Nighttime Sweets Strawberry Parfait

Packaging is a way of manipulating people into buying stuff they might not otherwise buy. Without the allure of packaging, people are pretty much going to be basing their purchases on three factors - appearance (if the food is actually visible), type of food, and price. I have to wonder what shopping was like back in the "Little House On the Prairie" days when "inventive packaging" was showing an illustration of a guy with a huge handlebar mustache on a jar of "Uncle Earwax's Super Hardening Mustache Paraffin". I'm guessing people pretty much just bought what they needed back in those days.

The producers of boring food like yogurt rely on us being dumb enough to be fooled by misleading images of the flavor of the slightly sour, thin goo contained therein. Even someone who is fairly "savvy" (which is what we all think we are, which is part of our overall "stupid") can be suckered into seeing a lovely bit of strawberry ice cream with whipped cream, berries, and wafers and think that's what we're going to be tasting. Of course, they can't be really accused of misleading us because it says, "this is an image" under the parfait picture.

I didn't have high expectations of this when I saw it at Seiyu for 100 yen ($1.20), but I had a good experience with the previous entry in the "Nighttime Sweets" line, the apple pie yogurt. I figured that the line deserved my attention even if I'm not a fan of strawberry-flavored foods in general. To be clear, I love the fresh berries, but just dislike how they are incorporated into processed food.

Peeling back the foil, I was greeted with the scent of real pureed strawberries. Color me surprised. I was also shocked at the taste of this because it reminded me of strawberry shortcake. In fact, if you pureed a shortcake that is what it'd taste like. Seriously. Okay, if you took one of those small round yellow sponge cakes that are sold cheaply in local markets, piled on some berries, whipped cream, a little sugar, and then doused it in whole milk and then pureed it, that is what this tastes like.

I was truly blown away by this. The fine folks at Luna made yogurt that tastes very little like yogurt (again, their vanilla yogurt tastes like a tiny pot of heaven). There is definitely some cream flavoring in there and what looks, smells and tastes like real berries. There may also be essence of cake, for all I know. What is for certain is that this is only 69 calories and tastes great. I'll be sorry when this inevitably leaves the market, but I have some hopes now that this line is going to deliver again and again with each new offer.

Fujicco Chestnut Pudding

Pudding or "purin" as it is called in Japan, is sold pretty much everywhere here, and I tend to pretty much ignore it. It's not that it's bad, but rather that the flavors tend to be pedestrian (vanilla, chocolate, and coffee) and also I'm not the biggest fan of pudding. There's also the fact that most of these little cups of thickened goo are full of fat and carry a high calorie punch for their size.

This caught my eye at the local Peacock supermarket for 108 yen ($1.33) because 75 grams (2.6 oz or about 3/4 cup) is only 91 calories and it is "kuri" or chestnut-flavored. Granted, chestnut is a common flavor in autumn and winter in Japan, but I never noticed it in pudding before. That's probably because I wasn't paying attention rather than because it wasn't on offer before. I was probably distracted by all of the chocolate in the next aisle.

This is made by a company called "Fujicco" and it was my first experience with a product of theirs. The company makes a vast array of foods for markets including "Caspia" yogurt (greek yogurt), health and diet foods, nata de coco, and vacuum-sealed bags of things which look like they have been regurgitated by a bizarre sea creature. The last item is my way of summarizing "food that is used in Japanese cooking which I don't consume."

The texture is surprisingly decent considering that it breaks up like a gelatinous blob rather than as a smooth creamy pudding. The smell is really quite nice with a roasted chestnut aroma that also brings coffee to mind. It is the roasting that brings about this comparison, not the actual presence of coffee.

The flavor is incredibly good. Chestnut is a flavor that is easy to screw up because too much is gag-inducing and too little leaves you shrugging. To me, this had the perfect balance of chestnut flavor and sweetness with a hint of something that reminded me of the brandy so often used in mont blanc desserts. I truly enjoyed this, and that surprised me.

As a great fan of Mont Blanc, I really loved this. It was like eating just the top off of a pastry except with a bit more intensity and sweetness and a lot less fat. I will definitely have it again, and would recommend it to anyone who is a great fan of chestnut paste or chestnut pastries.

Ito En Tea's Tea Manhatten Milk Tea

Usually I don't take pictures of my garbage to illustrate a review. Generally, I take a picture of a full bottle of a beverage if it is a transparent container, and a picture of the drink poured into a glass if it is opaque. So, one may ponder why I'm using a picture of an empty bottle this time.

