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| I Finally Found Dairy Free Mochi But Not For Long! Follow Foods For Long Life on FACEBOOK ! |
Mochi, One of my Favorite Desserts!
I'm not sure when I discovered mochi, that little Japanese ice cream dessert covered with a dough-like, rice based, shell. But it was love at first bite. I especially like the doughy texture of the mochi and the frozen, creamy fillings with flavors like green tea, strawberry and mango. But when I became lactose intolerant and stopped eating dairy ice cream, this was one of the things I missed the most.
The Exciting Text Message
One night I received a text message from my daughter telling me that she discovered a delicious dairy-free mochi at Trader Joe's. "It's amazing", she said. "You've got to get some!" So the next day, off I went in search of this vegan treat filled with 3 flavors of coconut milk ice cream.
The Last 2 Boxes
At first I couldn't find it but hidden in the back of the ice cream case were the last 2 boxes of vegan mochi. I couldn't wait to get it home - actually I almost ripped open the box in the store but I contained myself!
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| Dairy-free mochi comes with 6 per box in 3 flavors: mango, coconut and chocolate. |
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| Not exactly low in calories but if you can eat just one they are: 130 calories, 4 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat and 23 g of carbs. |
But are they Gluten Free?
Before introducing this product on my blog, I wanted to check if it was gluten free. It's not always that easy to determine since there are ingredients such as "emulsifiers and stabilizers". So I sent Trader Joe's an email asking them if it was gluten free. Their answer was basically, "We always fully disclose all ingredients used in all our Trader Joe's labeled products. Therefore we encourage all of our customers who follow a special diet or that have allergen concerns to always read over all of our product labels carefully". Well, telling me to read the label wasn't very helpful. So, basically, I would say be very careful because unless a manufacturer checks to see if the emulsifiers and stabilizers are gluten free, there could be a problem for those of you with an allergy or intolerance to gluten. But for those vegans not concerned about gluten who are looking for mochi, this product fills the bill.
But Are They Good?
They are a bit different than the ones you find Japanese restaurants but they were quite delicious. My favorite was the chocolate, second favorite was the coconut and the mango came in 3rd place for me - but still good. I read some reviews on-line and most vegans adored the product but some didn't like the dough-like coating.
The Bad News
At the end of the email that told me to read the label, Trader Joe's informed me that this product has been discontinued in their stores due to slow sales! Since it didn't meet a "minimum sales volume", it will be discontinued so that they can sell things that sell better. However, they said if there was enough "outcry" to bring it back, they might reconsider.
Write Trader Joe's
So if this is a product you would like Trader Joe's to continue selling, fill out this little form. You may be able to still find a few boxes of this at your local Trader Joe's. If so, scoop them up!
Hey Dr. Joanne, I don't know if I've shared this with you yet! I absolutely love the coconut milk mochi too!!! I wrote and they confirmed it's being discontinued but it's fairly recent. There's a petition to possibly help bring it back since it's soooo good and as someone who doesn't have dairy, it's the best thing ever. You can add yourself to it at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-trader-joes-coconut-milk-mochi/ as well as feel free to share the link. Thanks so much! I hope this works!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this link to bring back Trader Joe's mochi!
ReplyDeleteJoanne