Doutor Acerola Cranberry Yogurt Drink (product announcement)

Image from Doutor.

Starting today, Doutor coffee shop (maker of pretty nice sandwiches and less great coffee) will be offering a yogurt drink designed to appeal to those who go to coffee shops with the idea of improving digestion. the big selling point is that it includes Morinaga's plain bifidus yogurt. Acerola is supposed to be good at preventing certain types of cancer and is rich in Vitamin C. I'm guessing cranberry is there for the flavor mainly, but I have noticed that cranberry seems to be an up and coming flavor in Japanese snack and fast food.

Personally, I've never gone in for smoothie types of drinks. I'm sure they're packed with goodies, but they're also stripped of a lot of the beneficial things and have more sugar than eating fruit and yogurt by themselves. If you want breakfast on the go, this does appear to be a pretty interesting choice. 

Haagen Daz Lemon Ginger Float Sorbet (product announcement)

Haagen Dazs Japan gave fans of their frozen desserts a chance to sample this product before its official release on July 7. On June 2, Nissin market sold a lemon ginger float flavor before the rest of Japan could get their tongues wrapped around it. It's an interesting thing to do because the flavor is definitely going to be widely released so this isn't test marketing. It's more about making something exclusively available via a particular vendor for a limited time. It's not quite the same as limited edition Oreos only being sold at Walmart (as often seems to be the case), but it's one standard deviation away from that.

This is definitely one of the more promising unique flavor combinations that Haagen Daz has come up with. The only thing about it which could be the case is that it has a little bit of an "I have a cold and this is the flavor of tea that would probably make me feel better" vibe about it. If there was some honey in the mix, it'd definitely be a (much tastier) substitute for cough syrup. 

Nestle Strawberry Cheesecake Crunch Mini bars (product announcement)

Image from Nestle Japan's web site.

On June 9, Nestle Japan will release a strawberry cheesecake version of their Crunch bars. This is marginally more interesting than a similar type of KitKat, but only mainly because they haven't saturated the Crunch bar market with varied flavors as they have their darling KitKats.

You may wonder why they're showing ice cream on the front of the package when this is a cheesecake flavor. In honor of the changing of the season from wet, humid, and uncomfortably warm to unbearably hot, humid, and somewhat less wet, they are advocating that you freeze the bars to give you a more pleasant experience. If you'd like to pick up a bag, they're retailing for 500 yen (about $5), but it's likely that you can get them for around 350 yen at most markets or discount snack shops.

My guess is these will taste pretty much like the strawberry cheesecake KitKats. I'll pass, thank you.

McDonald's Salt Caramel and Mango Passion Orange McFlurry (product announcement)

When I was growing up, McDonald's had two ice cream options. You could have a shake or a pathetic little sundae made up of vanilla ice cream and some anemic chocolate sauce. Because I am not a fan of any fast food, and less of a fan of the golden arches than most other types of said cuisine, I hadn't really noticed the whole "McFlurry" business. I have a hazy recollection of when they were introduced and that they were either a collaboration with Dairy Queen or a rip-off of their "Blizzard" concept, but that's pretty much it. I've never had one in either Japan or America, but every nerve in my Spidey sense says they are probably pretty sweet.

The specimens above are new McFlurry flavors - salt caramel (252 calories) and a mixture of mango, passion fruit and orange (230 calories). If someone were to force feed me one of these, I'd go for the fruity one, though I have to say that the salt caramel one could be intriguing. The funny thing about these is not the flavors. Though they are somewhat unusual, the whole salty sweets thing has been a big fad for years now (it was in force when I left in March 2012) and passion fruit is the only slightly uncommon element in the fruit one. The bizarre thing is that McDonald's plans to offer these only between 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. It strikes me as weird that they'd choose such a time period as it makes these seem more like "brunch" options than a sweet treat. Personally, I think offering them from 1:00-4:00 would have been a better choice, but I'm guessing this limit is based on the effort and time it takes to make them than when consumer demand might be highest.

