Ice cream -- Japanese style

[Hiroyuki]

Actually I probably would like lact ice, as I have a fairly strong dairy intolerance.

I'll have to search the Japanese groceries locally. How would I refer to the name or brands in Japanese?

Oh, do you? You mean you are allergic to milk or something? Have you ever tried tofu ice cream?

Anyway, I tried to search for any good websites on Japanese ice cream, but I failed.

This is one of the few good ones I have found:

http://www.geocities.co.jp/AnimeComic-Name/5582/ice.htm

Sorry, entirely in Japanese.

ラクトアイス is lact ice,

アイスミルク is ice milk, and

アイスクリーム is ice cream.

Among the biggest manufacturers in Japan are:

Lotte

Morinaga

Glico

Meiji

I hope someone else informs us of some good sites on Japanese ice cream.

[Hiroyuki]

I have not tried any of those brands, but I love Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream:

http://www.mochiicecream.com

I think this brand originated in the US, though by a Japanese family. There are eight pieces in a box, and I could easily polish off a box of the red bean flavor in an afternoon.

I love red bean, ginger and black sesame ice creams. Not as fond of green tea ice cream.

Pat

Thank you, Sleepy_Dragon, for your reply, but the main point of this thread is the milk solid.

Do you prefer the "mattari" taste of authentic ice cream or the "assari" taste of fake ice cream?

[torakris]

I have to admit it took me a very loooong time to realize there were different types of ice cream here in Japan.

I had always assumed that all ice cream was created equal.....

I have been buying the lacto ice almost exclusively since I have been here because it is way cheaper than the premium ice creams. I normally buy what ever is in the biggest tub and the cheapest price, I rarely go for brand.

I normally get vanilla since that is normally what is available in the largest size.

The lack of variety and the high price of ice cream (and ice milk and lacto ice) prevents me from buying ice cream here as much as I would like too.

Ice cream is one of the things I look foward to the most on my trips back to the US!

[Yuki]

I like the individual wrapped portion of ice cream from Japan and other Asian countries because they prevent me from eating a whole bucket of ice cream. The ice cream in Japan taste richer than the one I get here and lots more flavor in the ice cream store too.

[trillium]

I have to admit it took me a very loooong time to realize there were different types of ice cream here in Japan.

I had always assumed that all ice cream was created equal.....

I have been buying the lacto ice almost exclusively since I have been here because it is way cheaper than the premium ice creams. I normally buy what ever is in the biggest tub and the cheapest price, I rarely go for brand.

I normally get vanilla since that is normally what is available in the largest size.

The lack of variety and the high price of ice cream (and ice milk and lacto ice) prevents me from buying ice cream here as much as I would like too.

Ice cream is one of the things I look foward to the most on my trips back to the US!

Maybe you should get one of those little Donviers (no bothersome outlet problems and very little hand cranking)? I actually thought they were Japanese. It's pretty easy to make your own ice cream...or would that be a bad thing?

regards,

trillium

[Jason Perlow]

Sorry, entirely in Japanese.

ラクトアイス is lact ice,

アイスミルク is ice milk, and

アイスクリーム is ice cream.

Do you have the Romanji pronunciation for that?

[Hiroyuki]

Sorry, entirely in Japanese.

Here it is:

ラクトアイス is lact ice,

アイスミルク is ice milk, and

アイスクリーム is ice cream.

Do you have the Romanji pronunciation for that?

ラクトアイス is lact ice,

rakuto aisu

アイスミルク is ice milk, and

aisu miruku

アイスクリーム is ice cream.

aisu kuriimu

[Jason Perlow]

So the words are foreign words then... "aisu kuriimu" literally sounds like "ice cream"

[torakris]

So the words are foreign words then... "aisu kuriimu" literally sounds like "ice cream"

yes, they are all Japanese pronunciations of English terms, some of them are actually words that English speakers use, like ice cream, but sometimes they are English words that the Japanese just give new meanings to.

Do we have ice milk and lacto ice products in the US?

[Hiroyuki]

Jason,

Exactly. And ice cream itself was foreign too. But now we have our own ice cream culture, as you can see. Miso ice cream, rice ice cream, uni (sea urchin) ice cream, just to name a few.

Edited May 26, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Hiroyuki]

I think I have seen a link to similar products somewhere in the Japan Forum, but for ease of reference, here I provide a link to this site:

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/japano/0207/ice-cream/1.html

Sorry to say, I have never tasted any of them.

[torakris]

the "weirdest" ice cream I have tasted was wasabi, it wasn't bad as a taste, but I couldn't eat a whole cone or bowl of it.

[Pompollo]

QUOTE (torakris Posted on May 25 2004, 05:13 PM )

Do we have ice milk and lacto ice products in the US?

