Alix Goma Soy Beans (Setsubun)

After researching and shopping for this week's worth of Setsubun snacks, I wondered if soy bean producers are rubbing their hands together with glee at the notion of Setsubun just as confectioners are happy about Valentine's Day and Halloween. This notion was reinforced when I researched the maker of these sesame soy bean snacks, Alix. Alix makes a variety of soy-bean and rice-based products as well as snacks with nuts. One of their pages is nothing but Setsubun-related items. Of course, Alix also has a page devoted to Doll's Festival snacks, so I might be revisiting them if I do anything related to that holiday this year. Since this is a Japanese snacks blog, it would seem appropriate for me to hit upon the holiday foods in Japan eventually. Still, it's hard to get enthusiastic about soy beans (for Setsubun) or puffed rice (for the Doll's festival).


Confronted with a plethora of soybean snack options as part of the Setsubun displays at local markets, I opted for these sesame seed(goma)-covered ones. Among the types I passed on were ones that looked frosted with white sugar, salted and seasoned ones, and ones mixed with bits of nori. I chose these because they were only 98 yen ($1.07) for a 100 gram (3.5 oz.) bag and I have fond memories of the last sesame-based treat that I reviewed.

When you open the bag, you mainly smell the sesame seeds. Each little ball is a sphere that is nearly perfectly and evenly covered with seeds. I don't know how they manage this, but it's a pretty impressive feat considering how small they are (about the size of a small marble). The flavor is at first of sesame seeds, light sweetness, very light salt, and then the soybeans with a return on the sesame toward the end. The sweet and salty flavors are relatively subtle and allow the sesame to shine through and the soybean to peak out.

I enjoyed these and would definitely place them at the top of the heap if I were choosing a Setsubun snack to eat 45 of (one for each year I've been alive). That being said, these are fairly fattening. The bag probably holds about 50 soy peas coated in sesame and you'll consume 460 calories for the privilege of having the entire bag. They are fairly protein rich though (16.1 grams) and rather fatty (23.7 grams). I'd certainly consider buying them again if I were in the mood, but I would have to place them a distant second to the Daiiti Seika Goma Crunch candy. That being said, these are definitely healthier and less likely to produce cavities.

(Thus ends my week of Setsubun-related posts. I hope you found them interesting!)

Kobayashi Seika Roasted Soy Beans (Setsubun)

Most of the time, I give the company that makes a particular product some credit for infusing a product with their own unique flavors or cooking style. In the case of these roasted soybeans, I'm guessing that nearly any packet of this type of plain soybean is going to be pretty much the same as any other packet. There are certainly dozens of varieties of them and most of them look the same. That being said, you can get types which are coated in sugar, seaweed, etc. For the sake of experiencing what I assume is a "basic" in the spirit of the Setsubun season, I went with the plain ones.


I bought these at Peacock supermarket for 98 yen. To be honest, I chose this packet (made by a company that sells a huge variety of soybeans) because it was one of the few types of soybeans that was not sold in what appeared to be a family size or a multi-pack. Most of the soy beans (or soy peas, as they are sometimes called) seem to be offered up in bags full of little bags. I'm guessing this is so they can be handed out to family members and each person can either eat them or pelt their paternal figure with them during the celebration.

The information about Setsubun says that you're supposed to both throw these at someone wearing a demon mask (to drive away evil and invite luck) and eat one for every year you have been on the planet. Surprisingly, basic roasted soybeans are pretty calorific. This 65 gram (2.3 oz.) bag is 305 calories. Considering the absolute lack of any sort of external flavoring or oil, this is a little surprising, though there are 14 grams of fat in these. Japanese soy products are not de-fatted as many Western soy preparations are. Mind you, unless you're 100 years old, you're not likely to eat the whole bag at once. On the bright side, there are 21 grams of protein.

These smell pretty much like soy, because, well, that's all they are. They're very crispy and crunchy and resemble a more brittle version of a peanut, but with more of an edamame flavor to them. They're certainly fine and inoffensive, but I kept feeling that they desperately needed some salt or seasoning. They're like a blanched peanut in that way.

I like these, but not enough to just sit down with a Diet Coke and snack away. I think they'd be best consumed with something else like cottage cheese or even possibly in a salad to add crunch. In fact, I think they'd be fine mixed with anything which needed a relatively bland, somewhat nutty textural component. That being said, I'm not sure I'll make it through the whole bag before they go stale. I'm just not that into them.