Actually, I'm guessing that if I hadn't mentioned it, very few of my readers would even have noticed that the bottle was empty, but there is a point to be made. Of course, I take the scenic route to any point because otherwise my reviews would be little more than short descriptions about taste, texture and smell, and there's really no fun in that. Let's just start by saying this bottle didn't actually come from anywhere that even resembled Manhatten despite the product's name.

I should mention that I had no intention of purchasing any of the Tea's Tea line of products nor reviewing them. There were two reasons for this decision and neither relates to the quality of Ito En's beverages. The primary reason is that I can make damn fine tea with a teabag, milk, and some sweetener for a fraction of the price and far less waste than buying bottled tea. The secondary reason is that my husband told me that Tea's Tea is a brand that is sold back home and I try not to knowingly review products that are essentially sold in the same form in the U.S.

It turned out that this type of milk tea, which is made with a combination of cow's milk and soy milk and is calorie-reduced, isn't marketed back home. However, that wasn't enough to get me to try it. The thing that convinced me to try it was the fact that you can't brew a cup of tea while you climb a mountain, and hot tea from a vending machine (which you can find on mountains in Japan, of course) makes a great hand warmer on a chilly day.

On December 28, my husband and I climbed Mt. Takao (aka, the mountain for sissies who can't climb) and that is where I secured this 275 ml. bottle (9.3 oz.) for the inflated price of 150 yen ($1.80). Note that the vending machine prices incrementally increase the higher you go up the mountain. They start around 150 yen for 500 ml. bottles at the bottom then climb to 170 ($2.03) then finally are 200 yen ($2.40) at the top. This makes no sense at all because it's not like a sherpa is hauling cases of drinks up the mountain and charges more to go all the way to the top. The same trucks are hauling them to each progressive spot. I know because they kept driving past us while we struggled up the steepest path to the top of the mountain.

The vending machine I got this from was about 2/3 of the way to the top and near an area studded with shrines. It could also be called "the part where you stop climbing super steep inclines and start climbing about 1000 steps to get to the top". This caught my eye mainly because it has a big "zero" on the front and that generally means no sugar. Indeed, this is made with the sweeteners Sucralose and Acesulfame K. The entire bottle is 49.5 calories, but that comes entirely from the milk and soy milk.

In addition to being pleasantly warm on chilly hands, this is also very tasty tea. It is well-balanced in terms of its sweeteness and milkiness with pleasantly floral tasting black tea. In fact, I was so impressed that I have considered buying it again despite my cheapness and desire not to drink PET bottles of beverages that can be made at home. This is damn fine tea, especially if you're stupid enough to pick the hardest trail the first time you climb a mountain at 46 years of age with a bum knee and want something hot, slightly creamy, and rich in quality tea flavors. And, yes, this was the very bottle I brought back down the mountain. I hung onto it for a few weeks just for this review. ;-)

Uchi Cafe Sweets Mochi Puyo

One of the great things about doing this blog while actually living in Japan (as opposed to buying imports) is that Japanese people will recommend or give things to you that you may  not bother to sample for yourself. I learned about this pastry secondhand via my husband, who was given one as part of a little "party" at the end of the year that his last student of 2010 "threw" for him. Of course, I don't know if you can call a small bottle of some champagne-like substance and a couple of mochi ball sweets a real party, but it was the thought that counted.

My husband is not the greatest fan of Japanese sweets, so when he tells me he has tried something like this and likes it enough to buy it again, there's a good chance it's going to be pretty darn dandy. The "Uchi Cafe" line of sweets can only be purchased at Lawson's. There are three types of Lawson's convenience stores in Japan: Lawson 100, Natrual Lawson's, and just plain old Lawson's. We found this for 150 yen at the last type and I don't know if you can get them at any of the others, but I doubt it.

Note that, though this is a Lawson's brand, it is made by Yamazaki Pan. I've done a few reviews of Yamazaki Pan sweets and had an indifferent response to those treats, but the truth is that they make some of the best pastries in Japan, particularly when you're looking at anything which is made with cream or custard. If you ever see a Yamazaki Pan package which contains two disks of chocolate cake with whipped cream between them, buy it and enjoy the goodness. It's one of my favorites, but it's also a calorie bomb that you can't indulge in often if you want to look good in your Speedos.

