Mochi ice cream

Description

Mochi ice cream is a small, round dessert ball consisting of a soft, pounded sticky rice cake (mochi) formed around an ice cream filling. The ice cream flavors the confection while the mochi adds sweetness and texture. Ice creams used include traditional flavors (such as vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) and others such as Kona coffee, plum wine, and red bean. The mochi can also be flavored as a complement to the ice cream and is dusted with potato or corn starch to keep it from sticking while being formed and handled.

History

Japanese daifuku and manjū are the predecessors to mochi ice cream, commonly featuring azuki bean filling. Due to the temperature and consistency of mochi and ice cream, both components must be modified to achieve the right viscosity that will remain constant regardless of changes in temperature.

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.

Frances Hashimoto, the former president and CEO of Mikawaya, is credited as the creator and inventor of mochi ice cream. 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. Frances Hashimoto expanded on her husband's idea, inventing the fusion dessert now popular in the United States and elsewhere. Hashimoto introduced seven flavors in the mochi product line.

Mikawaya began production of mochi ice cream in the United States in 1993. Research and development took over a decade to realize the mass production form used today, due to the complex interactions of the ingredients.