Kanro Framboise and Lychee Pate de Fruits Gummi (product information)

This gummi candy is the odd couple of candies. First of all, it uses "framboise" for raspberry which is like using "aubergine" instead of eggplant. Second, it invokes the feeling of a highly sophisticated candy when it uses "pate de fruits". This is like calling Welch's grape juice "wine". I'm afraid that I'm entirely skeptical at the notion that a mass-produced, shelf-stable candy designed to be chewy (a gummi) is going to bring to mind the soft, high-quality sensibilities of real pate de fruits. For those who don't know, pate de fruits is like what is marketed in the U.S. as aplets and cotlets. It's a fresh, soft, fruit distillation that is sweet, but generally not cloying. Each is made to be intense enough to fulfill, but not sweet enough to cloy. It's not the sort of thing which translates to "gummi".

At any rate, I am intrigued by this ambitious effort on Kanro's part. If I locate one of these, I'll buy one despite my dislike of lychee flavoring and fruit. Actually, I think that pairing lychee with raspberry is also a bit strange, but I won't knock it until I try it. This was released in mid-October, so chances are I may not see it around for awhile, though I do tend to eventually gain access to Kanro's gummies. If any of my readers have tried it, please leave a comment and let me know how it was. I'd love to know if this lives up to its confection aspirations. ;-)

KitKat Framboise

Note that the calorie counts on KitKat boxes are for half of the box (2 fingers). This one is 97 calories for 2 fingers (one serving). 

If you write food reviews, your experience with food is very different than the average person, and I had a little situation today which reminded me of that. I was buying this particular Japanese KitKat at NewDays convenience store (for 120 yen/$1.30), and they didn't want to give me a plastic bag for just one little item. In Japan, they insist on putting a piece of tape with the stores name on any product which goes out bag-less. This is proof that you paid for it should any cop decide to stop you for "walking while being foreign" and verify that you didn't steal all of your possessions.

At any rate, the clerk hurriedly tore off a piece of "NewDays" branded tape and slapped it on my KitKat box. I found myself annoyed because she put the tape smack in the middle of the box and I knew I'd have to carefully peel it off later to take a picture. Yes, such is the life of a Japanese snack reviewer that a small thing which causes no other person difficulties would cause consternation.

Getting to the KitKat itself, I knew when I purchased it that this was almost certainly a product of the great Nestlé Japan flavor recyclomatic (patent pending). I had already sampled raspberry (framboise) dark chocolate KitKats in two of their previous incarnations. I suspected that this was going to be more of the same, except this time with milk instead of dark chocolate.

And, you know what, that is exactly what it was. It smells strongly of fake raspberry as soon as you peel off the wrapper, and the filling is the same flavor as the previous ones. It's a nice enough, albeit slightly artificial raspberry flavor. Frankly, I like it, and I liked it a lot more with milk chocolate than with dark. There is less of a jarring contrast between the smoother milky notes and the raspberry filling. The bittersweet flavor of the previous bars was a nice counterpoint, but that bar was the pairing of two strong flavors and I like the weaker and stronger combination of this bar better.

This particular flavor is part of Nestlé Japan's "Sweets Concept" campaign. The idea is to emulate a more sophisticated sweet. In this case, it's supposed to be raspberry cake with cream cheese filling. The box says that the bar contains 1.7% real cheese and 4.2% raspberry powder. I didn't taste anything that reminded me of real cheese though it could simply be that the flavor was lost in the milk chocolate. There was a bit of a tang that could have been cream cheese and not the raspberry. At such a small percentage, it's rather hard to separate the flavors, particular of a relatively mild element like cream cheese.

I would certainly recommend anyone favorably inclined toward raspberry flavors to sample this. That being said, if you aren't forgiving toward somewhat artificial fruit flavoring, you may not enjoy it as I did. I, however, really loved this and would definitely buy it again.

Chocolat Framboise Marble Pocky

For those who don't live in Japan, I'll give the shortest possible explanation of how Valentine's Day works in this country. Women buy men chocolates. Men don't buy women anything. I'm sure that every Western man who ever felt pressure to find the perfect Valentine's gift is dialing up an Asian dating service and putting in an order for a Japanese girl right now.

I should note that a lot of women are obliged to give chocolates to men they don't even like. They also give to men who they are friends and acquaintances with. It's not about romance. That means that there is a whopping great marketing opportunity for confectioners to sell a ton of low rent candy and chocolate-based items to women who have to give their bosses and coworkers token gifts on February 14. Most companies rise to the occasion and get out there with themed items which feature the color red and hearts, though they don't always overtly state "Valentine's candy" so that the items can be bought any time by anyone.

This leads us nicely to this Chocolat Framboise Pocky. It's clearly been released for the Valentine's Day crowd (note the hearts on the box). There are three sleeves with 4 sticks each inside the box and each package has hearts all over it as well. Red fruit like strawberry, cherry, and raspberry are particularly popular inclusions for these treats, and liquor-infused candy is also readily available. I guess that men are supposed to enjoy boozy chocolates. Framboise is a sort of raspberry beer, so these sticks are three great Valentine's Day concepts fused into one - chocolate, liquor, and red fruit. How can it lose as a marketing concept?


These sticks smell very good. They smell both of chocolate and raspberry. The coating is relatively generous and the flavor is quite strong. Note that the raspberry flavor is pretty intense so you have to really like raspberry to enjoy these.The first bite tastes of dark chocolate and the second brings the raspberry more heavily into play. The coating is pretty much the usual for Pocky, a little soft and easy to bite into, and the sticks are crunchy and fresh. The sweetness is just about right and the fruit flavor doesn't taste artificial or perfume-like. The quality level is really surprising for such a "common" snack. These have cocoa butter, butter, and raspberry powder. I really liked these and I'd definitely buy them again if they were to be available after the Valentine's season ends.

Though I haven't been a fan of Pocky throughout most of my time in Japan, I have not been disappointed in the flavors I have tried. Considering that the calorie count on these is so modest, 4 sticks at 93 calories, I think that these are a very good choice as a sweet treat for anyone.