Each little pastry is about 6.5 cm/255 in. in diameter and 155 calories. The top ingredient is "milk flour paste, followed by shortening then eggs, and flour. Though "mochi" is pounded rice cake, rice is nowhere to be found in this. This isn't really mochi so much as a dough which bakes up with the chewy properties of mochi. I also find it odd that no sweetening agent is in the top ingredients yet these aren't low calorie and are sweet. I think the calories are coming from the heavy carbohydrate load and the sweetness from some sort of lactose configuration (but I can't know for certain).

When you open the package, the cakes smell like vanilla custard. For the cutaway picture, it was hard to cut through with a knife because it is as tough as real mochi. The outside is slightly chewy and the custard inside is slightly thin, smooth and creamy. The two textures make for an interesting contrast. The outer mochi-like cake doesn't have a strong flavor, but it does have a baked good sense and even tastes a little like rice. A Japanese person who reviewed this said they thought the outer shell was salty, but I didn't pick that up at all. The white custard has a nice rice eggy flavor along with solid sweetness levels.

I really liked this and would definitely buy it again. It's one of those all too rare treats which balances a very Japanese element (mochi) with a very European one (custard) that makes it unique and delicious. Unless you aren't a fan of chewy bread products, you will want to try this.

Meiji MeltyKiss Whips

Looking at the illustration on the front of the Meltykiss Whips box, I imagined a fluffy interior that would melt in my mouth like a Samba Kisses Better. Now, I realize that that is an obscure reference to many of my readers, and that is all the sadder for you. I'm not reviewing Samba Kisses Better because it is a product produced in Denmark, but it's dome of whipped egg whites, sugar, and chocolate on a super thin wafer base. It's light as air and melts in your mouth like the fluffiest marshmallow ever. If you can, go buy one now. I'll wait here for you to come back and thank me. Go on.

Getting back to the matter at hand, the Meltykiss Whips, I'm sorry to say that they do not live up to the image or to a Samba Kisses Better in terms of their texture. Though they are very light and smooth when melted on the tongue, the initial impression is almost one of chalkiness, but not in any sense which could be considered negative. It's chocolate that has been aerated while warm and then has solidified into extremely fine catacombs of chocolate that are so tiny that you can't detect.

The texture is decent but it's the taste that really stands out. The flavor has depth and complexity depending on how you eat it. The initial notes are bittersweet then it becomes milky and sweeter. It tastes a lot like a chocolate truffle, albeit a relatively low-rent one. Because they are covered in a fine dust of cocoa powder, I'm guessing that is part of where the bittersweet element comes from initially.

I bought these for 168 yen (about $2) at Okashi no Machioka discount snack shop, but they are currently available in convenience stores and supermarkets for a somewhat higher price. I may have miscounted because I ate a few before writing the review, but I believe there are thirteen tiny pieces in the box. Each is about the size of your thumbnail and super light. At 23 calories each, they are a delight without a big caloric impact.

I would definitely recommend trying these if you are a chocolate fan. Since I have never sampled the regular "Meltykiss" releases so I can't compare the "whips" to the normal version, but these are very good quality consumer chocolates. They'd make a great gift for someone who is squeamish about more Japanese sweets.

Meiji Yogurt Tablets

Though I am old (all of 46), I'm not old enough to have first hand experience with those old cigarette ads in which they extol the health virtues of smoking. These ads came to mind when I was considering the history of advertising for products which say that they carry some health benefits when clearly those products are anything but healthy. It's amazing what a company will tell you in order to help you silence the cognitive dissonance that comes along with doing something you know isn't good for you.

Across the top of this candy, which is loaded with sugar (first ingredient on the list), it tells you that it has healthy yogurt cultures and calcium. If you consume the whole box, you'll get 300 mg. of Calcium, but you'll also need to make a dentist appointment after chewing 18 tablets of mostly sugar. For the record, this isn't an insubstantial amount of Calcium to get from a snack since most adults require about 1000 mg. per day. Each tablet is a mere 6 calories.

The tablets are kept from getting moist by being kept in two handy blister packs. They're slightly rough on the outside, but not as chalky or powdery as a SweetTarts (the closest American cousin to this). The flavor is sweet and mildly sour with a really nice, smooth mild yogurt flavor. You can suck on one, or bite into it. Both are pleasant experiences, but biting into it releases a larger sense of the flavor and floods your tongue with a rather sugary textural sense which I found gratifying.

