Morinaga Crackling Choco Balls and Potato Choco Balls (product information)

When I was a kid, I remember trying Pop Rocks. It was sort of cool feeling them crackle in my mouth a few times, but then I lost interest. Years went by and I grew up without feeling any desire to re-visit Pop Rocks. At some point, I started dropping in on designer chocolate shops in Tokyo. One of those was Leonidas and they gave me a sample. Lo and behold, it included Pop Rocks. It was one of the most expensive chocolatiers I'd ever experienced, and they were designing their candy with little carbonated bits of sugar.

If putting Pop-Rock-style candies is good enough for Leonidas, then it's good enough for Morinaga. If nothing else  convinces me that this is candy designed for kids, the existence of a "crackling" version does. This is adventure candy. If I run across some at a Japanese market, I'll probably give them a shop, but I would have very low expectations.

Morinaga's other somewhat unusual offering is "potato". It's being promoted a "light and crispy". This is another one that I'll pick up if I see it. I would anticipate that it has potato-chip-like bits in it and that it won't have a lot in the way of potato flavor to offer, but rather be textured white chocolate.

If any of my readers get to these before me, please feel free to share your impressions in comments. If they're not particularly interesting, you can save me a little money. :-)