Published January 24, 2021

Trader Joe’s is a chain of American grocery stores that prides itself on providing customers with high-quality, unique products. Trader Joe’s has been around since the late 1960s — and if you’ve ever been on Instagram — you’ll find that it is a popular store for foodies.

As a food blogger, I’ve seen mochi ice cream appear across my social media feeds. It’s not a product that I’m familiar with, nor would know where to find it.

You can imagine my surprise, after a stop at Trader Joe’s, that I found a variety of mochi ice cream flavors available to purchase.

So for this week’s blog, I’m sharing my review of Trader Joe’s vanilla mochi ice cream.

Who created mochi ice cream?

Mochi ice cream was invented by Frances Hashimoto, an iconic businesswoman and advocate for Japanese culture in Little Tokyo, California.

She took over her family business in the 1970s, selling Japanese pastries and snacks, when she created mochi ice cream.

What is mochi ice cream made of?

Mochi is a traditional Japanese dessert of rice grains that are pounded into a flexible paste. Mochi is usually eaten during New Year celebrations as a symbol of good fortune.

Mochi ice cream takes a sheet of the sweet rice paste and wraps it around flavors of ice cream to create the colorful dessert you see in stores today.

Where can I buy mochi ice cream?

Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s are a few of the stores where you can buy boxes of flavored mochi ice cream.

What flavors does Trader Joe’s have?

When I visited my nearest Trader Joe’s I saw that they had vanilla, mango, green tea, and strawberry mochi ice cream.

My first inclination was to get the mango or green tea flavors, but since I’ve never had mochi ice cream before, I decided to start with the vanilla flavor.

Ingredient Review

Trader Joe’s Vanilla Mochi Ice Cream Packaging | Score 10 of 10

I love the simple design on Trader Joe’s Mochi Ice Cream box. The eye-catching color helps catch your attention when browsing the busy store cases.

Trader Joe’s other mochi ice cream flavors also had colorful boxes like green and orange, for their corresponding flavors.

The top of the box had a pull-able perforated tab to open, which I think is a clever (see my review on Boboli®’s Pizza Crust)

The mochi ice cream sits in individual sections of a plastic container. The container is designed well to open easily and hold the ice cream in place. I like that I can take a few of the mochi ice cream out, and still reuse the packaging to store the remaining mochi in the freezer.

How much does Trader Joe’s Vanilla Mochi Ice Cream Cost? | Score 10 of 10

My box of mochi ice cream at Trader Joe’s was $4.49.

I gave this a 10/10, as I found an article from when mochi first became trendy in the U.S., that said mochi at Whole Foods was $2 per piece. Considering I got 6 pieces filled with ice cream for ~$5, I would say that Trader Joe’s price per box is a great value.

Vanilla Mochi Ice Cream Texture and Flavor | Score 10 of 10

The vanilla mochi ice cream was about the size of a clementine. There were six in total and had a smooth, almost floured texture, as I took them out of the container. As they defrosted a few minutes, their surface became a little tacky.

The flavor itself was sweet, and not fake or over-the-top. The ice cream was delicious and was filled throughout the rice wrapper, so there weren’t many air pockets or compressed areas in the mochi.

Describing the texture of mochi is nearly impossible, especially because I like to make comparisons.

The obvious is that it is chewy or doughy. Even after taking a small bite, you will have to chew the mochi for a while.

When it comes to comparing the texture to other food products, I thought it had the chewiness of a jelly bean, and was reminded of the mellow flavor of the steamed pork bun we had at Blackbeard Ramen.

I did some research and found that “Q Texture” is a positive term used to describe food textures that are normally categorized as “rubbery” or “chewy” — such as mochi, boba, and other gummy/squishy textured foods.

Some food writers even double the term, describing something extra chewy or gummy as “QQ.”

So in this case, Trader Joe’s vanilla mochi ice cream falls into the Q-texture category. If you’ve never had mochi before, it will be a unique experience, but this dessert is worth it!

Recommendation

Mochi ice cream is a convenient and tasty dessert to have at home. You can enjoy it directly from the freezer, or let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes, and enjoy. Since they’re not too sweet, you don’t feel overfilled and can enjoy one or two of these handy treats.

While mochi ice cream was a new experience for me, I would definitely buy more flavors of this dessert in the future, to have at home. Trader Joe’s vanilla mochi ice cream got straight 10s across the board for its packaging, value, and flavor.

I look forward to buying the other flavors of mochi ice cream from Trader Joe’s, so I can share my thoughts with y’all!

Have you tried mochi ice cream before?

Do you have a favorite brand or flavor of mochi ice cream? Tell me about it in the comments below!