Meiji Hokkaido Tasty Crunch

Meiji has once again provided a worthy candidate for my peculiar obsession with kooky Japanese sweets. Tasty Crunch are nuggets of Hokkaido milk chocolate studded with (the packaging doesn't lie) salted french fry potato chips. And to be honest, it actually doesn't taste half bad!

I have spotted this snack in the Great Eastern (Russell St) and Central Grocery (Melbourne Central) stores around town. So if ya hankerin for both a sweet and savoury snack, this this will surely satisfy - on both fronts - in the one snack.

Hori Corn Chocolate

EG's parents took a recent trip to Hokkaido, and bought us back some local treats. So let me present one of the specialities of the region, Hori Corn Chocolate.

The gift box contains the same chocolate done two ways - in a long finger and a bite sized nugget.

It was a rather interesting snack consisting of popped corn and other chewy corn kernel bits smothered in Hokkaido milk white chocolate. It apparently comes in a regular milk chocolate variety as well.

And taste? Well, my feelings are a little ambivalent. The puffed corn is a little on the stale side, although it does amazingly taste corny (in a good way). The chocolate is also sweeter than we would probably have it here.

I give it points for uniqueness, but wouldn't be too fussed not to have it again.

Three More Kit Kats

This is the 20th different flavoured Kit Kat I've managed to sample (not including versions we get in Australia), and I'm restraining myself from jumping on ebay to order more to fuel my sick obsession (there is apparently a soy sauce flavoured version!). The first two in this post were sourced locally from Great Eastern on Russell St.

First up is Strawberry flavour, which is not my favourite. It is a little too sweet and fruity and kind of like doing a triple shot Strawberry Quik.

Simple white chocolate Kit Kat - simple in design and taste.

This Bitter Green Tea Kit Kat came via EG's parents who recently came back from Hokkaido. They found it at Narita airport, and apparenty it is limited to the Tokyo region.

I absolutely adore the green tea flavour, which happens to just go ever so well with chocolate in the Kit Kat form. I think this version was done in conjunction with Itoh Kyuemon, a famous sweets shop in Kyoto.

You can look at my other Kit Kat posts here, here, and, oh yes, here.

Yes, more Japanese Kit Kats

EG spotted some new Japanese Kit Kat flavours when we were in the Great Eastern Grocer (185 Russell St, Mebourne) the other day. His eye for such things is ever so attuned after our recent hunt in trip to Japan (read here and here). These deluxe versions are a little different. For starters they are swankily packaged in a slim black box with a neat design and gold embossed kanji. The fingers too are individually wrapped and are about twice as wide as the standard stick. Inside, two layers of wafer contribute towards a crunchy snap, but on top of that is a thick layer of flavoured cream, which to be honest, I don't think I'm that keen on as it has a bit of a waxy mouth feel. I think this phenomenon is much improved by chilling the bars in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Anwyay, the Kit Kat above is the Torokeru Zeitaku Ringo, which with the help of some online dictionaries literally translates as "To be enchanted with luxurious apple". I was certainly enchanted with the smell - on opening the pack I was near bowled over by the aroma of fuji's. The taste - well, there is certainly a sweet apple taste to it, but it also tastes somewhat like those spongy banana lollies.

The Kit Kat Torokeru Maccha, or "To be enchanted with luxurious Green Tea", is a much better flavour, although compared to the standard maccha, it is very very mild. EG hit the nail on the head when he said it tasted like a green tea ice cream.

Kit Kat - Japanese style

The Kit Kat bar is considered quite the popular snack in Japan (something I am VERY keen to investigate in, oh...19 days!). Originally created by Rowntree back in 1935, it has grown chunkier, bigger and a heck of a lot more interesting with a STAGGERING array of flavour and regional variations. And trends such as these create your fair share of addicts, which just makes me want to try the various types all the more.

My recent jaunt to Tsukiji (the one in Prahran and not in Japan), had me doing a happy dance when I saw these Japanese Kit Kats for sale ($2.50). Above, the Kit Kat Bitter 61% Cacao was as you would imagine - dark bittersweet chocolate covering the usual three layer cream filled wafer, making for a very adult indulgence.

My interested was piqued more so by the matcha (green tea). When you open the box you will find two individually sealed packs, with a double finger in each.

Bordering on white chocolate, there is the unmistakable yet extremely pleasant flavour of green tea, and it balances the bitterness and sweetness well. The chocolate coating was also rather attractive being variegated in two shades of green. Sugoi!

Crunky

Lotte makes a lotta stuff, and in this case it is the Crunky Bar. So let me digress for a moment as I found the company quite interesting. Operating since 1948, Lotte is named after Char-lotte, a heroine of Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe. The company, which primarily commenced as a confectionary manufacturer, also diversifies into a McDonalds style fast food chain (famous for its shrimp burger), a baseball team and a company that produces disposable body warmers. Yes. I see their diversification strategy is really quite diverse.

Anyway, the etymology of the word Crunky is rather interesting, but I most like the description by Urban Dictionary - it is the state of being crazy + drunk = crunk, as in "Let's get crunky!"

So what is Crunky exactly? Well, it's like a crunchie only crunky. Well no it's not, but I just wanted to say that. Actually, it is a rather delicious chocolate bar filled with malty rice bubbles. Mmm. Yum.

And once again, it comes with opening instructions. If only life came with similar helpful directions ;-)