Nestle Baked KitKats (product announcement)

This is a party I'm a little late to so you may have already heard of this. Nestle Japan is offering a KitKat that you can bake and it won't turn into a melted pile of goo. It's supposed to brown up and taste like custard or vanilla pudding. Apparently, this is availabel at the Chocolate Cafe in Ikebukuro in Tokyo. The cafe is open from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm (except closing at 8:00 on Sundays and holidays) so you can get your baked KitKat on between those hours.

You're supposed to bake them for 2 1/2 minutes in a toaster oven at 1000 W. They say you should put foil down on the tray first and keep an eye on it because it could catch fire if you overdo it.

This is the brainchild Yasumasa Takagi, their chef in residence it would seem. The concept is supposed to yield a result which turns the outside the texture of candy-like sugar, caramelize the flavors, and create a unique textural experience once it has cooled down to safely eat.

This sounds like an absolutely awesome concept, but I have my doubts that it will be a great flavor experience. Still, if these come up in shops around here, I'll certainly buy one and try it.

A bag of 13 bars is 525 yen (about $5.25). It will be available from March 24 for general purchasing at supermarkets. Let's hope that a spate of housefires are not the outcome of this experiment.

Starbucks Sakura Chocolate Latte (product announcement)

You know that spring is on its way in Japan when the "sakura" (cherry blossom or cherry depending on the entity that distributes it) foods start popping up. In my buffer, I have a post I've been sitting on which talks about seasonal flavors and sakura is definitely a harbinger of the end of winter. Starbucks is launching a very pink-looking beverage the day after Valentine's day. You'd think they'd do it before, but I believe this is a way of appealing to palates that are tired of all that chocolate. This is cherry and white chocolate with strawberry-flavored candy bits on the top. While I have to admit that the colors are beautiful, this is the sort of thing I'd avoid because I'd expect the fruit flavors to create a strange melange and the white chocolate to make it too sweet. 

Cryptic Burger King Ad (product announcement)

Burger King Japan has released this rather cryptic ad with accompany text that says, "coming soon". One can only guess at the monstrosity that may be related to it. The statue is eating a burger and the apple appears to be stuffed with lettuce and bacon. It could be that they're going to have a burger which contains apples or uses apples instead of bread for a bun. However, chances are that this is a far more boring item and that the apple refers to "The Big Apple" (as does the Stature of Liberty) and that we're going to be seeing something called a "New York" burger released on January 28.

Any guesses from my readers as to what would make for a New York burger or what this ad might mean?

Nestle Kobe Pudding Regional KitKat (product announcement)

In November, Nestle increased its line of regional KitKats by just a hair by adding in a "Kobe Pudding" variety. I honestly did not know that Kobe was famous for it's pudding - which is more often referred to as "purin" in Japan and really looks and tastes like flan. My best research reveals that the sauce on Kobe's version is supposed to be flavored with some citrus and the basic pudding is less sweet. I'm betting that this KitKat will be plenty sweet, however, as my experience with white chocolate ones is that they are over the top in their sweetness.

The strongest link between Kobe and pudding is probably the same as its link to wagyu (beef). The cows are supposed to produce superior milk as well as superior meat. However, this is my pure speculation and I'm betting that, no matter how the milk in Kobe might be, it's not going to really be reflected in a KitKat. Nonetheless, I'd be curious if any of my readers have sampled this and what they think of it. Please share in comments if you've had a taste of this.

KitKat "Merry Christmas Happy Box" (product announcement)

All images come from Nestle Japan.

Some of my readers may recall that it is common around the end of the year for merchants to sell "lucky" or "happy" bags or boxes. They are usually associated with the New Year and are sold on or after the first. This one, by Nestle Japan, has "Merry Christmas" above it so I'm not sure if they're targeting Christmas or the New Year. My guess is that it's both, but it is mostly for Christmas.

The assortment that you can buy via mail order includes 1102 grams of candy for 2500 yen (about $24). Shipping is "free", but my feeling is that the price of what you're getting essentially more than encompasses the cost of postage. The thing is that the collection isn't really anything special. It includes the commonly available "adult sweetness" KitKats (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, green tea), Nestle Crunch bars, Milo, and Aero plain chocolates. It's a little like receiving a bag or box of Hershey's candy that anyone can buy in a regular supermarket. 

