The Worst Frozen Mochi At Trader Joe's Tastes More Like A Scented Candle

Trader Joes' frozen section is elite. From the Mandarin Orange Chicken to Cookie Butter Ice Cream, it's home to some serious freezer must-haves. One of Trader Joes' most treasured frozen treats are the mochi ice creams. If you haven't had them before and are curious to try one, we recommend you skip the caramel apple, as it fell dead last when we ranked every Trader Joe's mochi ice cream flavor. 

Unfortunately, our reviewer was not a fan of the caramel apple mochi ice cream, likening the taste to a fall candle. Our reviewer found the apple flavor to be "perfumey" with a caramel note that hit more like a bland sweetness than a rich, buttery caramel. Not only did this flavor land at the bottom of the rankings, it was actively disliked by our reviewer. It seems other people agree, as TikTok user @sunnysideuptv theatrically gags after her taste test of the treat and says, "I need a moment to recover from that one." But, if you're still looking to indulge in the Trader Joe's mochi ice cream, both the green tea and the strawberry flavors knock it out of the park and make for a delicious, chewy treat. 

If you've read this far and are still wondering what in the world mochi is, you're about to get your answer. Traditionally, mochi is made by steaming glutinous rice and then pounding it until it becomes a thick, stretchy dough. But, you can also make your own mochi at home using rice flour. Mochi ice cream is just a ball of mochi dough that is flattened and wrapped around a ball of ice cream, resulting in a delicious combination of flavors and unique textures. You can make your own mochi ice cream at home, too, and use whatever ice cream flavor your heart desires. 

Mochi ice cream came into being in the 1990s when Frances Hashimoto and her husband invented it at their Japanese bakery called Mikawaya, located in Los Angeles. Now the bakery company operates as My/Mochi which currently produces over 20 mochi ice cream flavors. We ranked all of the My/Mochi flavors and found the mint chocolate chip to be the surprising and easy winner. Trader Joe's doesn't yet offer a mint chocolate chip mochi ice cream, and we definitely won't be picking up the disappointing caramel apple flavor ever again.