
McDonald’s isn’t entirely confident in its newest Japanese-inspired dessert, but we believe in it.
McDonald’s McFlurry frozen desserts are a great option when you feel like mixing your sweet treats. Sometimes you just can’t decide between ice cream, Oreos, or KitKats, so really the only sensible thing too is stir them together, grab a spoon, and satisfy multiple cravings at once.
For its next McFlurry, though, McDonald’s Japan is experimenting with adding in a traditional Japanese favorite: mochi. Specifically, the newest member of the McFlurry family will have shiratama, bite-sized mochi dumplings, as its star ingredient.
Next month, McDonald’s Japan will start offering the McFlurry Custard Shiratama Nokketemita, or the “McFlurry Custard that We’ve Tried Putting Shiratama On.” Honestly, we’re not sure there’s any need for the lack of confidence implied by the official name, because while shiratama McFlurries are unprecedented, shiratama themselves have a long history of going great with ice cream, like in the slightly retro Japanese dessert called cream anmitsu…
みはしは
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…as well as in green tea ice cream parfaits and other East/West fusion desserts, to say nothing of the delicious mochi-enhanced ice creams from Haagen-Dazs.
Those of you who are budding linguists might be a little confused by McDonald’s photos, though, since “shiratama” literally means “white orb,” but the dumplings in the shiratama McFlurry are yellow. That’s because to keep them from getting too soggy or sticky, and also to make them extra-delicious, McDonald’s has given them a custard coating. Between that and the custard sauce and crunchy corn flakes, the new McFlurry promises to be a rich, satisfying indulgence, plus the color scheme has us wondering if we’ll also see shiratama added to hoped-for future revivals of the Pikachu and Gudetama McFlurries.
The McFlurry Custard Shiratama Nokketemita goes on sale September 4, priced at 320 yen (US$3), and really the only drawback we can find is that the long name seems like it’ll be kind of a pain to say, especially for people like us who plan on ordering them as frequently as possible, but we suspect that McDonald’s clerks will understand you just fine if you abbreviate your order down to just “shiratama McFlurry.”
Source, images: McDonald’s press release
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