This is not necessarily a bad package, but it's nothing special in terms of contents. Certainly, a recipient would be "happy" to get it, but there's nothing "lucky" about it - unless they put some sort of golden KitKat in every millionth box.

Haagen Daz Royal Cassis Milk Ice Cream (product announcement)

One of my friends once indicated, in his own unique, colorful, and thoroughly charming way, that he believed that it was a waste of my talent and potential to be writing about snack foods. I could see where he was coming from, though I did remind him that I did have another blog. 

The purpose of continuing to do this blog is that it encourages me to consider trying new things. In fact, part of its original intent was to push me to try more Japanese food back when my tastes were more conservative. As time has gone by, and I've broadened my experience to encompass quite a lot of what there is to offer, it's taken on a new purpose and that is that tracking Japanese snacks informs me about marketing, culture, and the origin of various foods. I've expanded the blog to try and include one non-Japanese review per week (usually on Fridays) in order to broaden my sampling and knowledge, but there is still plenty on the Japanese front to learn from as this product illustrated to me.

I had heard of "creme de cassis" before going to Japan, but only as a word in reference to alcoholic drinks, but I didn't know what cassis was (it's the French word for blackcurrant). It's not popular as a flavor or fruit in the U.S. - most likely because it isn't a native plant and never was incorporated into the common food culture. This ice cream includes not only cassis, but Marc de Champagne. Of course, I had never heard of that before either, but my research says that it is a colorless champagne made from the seeds and stalks that are a byproduct of making champagne. As you can see, I am pushed to become more broadly educated by virtue of writing about snacks.

Haagen Daz is marketing this as a holiday (Christmas and New Year's) special and it's supposed to wed the tangy acidity of cassis with the creaminess of milk and the warmth of the brandy. It's an extremely elegant combination which I probably would not sample even if I have the opportunity because I'm not a fan of boozy sweets. Still, I find it a reflection of the larger culture in Japan that such sophisticated offerings are created for the consumer market. It's not that we don't have such things in the U.S. - we do - but rather that they tend to be more available as specialty products by smaller artisan or craft makers. 

Haagen Dazs Japonais Ice Cream (product announcement)

Starting from October 6, Haagen Dazs will be offering a "Japonais" flavor of ice cream in single serving containers. I have done the minimal amount of investigation and learned that the name of this is French for "Japanese". I guess that lends this an air of elegance, but it seems a little silly using a French name on an American ice cream in Japan. That being said, I'm sure that this is not a rare attempt to add a little European flair to a product by giving it a more "exotic" sounding name.

I've mentioned before in this blog that what people who aren't Japanese regard as more adventurous or exotic flavors than the dreck we get here at home are actually pretty conservative in Japan. This red bean and green tea ice cream, though it looks lovely in the illustration, is downright boring in its flavor options. Red beans and green tea are the equivalent of peanut butter and chocolate in Japan. They're everywhere and they're safe choices to cater to a market with conservative tastes. It's designed to set the hearts of young women with enough disposable income to pay $3-$4 for a tiny serving of ice cream aflutter.

Glico Sugar Rich Chou Ice (product announcement)

This product's name caught my eye because it is called "sugar rich". I can't imagine, in a day and age when sugar is considered in the same toxic posse as cocaine and heroin, that we would ever see a product promoting itself with such a name in the U.S. It would be like selling meat as being "fat-rich". Nobody wants that.

The cornerstones of its appeal are not necessarily in sugar, however. It is promoted for its white glaze and cookie crunch. I'm sure that both are full of sugar, though it should be noted that this is not ice cream despite the appearance. It's what the Japanese call "lacto ice" or ice milk. So, all of the sugar is included, but less fat.

This went on sale yesterday (September 23) and retails for 126 yen (about $1.25). It has only 196 calories, but I'm sure it's not especially big since it is stated as being 80 ml. Glico's press release said that the target audience is women in their 20's and 30's who are seeking luxury. I'm guessing the point about that which is not included is that they must bee looking for it on a budget as they aren't paying for higher quality frozen confection.