I really, really like these and will definitely buy them again, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'm doing it to fill my stomach with healthy bacteria or to get Calcium. I just like the taste and texture. They're a great sweet to keep in your desk or whatever bag you carry around for when you want a nice sweet pick-me-up because they won't go damp or stale. If you enjoy yogurt, there's a very good chance you'll like these.

Tirol Mikan Chocolate

Growing up in the U.S., my taste buds grew accustomed to what a particular flavor "meant" to me.  If I bought some grape candy, it all pretty much tasted like other grape candy. The basic essence of those flavors was similar and I recognized them for what they were based on my experiences.

It wasn't until I came to Japan that I found out that the essence of a particular flavor when it is translated into sweets or snacks isn't necessarily the same to everyone. "Grape" candy in Japan may or may not taste like grape in the U.S. I've certainly found that "cheese" sweets in Japan aren't the same as cheese sweets back home since savory cheeses are used here and only cream cheese tends to be used back home.

I was thinking about the basic essence of flavors because orange candy at home often is a bit different from that here, and this Tirol mikan chocolate actually brought back a greater sense of what I used to have back home than most orange candy in Japan. The main reason for this is that it smelled so intensely orange, like a whiff of a newly opened carton of orange juice concentrate. For the record, fruit juice concentrates aren't sold here so I hadn't smelled anything as strong as that for over two decades.

The soft chocolate outer shell of this candy is rather sweet and lightly orange flavored. It's the the firm gummy candy interior that carries a very intense citrus flavor. It's quite zesty and satisfying compared to many white chocolates because of the citrus bite.

For a mere 20 yen (24 cents) and a one inch square of candy which provides only 54 calories, this is a good investment both in money and potential body fat. I really liked this and would definitely buy it again. I bought mine at Family Mart convenience store, but Tirol chocolates are sold in a wide variety of places in Japan. If you find this one and like orange chocolates, I recommend giving it a try.

Koganei Imo

I try not to cover too many freshly produced sweets that can only be purchased if you actually live in or visit Tokyo. However, this is an exception because it is the first bean cake in Japan that I actually loved. It is, by far, the most accessible Japanese sweet for Western palates while maintaining a completely Japanese nature. Maybe everyone won't adore it as I do, but there's almost zero chance that a set of fully Westernized taste buds will dislike it.

 The box of 12 as it is given to us.

Koganei Imo means "golden (colored) potato", and while that is what these are called, they are not made with potato. They are simply fashioned to resemble one. The actual cake is finely mashed white beans mixed with sugar and egg yolk then wrapped in a tender crust and liberally rolled in cinnamon. It is the cinnamon that gives these the real edge over any other bean cake I have tried, but they are also incredible because they are hand made and fresh everyday.

The box under the paper wrapper with silk-screened (by hand, very likely) paper. This is classic Japanese gift wrapping with a layer of wrapping under a top layer.

The interior of the cakes is soft and sweet and the aroma of cinnamon wafts at you the minute you start to peel back the paper on in. If you warm one just a bit in the microwave (don't overdo it), they are a slice of cinnamon heaven which carry all of the appeal of a cinnamon bun without the calories or sugary overload. The beans themselves lend only texture and not taste so there's no need to be squeamish about them because they're made with beans. The filling carries mostly the sugar flavor with the richness of the egg yolks.

A whole cake with it's wrapper covered with cinnamon. It's supposed to look like a potato. You can judge what it looks like.

You can buy these in Ningyocho in Tokyo at a shop called Kotobukido. There's a good write up on the shop with address and phone number at Tokyo Food Life and another write-up at Food Sake Tokyo. They are a little expensive, but well worth the cost. My box of 12 cost 1250 yen ($15.15). Each is about 6-7 cm (2.4 -2.7 inches) long and makes for a modest treat. You can buy them individually in paper packets or in souvenir size gift boxes. The shop will serve you hot tea in the winter and cold in the summer when you enter, and you can eat your bean cake there or take it with you.

If you visit Tokyo, I strongly recommend seeking out this shop and sampling this unique and approachable sweet. I go there less often than I'd like, but when I do I buy a dozen, immediately wrap their paper wrappers with plastic wrap and freeze them for long-term enjoyment. They don't suffer for it, and 20-25 seconds in the microwave takes one from frozen log to cinnamony ambrosia.

