I really like ice cream. It’s one of my favorite desserts. Earlier, I wrote about Aldi Sundae Shoppe Pumpkin Spice and Apple Cinnamon ice creams. Now, I’m looking at a different ice cream: Trader Joe’s Strawberry Mochi.
Mochi is a Japanese dessert, often served to celebrate the Japanese New Year. Unlike normal ice cream, mochi ice cream features a small ball of sweet, chewy rice flour dough (the mochi) with ice cream in the middle. I only got the strawberry flavor at Trader Joe’s, but I also saw vanilla and green tea.
Trader Joe’s Strawberry Mochi cost $4.99 for 6.8-ounce box at the time of purchase. With six pieces of mochi, that comes out to about 83 cents per piece or 73 cents per ounce.
You can get mochi a little bit cheaper from Walmart or Aldi. A larger 9.1-ounce box of name-brand My/Mochi ice cream at Walmart or Aldi costs $4.97 or about 55 cents per ounce. The My/Mochi ice cream at Walmart and Aldi costs about 83 cents per piece, the same as the Trader Joe’s mochi, but the Walmart box contains more ounces, so the individual servings are slightly larger.
The TJ’s box says to let the mochi defrost at room temperature for 3-4 minutes, although usually one or two minutes is enough. It gets soft fast, and it can get messy when it’s partially melted and there’s only a little dough left to hold in the ice cream.
Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
One piece of mochi is considered to be one serving. This mochi has 80 calories per piece, 2.5 grams of total fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 13 grams of total carbs, 9 grams of total sugars, and 8 grams of added sugars.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk and egg.
Mochi inside the plastic tray they come packaged in.
Usually, I get the My/Mochi brand at Aldi. The My/Mochi strawberry mochi tastes the same as Trader Joe’s, and the only difference would be the price. I wouldn’t notice a difference if I didn’t know they were different brands.
The Verdict:
I would say that, compared to other brands, Trader Joe’s is about the same as name-brand My/Mochi, but My/Mochi is more popular and sold at a lot of stores. I assume any of the mochi flavors at Trader Joe’s are similar to My/Mochi flavors. I would buy this mochi again. If you’re a fan of mochi ice cream, it’s a good choice.
