Juh-juh-juh-Japanese Snacks!
Nov 21 '01
The Bottom Line Japanese snacks are good for you.
(Special note for Fez_Monkey – this is not the jalapeno review.)
If you’re looking for information on senbei (rice crackers), dried squid, or dehydrated peas, this is not the review. The back button is on the left hand corner of your screen. This is all about my favorite new school Japanese junk food. I love this stuff. (And all these items can be found in most Asian groceries.)
Gum –Japanese gum can be pretty funny. There’s Green Gum (which leaves this sweet minty pine taste in your mouth) and Black Black, which is, errr, black and is the hottest, most potent gum around. I’ve also purchased flavono gum, only because the packaging insisted it was “triple combination hi-tech gum”. When I was in Japan, I tried No Time Gum, which featured a picture of a blocked out toothbrush. From what I gather, you’re supposed to pop in a piece of this gum if you’ve forgotten to brush your teeth. No Time Gum tastes like toothpaste; it’s gross. (Come to think of it, gum here, like Fruit Stripe and Freshen Up is pretty odd too.)
I love the little Murakawa gumballs that come it tiny little boxes with the pictures of fruit on them. Each little box comes with four baby gumballs that burst with that intense flavor that quickly disappears. The gum is so wonderfully soft that you can’t even blow bubbles with them. The grape is the best. (The Sanrio gum is pretty darn good too.)
Tenki Marshmallows - One word: Yummers – these cute little things are so simple and yet so darn good. They’re basically little flavored marshmallows with a jelly like filling – super light and airy, not too sweet, and fun to see how many you can stuff in your mouth. These little marshmallow pillows (of course individually wrapped) come it bags of 25, enough to make you feel really guilty when you consume the whole bag. The fruity flavors (green apple, grape, strawberry, blueberry) are way better than the pudding and chocolate ones.
Pocky – No review of Japanese snacks would be complete without that perfect cookie snack of Pocky (thanks to dastr8poop, who got me writing this epinion with his stellar review of the lack of epinions products.) If you haven’t tried it yet, Pocky is a snack made of these long, thin, sweet, biscuit-type dealies – they remind me of really skinny pencils or those long matchsticks you use for your fireplace. The best part is that each Pocky is dipped in chocolate, leaving about an inch of the cookie part exposed so you can pick the Pocky up and not get chocolate-y fingers. These suckers are good. The other neat thing is that these guys come in a wide variety – In addition to the original chocolate, you can also find Mousse Pocky, White Mousse Pocky, Almond Crush Pocky (yes, covered with chocolate and crushed almonds), Chocolate Marble Pocky, Coconut Pocky, Pudding Pocky, and Strawberry Pocky. The best Pocky has to be Men’s Pocky, "crispy pretzel dipped in dark chocolate". Back off, ladies.
Pretz – Pocky’s worthy opponent – probably because they focus more on the savory than the sweet. Their Salad Pretz – in a handsome green box has hints of Italian salad dressing is great with beer. Tomato Pretz, on the other hand is not very good and should be skipped.
Another biscuit stick worth mentioning is Yan Yan – biscuit sticks that come in a red canister with a little container of chocolate with a Nutella-like consistency. It’s too much work if you ask me.
The Japanese snack that has the best name (and is a fun souvenir to bring back to your friends in the US) is Collon - It comes in strawberry and chocolate – it has a light crunchy sugar cone-like shell filled with a cream-like filling. It’s not very exciting, but the name is great.
I could go one forever, but I’ll stop. Other great snacks worth mentioning are those chocolate stuffed koala cookies and all those boxes of chocolate and candy goodness that come with the free toy. Maybe there'll be more snacks to come.
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