Crane's Village Marshmallow Eggs

If you don't pay attention to what you're buying in Japan, you can often end up buying the wrong thing. When my husband and I came across this package of egg-style treats for the mere price of 228 yen ($2.53) for 6 of them, we assumed we'd found a variation on the kamome no tamago (seagull's eggs bean cakes) that we both love.



Kamome no tamago bean cakes look a lot like these in terms of packaging. They come in the same type of plastic tray and are similarly wrapped in a nice bit of paper with Japanese writing. The main difference is that 6 of those cost about 550 yen ($6.12) and are slightly bigger than these. If these turned out to be as good as kamome no tamago, they'd be a much lower-priced treat. It would seem that "crane's eggs" are cheaper than "seagull's eggs".

As it turned out, these were a variation on something else. They are very similar to the Fuwa Fuwa marshmallow cakes. Yes, instead of cakes with beans, we were getting marshmallows with beans. Oh the humanity! Still, the Fuwa cakes are about 50 yen (46 cents) each and these were 38 yen (42 yen) each. I don't know if I would have bought them had I realized I was getting another marshmallow egg candy since I've already sampled so many of the Fuwa cakes, but this was a happy mistake as they ended up being well worth it.



Like the basic Fuwa Fuwa marshmallows, these are filled with sweetened yellow bean jam. As soon as you open the bag, you can get the scent of fresh, sweet marshmallow. The marshmallows themselves are very high quality and nice soft pillows, but have a certain taste which I associate with Japanese-made marshmallows. It's difficult to put into words, but it is like perfume and a mild chemical flavor. It's slightly off-putting when you're not used to it (sort of like the flavor of Japanese milk), but it's not an issue when you're accustomed to it. The beans themselves are relatively bland, as is often the case with white beans, but still lend a nice bit of flavor and a good textural contrast.

The main difference between these and the Fuwa cakes is that these are noticeably sweeter. They are on the borderline of being too sweet for my tastes, but they are a great coffee or tea time accompaniment. They also have fewer calories at 61 per egg, but this is likely because they're slightly smaller.

I would definitely buy these again. They're good value, a great size, and a wonderful treat, particularly if you love marshmallows and fine textures. My only caveat to those considering buying them is that they may be too sweet for some. If you have them, make sure you drink something to cleanse your palate between bites, though they're only about two bites each.

Kameda Seika Cheese Rich Arare

Sometimes I wonder what companies believe the average I.Q. of customers is. On the back of this bag of cheese rice crackers with almonds, there is an illustration and instructions telling you how to manage to get the bag open. I wonder if they imagine we're all sitting around looking at our snack bags scratching our heads like confused chimps trying to workout how to access the salty goodness within.

In order to stop us from having a fatal aneurysm from the mental storm required to figure out how to open the bag, they give us a picture and tell us what to do. After all, you can't have your stupid customers dropping dead from the mental energy they have to expend trying to figure out how to get the bag open. No one would be around to buy more snacks!

I guess this could mean they are trying to expand their demographic. Maybe they're hoping monkeys will actually start buying snacks and that they will require illustrated information. It'd certainly help boost sales in light of Japan's rapidly shrinking population.

At any rate, I resisted these hard and crunchy sembei (arare) for awhile because I thought no one would be interested in reading yet another review of a cheesy salted snack. Then I caught a cold and figured that I was interested in eating another cheesy salty snack and I don't care if anyone wants to read about it or not. Harrumph. Sorry, colds make me grumpy.

Because I was still on the tail end of my cold when I sampled this, I couldn't really smell it, but I could taste it and it was very, very good. The little triangles are crunchy and a bit hard, but easy to bite into. They taste cheesy in an intense but not overbearing manner. If you think of a classic Cheez-it flavor without the fake elements, you'd come close to this. They taste like salty cheddar. I can't imagine a better accompaniment to an alcoholic or soft drink than these, provided that you like cheese (and who doesn't?).

I found these at Inageya supermarket for 178 yen ($2.18), but you can find them almost anywhere at the moment. Each bag has 5 small packets of 17 grams each (.6 oz.) at 77 calories per packet (entire portion pictured in this post) so they're great for portion control as long as you can resist tearing through more than one bag at a time. There are only about 3 almonds in every little packet, but that's really not a problem because the crackers themselves are the shining beacon of this snack. Get them while you can. The product has a 4 month life cycle then will go away for awhile.