Karel Capek Marron Tea (product announcement)

Year-round, we can buy nearly any kind of nut roasted, salted, or dried in markets. You can even get them in convenience stores. For reasons I'm not sure of, chestnuts have never taken off in America the way they have in Asia. This may have something to do with the fact that they can't be gobbled down by the handful with beverage and are a bit moist and often vacuum packed. This doesn't explain why they haven't penetrated American cuisine as deeply as they have Japanese (and I know what you're all thinking after reading that because I know you all have minds that are nearly as filthy as mine).

Chestnuts are a very healthy, relatively low calorie nut. They're creamy and similar to sweet potatoes in texture. So, why aren't we eating more of them? Well, this article in Serious Eats speculates that they fell out of favor when trees started dying due to blight. That writer believes that they were forgotten and never made their way back into people's regular diets. Personally, I think that people are too lazy to do what it takes to make dishes with them (and they aren't great just by themselves as they can be slightly bitter) and too conservative in their eating habits by and large for them to be popular.

All of this is my lamenting that chestnut, or "marron" as they're called in Japan and France, and chestnut-flavored items are so rare here. When I saw this new tea by Karel Capek, I wished very much to be able to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, even if I still lived in Japan, it would require some effort as I'd have to go to Musashino to visit their store (not a small hike from where I used to live) or do mail order. Chances are, appealing as this tea sounds, I wouldn't have troubled myself to do either. I guess that also speaks to why chestnuts aren't more popular. If even someone who loves them as much as I do can't be bothered to make some efforts to get goods made with them, then they probably aren't going to sell especially well.

Glico Dororich Cafe (product announcement)

Image courtesy of Glico.

I sometimes wonder if some sort of "assembly" is supposed to make a food more attractive to people or if it just is all about creating a unique end product by not preparing everything beforehand. This product has a layer of "coffee jelly" on the bottom and whipped cream on the top. You're supposed to shake the snot out of it and then some sort of fluffy, foamy beverage that you will be impressed by. Personally, I've never found the notion of drinking thin gelatin mixed with whipped cream through a straw a very enticing proposition. Of course, it's also not something I've ever thought would be offered to me either.

The truth is that coffee jelly in Japan is actually quite good, especially with a little whipped cream on top. However, I'm not sure that I'd like this considering that it's good because you can get the textural contrast between the gelatin and cream as well as the flavor variation between the bitter coffee jelly and the lightly sweet, milky cream flavors. By mixing them together, you're killing at least half of the fun.

KFC Corn Potage Fritter (product announcement)

Images courtesy of KFC Japan.

KFC Japan is starting to sell a "corn potage" fritter today. It is the closest I've seen in Japan to someone deep-frying a liquid a la deep fried beer or Coke as are often sold at fairs and festivals in the U.S. The outside is supposed to be crispy. The inside is likely going to be some sort of flavored mashed potato with corn kernels. It'll be a carb-o-rama, but I bet it'll be good in a bad way.

As an addendum to this KFC-related announcement, I noticed recently that the biscuits in Japan are different than they are here. They come with a hole in the center like a donut. They also are sold with honey-maple syrup, which I'm not sure you get packets of here in the U.S. I think this is a little reflection of a cultural difference because the biscuits here are seen as a bland accompaniment to the meal whereas they're almost considered a dessert in Japan. Certainly they are tender and flaky enough in Japan to qualify. One of my former Australian colleagues refused to call it a "biscuit" and insisted that it was a scone. Arguments that it was called a "biscuit" in the food's country of origin as well as in katakana Japanese fell on deaf ears. 

Calpis Baked Goods (product announcement)

Image courtesy of Family Mart.

I remain a Calpis virgin, despite my many years in Japan. However, I would have surrendered this status if these things had been available during my time there. I probably would have gone for the Calpis tart (top left) for certain and the cream bread (bottom left). However, I probably wouldn't go for the sponge cake (top right) and definitely wouldn't have touched the "cup jelly" (gelatin).

The tart and sponge cake cost 110 yen ($1.10). The jelly is, for reasons I can't imagine, 158 yen ($1.58) and the cream bread is 137 yen ($1.37). If you can get past the name which sounds like bovine urine, you can enjoy them from Family Mart convenience stores. (All jokes aside, Calpis is supposed to taste like yogurt and I'm sure is pretty tasty.)

