Harvest Sweet Potato Biscuits

Harvest "biscuits" (from Tohato) have been around for about 30 years and I think I've eaten them once or twice during my 20 years in Japan. It's not that there is necessarily anything wrong with them so much as they're just not all that impressive. Like many other less than exciting food stuffs in Japan, they seem like they should be healthy because they aren't covered in frosting or chocolate and don't have a fatty filling, but they're really fairly caloric for what they are. A packet of 5 crackers, each about 6 cm. (2.4 in.) in diameter is about 60 calories.


The main appeal for me of the plain ("butter") Harvest biscuits is that they have a noticeable coconut flavor and aren't too sweet. That being said, they also aren't all that flavorful. I'm not sure what the intended market is supposed to be, but I'm guessing these are supposed to be a light treat to have with tea. They may actually be good for dipping in your tea, but I didn't test that theory out.


I picked up these because I was in a sweet potato treats frenzy. There seemed to be new goodies everywhere and these got roped in in my enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten how boring these are. They're called "biscuits", as if they were a type of cookie, but they're really just sweet crackers with a sprinkling of sugar on top. They smell very much like the plain version of Harvest Biscuits. That is to say they smell like coconut with just a hint of sweet potato. The sweet potato flavor is a little more prominent than the scent conveys, but coconut still dominates. I love coconut, but I don't buy a sweet potato biscuit for that reason.

These are nice enough, and I will definitely finish the bag through time. However, they just aren't anything special. If you love lightly-sweetened crackers with a bit of coconut and sweet potato, these may even light your fire, but don't kid yourself about them being not as bad for you because they're so unassuming in composition. I just found them too boring and I wouldn't buy them again.

Note: If you'd like a desktop picture featuring the cracker with a smile on the cover of the packet, it can be downloaded at the bottom of the page here.