Note that the back of the individual packets have little recipe use recommendations. They suggest you sprinkle them over salads, onto pasta, doria (cheesy rice), scrambled eggs, or even use them in a chocolate fondue. Except for the last suggestion (but I'm conservative about chocolate and cheese), I think those are all actually pretty good ideas.

Meiji "Smart" Cheese

I'm going to have to confess something. I have never considered how intelligent my cheese is, nor have I ever considered that my cheese purchasing decisions reflected on my intelligence. I'm not sure what makes this cheese either have a high I.Q. or show that the buyer is smarter than the average mouse.

It turns out that this processed cheese is "smart" because it has been specially formulated for the Japanese market. It is enhanced with various ingredients to make it more savory ("umami") and texturally more satisfying for Japanese palates. Eating this is supposed to bring to mind traditional Japanese flavors like miso, bonito, and seaweed as well as have a taste which is akin to fermented foods in Japanese cuisine. It's also formulated to be soft and reminiscent of eating rice in terms of texture.

I found this cheese at Peacock supermarket in my neighborhood. It was on sale for 198 yen ($2.35) for a 120-gram (4.23 oz.) box. There are twelve 10 gram (.35 oz.) squares and each is 36 calories. This makes them pretty much similar to average cheese in terms of calories. The box states that this is made with 60% "natural cheese", but the types are not specified, though an "emulsifier" is mentioned as the other ingredient.

The taste of this cheese is definitely deeper and more savory. It has a much sharper edge and is more pungent than regular processed cheese in Japan. The flavor brings to mind matured cheddar and Parmesan in its intensity. It is definitely a very savory, tasty bit of processed cheese. The texture is quite soft, but still firm. It's easy to unwrap with a tab on the little foil packet.

Though I love real cheese and wouldn't want to replace it with any sort of processed cheese, this is incredibly flavorful and an excellent snack to keep on hand for a more nutritious boost. Each serving has 67 mg. of Calcium and 2.2 grams of protein with which to recommend itself. The only "down" side is that the retail price is 340 yen ($4.03), and I don't think that it would be worth it at that price. If you like strong, salty cheese and favor things like matured cheddar, I definitely recommend buying this and keeping it in the refrigerator at home or at work as a quick snack.

Bourbon "Chee Goo" Rice Snack

 I found this at a market in a neighboring area which I rarely go to. I didn't care what was in the box. With a name like "Chee Goo", I had to review it. Of course, it is non-goo-like, as the picture on the box illustrates. This would be disappointing except that this is something I have to eat and I'm just as happy not to be eating "goo".

I paid 100 yen ($1.16) for this and had an annoying experience when I bought it. The market is divided into two floors and half of the top floor is a 100-yen-shop at which I bought some little souvenir thing to send to my sister. The other half of the top floor sells normal food which can't be paid for at the counter upstairs. You have to cart it down to the cashiers on the first floor. I wasn't using a basket and I had this and the souvenir and placed both of them on the counter to deal with my wallet. Though I knew I'd have to take the "Chee Goo" downstairs to pay, the woman manning the register told me I'd have to do it. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the condescending way in which she did it. She talked to me like I was a developmentally disabled 3-year-old.

These are made by Bourbon, who's little brownie-bite-like cakes and Petit Bit chocolates I've reviewed favorably before. I'm not sure where the name came from, but it's certainly based on "cheese" plus something else. Unlike most of these types of snacks which are based on corn or potatoes, these are based on rice. Non-sembei rice snacks are relatively uncommon.

The entire box is 50 grams (1.8 oz.) of triangular-shaped crunchy bitsand has 232 calories and half the box makes a good amount. The texture is great. They are puffy, but crispy. Each has a nice coating of cheesy powder on the outside which actually tastes like cheese. In particular, I could detect Gouda and Parmesan flavors. The ingredients include just "cheese powder" as well as coconut (which I could not taste at all), shortening, whey, "cheese", peanut butter(!), and gelatin. Though those all sound weird, these are very good and flavorful.

In the long line of cheese snacks I've eaten in Japan, these are definitely near the top of the heap. They're also "non fry" so they're not greasy. Despite the awesomely goofy name and cheap price, these are a tasty salted snack treat and I'd recommend anyone who can find them (they're not common) pick up a box.

Sanko Seika Cheese Almond Sembei

Yeah, I took the picture awhile ago. I didn't eat expired sembei!

