Five writers around a freezer bin at Whole Foods taking pictures of the items inside is enough to attract attention. Enough that an older gentleman pushing his grocery cart nearby stopped to ask what we were looking at. “It’s called mochi,” I told him. “It’s kind of like dough stuffed with ice cream.”
“Oh,” he said, still seeming pretty confused.
That might be the simplest way to describe this Japanese dessert, but it’s much more than that. Mochi are about the size of doughnut holes, made with sweet Japanese rice dough. The variety of ice cream flavors stuffed inside the pastel dessert balls are different than your standard chocolate, vanilla and strawberry (though those are available, too). There’s matcha green tea, mango, coffee and even black sesame seed and red bean flavors.
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Whole Foods started rolling out the desserts earlier this year, with freezer bins set up for guests to pluck as many individual mochi desserts as they want. Mochi cost around $2 a piece.
The 225 Dine team, never afraid to try all the desserts, went in one lunch break recently to sample several flavors. The first thing we noted was that our attempts to “split” several mochi balls so everyone could get a taste was a fool’s errand. The gummy rice dough is a little hard to slice cleanly. Some of us likened its texture to Play-Doh, fondant and, more unappealingly, human flesh or cooked squid.
OK, OK. That sounds disgusting, I know. But don’t let it deter you, maybe? Some of us just can’t get behind certain textures. But none of us were turned off by the flavors—you just have to eat it while it’s still cold and firm to avoid a really gummy, slightly disturbing consistency.
Anyway, before I knew it, the 225 Dine team was dolling out mochi so fast, I could barely keep up with everyone’s takes on the flavors. So below are some of our on-the-spot reactions:
Mango:
“Tastes like a creamsicle.”
Matcha green tea:
“It’s got a bright flavor.”
“Like air freshener.”
“It’s definitely medicinal.”
“I like green tea, and this is not happening for me.”
“Maybe I taste mint?”
“Yeah!”
Kona coffee:
“It’s got a very latte taste, like a sweet coffee.”
Red bean:
“Not as beany as I thought it would be.”
“There are little bits of bean in it.”
“Nope.”
“It still sort of works as a dessert, though.”
“Nope.”
Black sesame:
“It’s more bitter than I expected.”
“It’s got a roasted, nutty flavor.”
“I like this more than I thought I would.”
“Is that a whole sesame seed in there?”
“Yep.”
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Vanilla bean:
“The vanilla is good because it tastes like vanilla. That’s all I need.”
The other flavors were mostly what you’d expect by the name alone, but we were impressed that there were bits of chocolate in the double chocolate flavor, flecks of vanilla bean in the vanilla bean flavor, and so on. In all, the flavors were more subtle and nuanced, instead of, say, loudly proclaiming STRAWBERRY!
Whole Foods thinks the craze is catching on. The option to mix and match flavors is a boon, especially for small get-togethers where you’ll want to bring along a variety of options for everyone—or if, like us, you just want to try them all yourself. Just be a good friend and warn others if they have an aversion to squishy textures.