There are lacto ice products in the USA. I know the labels for "ice cream type products" are legally prescribed by law according to their butter fat/dairy content. So, to be called "ice cream" the product must have over 15% fat, for example. (Somebody more knowledgeable will know the real %) Then there are products called "ice milk", and then "non-dairy ice creams" are labeled as "frozen desserts", since they can't say milk or cream because they don't have any.

I know there are all sorts of names and I also really looked forward to going to the States to eat ice cream that comes in BIG containers. Unfortunately now I've grown into a BIG size waist and rarely partake of my favorite dessert.

In Japan, I do like what are called yukimi daifuku (ice cream rounds covered in mochi) that usually are sold only in the winter.

[melonpan]

summer time!

two favourites

a lacto ice with muskmelon (cantaloupe) flavour (although they call it ruby melon, it tastes just like cantaloupe)

very nice flavour, very cantaloupey. apparently has a little bit of real juice (1%, though i dont think a little more would hurt).

suika and melon ice bars

(click on for larger image of the box)

they are a riot. satisfyingly sugary and cold (good water content high, but not too icy-- my gripe with some ice confections are that they dont have enough water and are 'warm' when eaten. think frozen yogurts). the flavours are good but not mind blowingly wonderful, but good enough for me to crave them a lot (melon juice content = 5%). BOTH come complete with 'seeds', the watermelon has tiny, hollow chocolate balls, and the melon one comes with white chocolate balls!

nummilicious

[melonpan]

both are lotte products.

the SOH page shows that in addition to the melon, SOH also comes in MATCHA (yaay), vanilla and choclate (none of which i have seen sold at the store i frequent)

on lottes suika bar page it shows that they sell the monster sized version of the suika bar!

they dont sell that here nuther!

[Chev]

here are more unusual icecream flavours courtesy of boing boing - hooray for the inventiveness!

unfortunately, as my neighbourhood meidhi-ya supermarket offers limited choices, i can't say i have been adventurous. so far, besides super-strong green tea, i have also munched down on black sesame ice cream - pretty darn good feeling the little bits against the tongue on a hot humid day here.

[Hiroyuki]

Chev, I wonder if the link you provided is broken.

Edited July 9, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Chev]

oops, here's more ice-cream flavours again, crossing my fingers it works this time.

[melonpan]

there are a certain type of ice cream bars available in korea and japan. they are usually individual cakes of vanilla ice cream surrounded by a wheat based coating. i think these types of cakes (red bean paste and the like covered in a wheat based covering) are called monaka, although i dont know what monaka is technically. are taiyaki a kind of monaka? the kind of taiyaki that are grilled fresh for you, not the ice taiyaki.

so, there exists a subset of monaka, called ice monaka...

these are morinaga's JUMBO choco monaka. the jumbo choco monaka are vanilla ice cream bars, with a thin layer of chocolate in the center, dipped in chocolate and then covered with the monaka covering.

yumms!

one other kind of ice cream confection in japan is called taiyaki (note, they also sell frozen non-ice cream taiyaki in the freezer section too!). in korea, an equivalent is sold as bungeo ssamanko (carp ssamanko -- ssamanko doesnt mean anything as far as i know)

in these photos, the top smaller carp is the japanese taiyaki. the bottom carps are the korean bungeo ssamanko.

the japanese taiyaki are really cute and fun to eat. they are vanilla with a layer of thin chocolate on the bottom.

the korean bungeo ssamanko are a bit larger. they also dont have any chocolate. instead they contain sweetened red bean paste (paht) and chewy glutinous rice balls typically found in red bean porridge (sae al shim -- birds egg heart). the rice balls are also sometimes called simply chap ssal ddeok (sweet rice cakes).

i think that in japan they also sell larger ones and ones that contain azuki, but i havent seen any at the local supermarket (they have a very limited selection actually. ). also, i have noticed that there exists a coffee flavoured ssamanko, but unfortunately, i have never seen them for sale here either.

edited for clarity

Edited July 15, 2004 by melonpan (log)

[Chef Shogun]

Melonpan: Ack, you stole mine! I was launching into this whole thing about Monaka, when I scrolled down a bit and saw the picture! Those things rule! I don't think the ones we had at school were vanilla; pretty sure they were strawberry, and the chocolate lined the casing instead of being inside. Could be wrong...it was a while ago. Might have been a Lotte product. Nothing said 'welcome to school' at 8:15 or so A.M. on a hot May morning like one of those and a Coke or C.C. Lemon! Breakfast of champions. We were so horrible...

[smallworld]

so, there exists a subset of monaka, called ice monaka...