Tirol Green Tea Parfait (product announcement)

Over the weekend, I went to a Japanese market called Marukai. This shop is what I consider the best one in my area for two reasons. First of all, they carry more unique products than most of the other ones. Second, their prices are generally lower. That is not to say that they are akin to shopping in downtown Tokyo in either respect, but they're pretty good for not being where the action is.

During my investigation into Marukai's snack aisles, I noticed that green tea, which is always around, has exploded in popularity. Everything had a green tea version. It was insanely boring with all of those green tea chocolates and cookies. The one green tea option that they did not have and that I would have bought is this new Tirol Premium candy. Tirol says that it was released in "early July", so it may be on shelves in Japan already. 

This candy displays the levels of detail that contribute to potential flavor depth which I've come to expect from many Japanese consumer-level chocolates. The cutaway illustration shows two kinds of chocolate, green tea and white, as well as red bean paste and green tea jelly. For something that sells for 20 yen, that's quite a lot of craft work. 

The Force is With Glico

All images courtesy of Glico.

Glico has gone all out and has licensed Star Wars imagery for a large number of its products. Now, you can get Yoda curry, or, if you prefer your curry on the dark side, Darth Vader can serve you up some spicy Imperial love.

It's not just the food products that are going all out, but the snacks as well. For the toddlers, there is  Star Wars Bisco and the images have been appropriately "chibified" for the demographic.

If the curry is family-oriented and the Bisco for the baby set, Pocky is going to target pretty much everyone else. This particular type has a bit of extra awesome sauce added for the Star Wars fans. There is a "Star Wars bowling" game included.

The game is made of paper and includes a loop that you roll up to use as a ball. I'm rather dubious of the effectiveness of it, but my guess is that any real fan would never actually play this game anyway. They'd keep it in mint condition as a collector's item.

I'm not sure what brought on this deluge of Star Wars collaboration, but it may have something to do with Disney taking it over. It's not that George Lucas wouldn't license the images to sell curry and pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate, but rather that Disney may be trying to boost the public awareness of the brand in anticipation of producing new movies. I can't say for sure.

If you'd like to watch the Glico "movies" (i.e., commercials) using Star Wars, you can see four of them at this link. For the time being, the Force is with Glico, though I'm guessing it won't be with them "always". Rather, it'll be with them until their licensing agreement expires.

Iyokan Tirol Chocolate (product announcement)

Several months ago, I visited my father-in-law and he showed me a couple of oranges which he said he was going to toss out because they tasted like grapefruit to him. I looked at them, and they looked and sounded like iyokan. That's an orange in Japan which is slightly sour, but still sweeter than a grapefruit. It turned out that those were Mineola oranges, which aren't the same as iyokan, but are probably second cousins to one another on the taste scale.

Tirol has decided that iyokan, which is the second most widely produced citrus fruit in Japan after mikan (small Japanese oranges which are similar to Clementines), is a good choice for one of their chocolates. Frankly, I concur, and I hope to locate a bag of these beauties at one of the local Japanese markets in the not too distant future.

There are two types of iyokan chocolates in the bag. One is a cookie variety, which I'm sure just has Tirol's trademark bland crispy little biscuit with some orange sauce on it. The other is a marshmallow with orange sauce over it. Even though this is white chocolate, the bitter notes of iyokan show potential for off-setting the cloying nature of it.

Burger King Japan Offers More Drinks, Ribs

Burger King Japan has embraced the idea that fast food and liquor go together for quite some time. You could get a Heineken and a high ball there already. From June 28, 2013, select locations will also offer Mojito, Cuba Libre, Long Island Iced Tea, and pink daiquiris. The last one is for the ladies whose discerning dates have decided to wine and dine on a budget, no doubt.

If the idea of getting loaded on exotic drinks isn't enticing enough, you can also order ribs. This will allow you to get drunk and then dribble sauce all over yourself to boot. For 980 yen (about $10), you get the plate pictured above with three ribs on the bone, onion, pickles, and a small salad.

The locations that this deal is currently available at are Ochanomizu, Ebisu Garden Place, and Roppongi.