Last week we were at the Chaing Mai Sunday Market, which is a huge huge deal. The variety of food and fun things to buy is overwhelming, but a huge feast for the eyes in every way. This is where I found these. They were almost totally out of place from all the other offerings at the market, and the visual totally caught me.
Apparently, these little gems have been hitting it big in the States for a while now. You can buy them at Albertson’s, Trader Joes, Ralph’s and Safeway among other stores according to Wikipedia, though I’ve never seen them. I had no idea what they were, and sadly couldn’t eat them, but look at them!
I stopped dead in my tracks when all these lovely colors caught my eyes. It’s not just about the color either, it’s the texture. It was all I could do to stop myself from reaching out and touching all of them.
I don’t really talk about it here, but color is such a visceral experience for me. I can’t explain it, but it’s almost a high for me. So this was a FEAST.
Mochi Ice Cream is a Japanese treat made out of pounded sticky rice or Mochi and filled with ice cream. Each ball is dusted with corn starch, which gives it a muted soft look.
They look delicious. I’m not sure I can eat them, I’d have to do a bit more research, but just on sight alone, I wasn’t going to chance it. Glutenous rice doesn’t necessarily have gluten in it, but it’s rather hard to know for sure.
So for now, I’m satisfied with the gorgeous visual. Enjoy, and if you have eaten these lovely morsels, please share! I want to know if they’re as good as they look, where you get them and what your favorite flavor is!
They are sold in Hawaii all over- grocery stores have them and Shirokiya a huge Japanese dept store in Ala Moana had a concession like that for years. Nuka restaurant in a Haiku serves them
Melanie! Thank you so much for this. I haven’t had a chance to go to Nuka yet, but when we return to the island, it’s on my list. I usually don’t shop the refrigerated section of grocery stores, and just haven’t known to look for them.
Yum! My favorites are the chocolate ones Trader Joes sells…. the texture is just like you are imagining it, chewy + glutenous… it’s one of those foods where the name feels and sounds like the food, I know you get that! Also, traditional Japanese mochi balls are insanely good, they are just like the ice cream ones but instead they are filled with sweetened adzuki bean paste.
Yeah see… I totally get that and now it’s going to be one of my many food missions to see if they are gluten free, but also… learn to make them. Can you imagine a Mochi Ice Cream Dessert Platter for a dinner party? Or… a food truck?! Or… you get the picture. And the adzuki sounds amazing too.