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 activist Frances Hashimoto.
Video 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. The traditional Ice cream flavors used are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Other flavors, such as Kona coffee, plum wine, and red bean, are also widely used. 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 sticking while being formed and handled.
Maps Mochi ice cream
History
Japanese daifuku and manj? 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. This is 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 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 evolve into the mass production form used today, due to the complex interactions of the ingredients.
See also
- Bubbies
- Yukimi Daifuku
- Snow skin mooncake
References
External links
- Mikawaya's official site
- Lotte's official site (Japanese)
- The joy of mochi -- June 14, 2006 Honolulu Weekly article, featuring Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream of Honolulu
- Maeda-en Mochi Ice Cream site
- Mochi Ice Cream You Can Make at Home on YouTube
Source of article : Wikipedia
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