Mochi
Every week, A Word on Food will give you a term that will make your mouth water. Happy eating.
Mochi [moh-chee]: A small, round, doughy mass made from cooked and pounded glutinous rice.
Origin: Japan
What exactly is mochi — besides the amazing chewy dessert we crave after every sushi dinner? Mochi is actually a pounded sticky rice cake with a rich history. Before it was filled with ice cream and sold at Trader Joe’s, mochi was originally made with wooden mortars and pestles used to pound the mochigome, a sweeter, stickier type of rice compared to the classic steamed rice eaten every day. It was made as an offering to the gods, or kami, at shrines, and eaten for good health and fortune.
Although now commonly seen in many Japanese restaurants, mochi is typically eaten during the Japanese New Year on Jan. 1. It is made during the mochitsuki event, or mochi-pounding ceremony, in Japan. Daifuku, a version of these chewy treats, is stuffed with sweet filling made of red bean paste.
It wasn’t until the early 1990s that Frances Hashimoto and her husband filled the sticky, chewy mochi with ice cream and brought sweet mochi mayhem to the United States. In 1970, Hashimoto took over Mikawaya, her family’s small confectionary business nestled in the heart of Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles, and vastly expanded the company’s reach by inventing and popularizing mochi ice cream.
Mochi ice cream is a small, round dessert ball that still consists of the soft, pounded sticky rice on the outside, but contains an ice cream filling. Mochi ice cream balls are dusted with corn starch to keep the mochi from sticking while being formed. Fresh mochi is soft, but it hardens quickly, providing a soft yet sturdy shell for the ice cream — until it starts to melt. An even harder texture is created in the small, thick pieces used as toppings at most fro-yo stores.
Mikawaya’s version is now sold in supermarkets throughout the U.S., such as Trader Joe’s and Safeway, and comes in seven different flavors including: chocolate, mango, green tea, red bean, strawberry, vanilla and Kona coffee. It is set to introduce five new flavors soon, including black sesame, cookies and cream, matcha green tea, mint chip and plum wine.
You can find mochi at most Japanese restaurants, including Sakuramen in D.C. and Shanghai Tokyo Cafe in College Park.
