The Unexpected US Origin Of Mochi Ice Cream

Japanese desserts have been gaining cult-like popularity across the U.S. for many years. From unforgettably fluffy soufflé pancakes to impossibly dewy cakes that look like raindrops, these delicious and playful pastries have created an undeniable link between Japanese and American cuisine. Few desserts illustrate this cross-cultural connection better than mochi, the chewy pounded rice cakes that have become a grocery store staple across the States. While traditional mochi cakes have been a celebrated part of Japanese culture for centuries, most Americans are more familiar with mochi-wrapped ice cream, a unique invention created at a Californian bakery at the turn of the 21st century.

In 1993, a Los Angeles-based Japanese confectionery, Mikawaya, became the first brand to release a line of mochi ice cream, thanks to the vision of Frances Hashimoto. After taking over the family business from her great-uncle in 1970, Hashimoto dedicated herself to finding innovative ways to reimagine the popular mochi cakes that her family had been eating and selling for generations. By marrying the familiarity of ice cream with the rich history of mochi making, Hashimoto successfully translated traditional flavors like matcha, yuzu, and black sesame into a novel format that felt accessible to the average American consumer. Striking the perfect balance between creamy, chewy, and soft, the explosive demand for mochi ice cream has turned it into an enduring symbol of Japanese-American culinary culture.

Even though mochi is well known as a cultural product of Japan, its origins can be traced as far back as 300 B.C., when the Chinese first introduced the short-grain glutinous rice known as mochigome to the island nation. However, it wasn't until Japan's Heian period (A.D. 794–1185), when the soft rice cakes gained favor among the Japanese aristocracy, that mochi became an elevated part of the country's cuisine. During this time, mochi cakes were used as offerings during religious ceremonies and became a special part of New Year's celebrations — a tradition that continues today.

Because of its sacred place in Japanese culture, many communities come together at the start of each year to craft mochi in a highly physical and labor-intensive ceremony known as mochitsuki. After being soaked overnight, glutinous rice is piled into square wooden baskets and steamed over a kettle of boiling water. Once cooked, the rice is placed into a wooden or stone mortar and pounded repeatedly with a large mallet by one person, while another quickly turns the dough over between swings. Once the mochi has been sufficiently pounded into a uniform, sticky mound, it is sprinkled with rice flour (mochiko) and formed into smaller balls. Despite the industrialization of mochi production in recent years, many artisans in Japan still produce the rice cakes by hand using this fast-paced and sometimes dangerous mochitsuki process.

Though mochi is internationally recognized as a dessert — especially in the U.S., where it is stuffed with ice cream — these pounded rice cakes take on a multitude of both sweet and savory forms in Japanese cooking. Perhaps the most recognizable confectionery form is daifuku mochi, pounded rice balls stuffed with sweetened red or white bean paste. Kusa mochi is a distinctive, bright green variation of daifuku that gets its color from mugwort leaves kneaded directly into the mochi dough before being filled with bean paste. Mochi has even been donut-ified in recent years thanks to the popular Japanese bakery chain Mister Donut, which was first founded in the United States.

On the savory side, plain squares of freshly prepared mochi are often grilled and brushed with soy sauce to make a delicious snack known as yakimochi. Pieces of mochi are also used as a topping in various soups, such as noodle-based chikara udon or the adzuki bean stew oshiruko. Thanks to the versatility of mochi dough, some home cooks even stuff the rice cakes with vegetables and tongue before topping them with sesame seeds and searing them in a skillet, creating a deliciously chewy savory pancake.