If you visit sites frequented by food snobs, they'd have you believe that we can will ourselves to enjoy "good" food, and that those who dislike a particular food can learn to enjoy it. I would say that is probably true, but the same can be said of junk food. I never thought I'd like something which is made with processed cheese, but I've found that frequent exposure has opened me up to its dubious qualities.

These particular sembei have been around for decades in Japan. I've always rejected them because of the way in which the almond seems glued onto the cracker with a plastic-looking dollop of processed cheese. Years of roasted almond deprivation due to the high cost of them in Japan and the relative rarity of any but blanched varieties compelled me to give these a try.

You can buy this particular type of sembei almost anywhere because it is relatively ubiquitous. I got mine at Okashi no Machioka for about 150 yen ($1.76), but I've also seen them at 100-yen shops so you can get them in a wide range of prices. Each bag has 24 tiny little crackers about the size of a quarter or 100-yen coin. At only 14 calories a cracker, you can eat quite a few without waistline worries. It also helps that the almonds are delivering some protein and good fats to balance out the carbohydrates in the cracker.

These smell like all of their major components: processed cheese, almond and sembei. The texture is good with the crispy rice cracker with a crunchy almond and a soft dollop of processed cheese. The mix is really quite satisfying. The almond's flavor is enhanced by being roasted and the cheese feels cool on the tongue. The flavor is also very mixed with a little bit of soy sauce flavor on the rice cracker, a bit of the processed cheese flavor, and a lot of almond. The almond shines more strongly the more you eat and the cheese fades into the background.

If you regard processed cheese as an evil to be avoided in all its forms, you won't like these. Otherwise, I can't recommend them strongly enough. I really liked these and have bought 3 bags at various times already. If I didn't have so much junk around to eat at any given time, I'd try and keep a bag of these on hand most of the time for light snacking with soft drinks. The mix of cheesy flavor with almond and salty sembei is a great combination.

Fujiya-Baskin Robbins Collaboration Chocolate

I haven't lived in America for quite some time, but I don't recall there being as many cross-company collaborations as I tend to see in Japan. I'm sure there are some, but they seem to be a bigger deal here. "Look" chocolates by Fujiya are something that I haven't covered in this blog before, but they're a filled chocolate which usually has just one flavor represented. Because this is supposed to be a mix of Baskin Robbins ice cream flavors, this box has a mix.

I have been seeing these around for a long time, and did want to buy one eventually and review it, but one of my husband's students gave him this and spared me the 100 yen ($1.11). I still see them at various shops including some 100 yen stores, drug stores (which often carry snacks), and Okashi no Machioka discount snack shops. There are 12 small bits, about 3 cm x 2 cm (1.1 in. x .8 in.), of chocolate in the box and four flavors - strawberry cheesecake, jamoca coffee, orange sherbet, and vanilla. Each candy is 19 calories and the whole box is 229.

Each of these had a soft, creamy filling and a bittersweet chocolate shell. The chocolate melted easily in my mouth despite having been refrigerated

Strawberry cheesecake:

This had a nice, slightly tart strawberry flavor, but it was quite weak and tended to fade away in the bittersweet chocolate's intensity. For someone like me who isn't a big fan of strawberry chocolates, this was fine, but it will disappoint someone who likes to taste strawberry more potently in their candies.

Jamoca coffee:

The coffee notes of this definitely competed better with the bittersweet shell. I could taste the bitterness of the coffee and the smoother milky flavor. I enjoyed this one, and would consider it the best addition to the box.

Orange sherbet:

As a big fan of orange sherbet, I was looking forward to this one the most. The surprising thing is that the filling really did taste an awful lot like Baskin Robbins orange sherbet. I was blown away by the verisimilitude. This was also nice, but I think that it didn't match the chocolate flavor as well as the Jamoca coffee flavor.

Vanilla:

This one mainly tasted like smooth, milky chocolate. The vanilla flavor really didn't show much of itself but rather muted the strong bittersweet notes. This was surely a nice enough chocolate. It just wasn't very distinctive.

This entire collection is pretty nice. The chocolates contain fresh cream and butter and have a decadent feel on the tongue. For a consumer level candy, they are rather rich and I would recommend them for anyone who likes bittersweet chocolate. If you're a milk chocolate fan though, you may want to give them a pass because the bittersweet nature really does dominate a fair amount.

Sanko Seika Kongari "W" Cheese Sembei

It seems rather curious to me that the Japanese use "W" to indicate "double" considering that that letter is not a part of their alphabet. This is the second product to use "W" in this way. The first was one of my nearest and dearest loves in Japan, double cream brown sugar sembei, also made by Sanko Seika. Note that those particular sembei remain on the shelves after quite a long time, so I'm guessing they are very popular.

