quarters, and serve the bite-size portions on a plate or platter with
toothpicks. The different colors and flavors
make this delicate and intriguing presentation perfect for any party.
Chocolate dipped. Dip the mochi ice
cream ball into chocolate chips that have
been melted with a little coconut oil. Place
them on a wax-lined cookie sheet, and then
freeze them for a few minutes to harden the
chocolate. Or serve mochi ice cream in a
martini glass with chocolate syrup, and
garnish with whipped cream. C