Yup, ice monaka is great! The Jumbo Choco-monaka shown is a big favourite of mine. Only problem is the monaka is often stale, which totally ruins it.

there are a certain type of ice cream bars available in korea and japan. they are usually individual cakes of vanilla ice cream surrounded by a wheat based coating. i think these types of cakes (red bean paste and the like covered in a wheat based covering) are called monaka, although i dont know what monaka is technically. are taiyaki a kind of monaka? the kind of taiyaki that are grilled fresh for you, not the ice taiyaki.

Taiyaki is not a kind of monaka. It is made of a pancake-like batter and filled with anko, and commonly available at yatai or stands outside of train stations or in entertainment districts. Always sold hot and freshly made. At some places there is a choice of fillings, like tsubu-an, shira-tama, chocolate, custard etc.

I don't think I've tried the frozen version, but you've piqued my interest so I'll have to give it a try.

Monaka differs from taiyaki in that the an is covered by a wafer. I'm not a big fan of regular monaka because the is a lot of an in proportion to wafer, which makes it far too too sweet. Also, the an's moisture causes the monaka to become soft and stale. But some monaka comes with the an and wafer wrapped seperately, you don't put them together until you're ready to eat it, which guarantees a crisp wafer.

Both monaka and taiyaki are kinds of wagashi, more specificly (I think) they are kinds of nan-ban-gashi ("southern barbarian sweets", so-called because wheat-based coverings show a foreign influence).

[torakris]

traditionally monaka is a type of wagashi made with a wafer made from rice flour and not really related to taiyaki, looks like this:

http://www.toraya-group.co.jp/english/waga.../typ_pi_003.jpg

I am not really a big monaka fan either the ice cream or wagashi type, I don't like the soggy wafer....

EDIT:

I see smallworld was typing the same thing at the same time...

Edited July 15, 2004 by torakris (log)

[melonpan]

I don't think I've tried the frozen version, but you've piqued my interest so I'll have to give it a try.

ive never tried the frozen taiyaki for fear of being disappointed, but maybe i will try it... i have never bought frozen takoyaki for the same reason, but people have told me that they are actually quite good microwaved. i think i will try making takoyaki one of these days. i see often see students buying tenkasu and octopus and nothing else...

Monaka differs from taiyaki in that the an is covered by a wafer. I'm not a big fan of regular monaka because the is a lot of an in proportion to wafer, which makes it far too too sweet. Also, the an's moisture causes the monaka to become soft and stale.

i didnt actually know about the term monaka until last night when i did some research on trying to describe the ice monaka. i didnt realise it, but they are wafers; they were never crispy enough for me to realise it. the ice taiyaki and ssamankos are definitely a kind of ice monaka, then. because their coverings are not like real taiyaki batter.

even though i did not know what they were called, i did know about the existence of monaka (proper) and have bought some occasionally. the staleness never seemed as big a problem to me as the sweetness of each monaka. waaaay to much an. i actually like the wafers (i also loooooove plain ice cream cones and eat them without the ice cream!). smaller sized monaka (better wafer/an ratio) are probably better for me.

But some monaka comes with the an and wafer wrapped seperately, you don't put them together until you're ready to eat it, which guarantees a crisp wafer.

ooh, i could go for those...

[origamicrane]

not sure if anyone cares but here my recipe for green tea ice cream

this is enough for one large portion of ice cream

and i think its really nice vary the powder and sugar to your preference but this one is not too sweet and quite strong on the green tea

you can make wasabi ice cream just replace the green tea powder for wasabi powder.

Or for sesame ice cream roast 1 tsp black and 1 tsp white sesame seed

pound into powder using a pestle and mortar or in a food processor and replace that for the green tea powder.

Green tea ice cream 10 min prep 10 min chill

100ml double cream

50 ml full fat milk

1 eggs at room temp

3 tsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp maccha green tea powder

1. mix 1/2 tsp green tea powder with 2 tsp caster sugar.

2. Heat 50 ml of milk, whisk the milk while sieving in the sugar and green tea powder. This is your green tea syrup

3. whisk egg to silky then add 2 tsp caster sugar and whisk till it begins to hold its ribbon.

4. whisk cream to peaks

5. pour egg into cream and whisk together. This is your ice cream base

6. slowly trickle in the green tea syrup into your ice cream base while whisking

7. pour into your ice cream machine and churn.

Edited September 9, 2004 by origamicrane (log)

[helenjp]

it's a rather recent favourite

I dunno, it's been around for 25 years or so! Azuki ice cream was around then too, but strangely, you had to go to upmarket places that served icecream "on the half shell" to get flavors like mikan or yuzu.

I think powdered tea is the usual component, because it's so easy -- green tea ice cream using an infusion is rare, even in Japan, and my impression is that it became popular after black tea creams and icecreams became popular in the '80s.

...but I'm not swearing on it!