When Lotte Co. launched its Yukimi Daifuku ice cream encased in soft rice flour pastry in 1981, it was looking for a year-round product to strengthen its foothold in a domestic ice cream market long dominated by dairy companies.
More than two decades later, Lotte's blockbuster confection and its spinoffs are winning the hearts of Americans as "mochi ice cream," combining the Asian love of glutinous rice cake with the American passion for ice cream.
Following Lotte's path, a few confectioners in the United States have managed to perfect the technology needed to keep the chewy rice dough soft at freezing temperatures, turning the East-meets-West dessert into a supermarket staple.