"Kongari" in Japanese means "browned" and these crackers have delicately brown edges and little brown bumps on their wavy surface. If nothing else, they have a nice product design. These smell like baked cheese and rice, unsurprisingly. The first bite is a nice pungent blast of cheese without being too overbearing. The crackers themselves are very crispy and what the Japanese refer to as "hard" sembei. That is, it's not airy and puffy but more brittle. The two types of cheeses that are used in these are cheddar and Camembert, and I could actually taste both, though the cheddar was actually more present. The Camembert hit more as a bit of a mellow sourness. There's also a whisper of garlic savoriness.

The extent to which I love a product is always reflected in how rapidly I polish off most of it before I write a review. I ate all but one of these within about a week, and then had to leave that one in the bag for sampling when review writing time finally caught up with me. I loved these. They had great crunch, excellent cheese flavor that had at least some verisimilitude with the taste of real cheese, and they're only 25 calories per (medium-size, think 1.5 times the size of a Triscuit) cracker. I don't know what it is about sembei, but it's so much easier to exercise portion control with them than with things like potato chips.

I found these at Okashi no Machioka for 158 yen ($1.79) for a bag of 12, but I've seen them on sale virtually everywhere. With any luck, these will join the brown sugar sembei as a market staple in the sembei sections. If you can find them, I heartily recommend trying them.

Senjaku Diet Cocoa Candy

Back when I was working in a Japanese company, one of the office ladies used to keep a box of cocoa in the kitchen. It was in a brown box with gold writing in katakana (the phonetic alphabet for foreign words) which said "Cocoa". I never sampled that cocoa, as I wasn't a break room thief and I wasn't fond of chocolate milk. My coworkers, on the other hand, often stole my milk and mayonnaise when it suited them. That cocoa box design closely resembled the one on this package of hard candies, but it was made by Morinaga. I wonder if this is meant to bring to mind that cocoa powder which is made by a much better known company than Senjaku.

This is the first product I've reviewed by Senjaku. They make a limited, but not exceptionally narrow line of candies which mainly consists of hard candies, but there are also some gummies and pressed sugary powder candies. The company is relatively small with only 175 employees. The company makes a point of mentioning that 103 of them are women, but I'm not sure why that is relevant. In their "Diet" candy line, they have green tea, coffee, and this cocoa candy.

I found these at Seiyu supermarket for 168 yen ($1.80) for an 88 gram (3.1 oz.) bag. I looked long and hard before I bought them because "diet" often means very little in Japan. The bag says that there is a 20% calorie reduction for these candies compared to conventional types. There are 22 individually wrapped candies in the bag and each is 12.5 calories. Part of the promotional information for this states that it contains 295 mg. of Polyphenols. These are the antioxidants that are in things like coffee, wine and nuts. Of course, that number is for the entire bag.

One interesting thing about these is that they actually have their ingredients written in both Japanese and English. The first is hydrogenated glucose syrup, which I hadn't heard of before. Some research revealed that this is a modified starch which is used in sugar-free candies (and is similar to Maltitol). The second ingredient is corn syrup, which isn't surprising since I think that it's impossible to make hard candies without some sugar. Other ingredients are whey powder, cocoa powder, polydextrose, vegetable oil, cocoa paste, aspartame, and flavoring.

Unsurprisingly, these don't smell like much of anything, but a few moments on the tongue reveal a rich, deep cocoa flavor. The taste is amazingly deep and broad for a hard candy which has no milk products. It tastes like a cup of hot cocoa that is rich and chocolatey. My mouth was full for the duration with the loveliest flavor which carried just a hint of liqueur. I'm guessing the vegetable oil adds a real richness to the taste since the fat can likely be detected. Unlike many hard candies in Japan which are slick and super smooth, these have a bit of a rough texture to the candy. This in no way undermines the experience. In fact, I think it makes the sense of chocolate consumption more palpable.

These were incredible for a hard candy. After the first one, I wanted to run back to Seiyu and buy up their entire stock while they still had them available. It's so often the case that I find something I really like once and never see it again, particularly if it is made by a smaller manufacturer. If you like rich hot cocoa, and want something to give you the flavor of a cup of it without the calories (and the texture and fullness), by all means try these.