Bakauke is rapidly becoming my favorite band for sembei. They have the most immensely bold and flavorful flavors on a consistent basis and that's pretty much what I want in a salted snack food. I have long been told that Japanese people prefer weak or subtle flavors, but I wonder if the emergence of these types of flavors on a more regular basis means that tastes are changing, or if the alcohol that people tend to drink with very spicy snacks is getting weaker and they want to offset the loss of quality of experience.
I found these alongside the previously reviewed sea salt wasabi sembei at Okashi no Machioka. They were also for about 180 yen ($1.97) for a bag of 9 2-packs of crackers. Each serving of two sembei is 40.5 calories. I'm always impressed by the way they offer calorie information out to a decimal place.
As soon as I tore open a packet, I could smell the sweet corn seasoning. The cracker is generously coated with what must be tiny granules of miniature sweet corn cobs. These have all of the flavor of the best corn without any of the part where you have to actually eat the corn and get its fibery bits caught in your teeth. The flavor profile has added depth because of the addition of various flavor powders including soy sauce.
I'm pretty sure that this sembei is yet another step in the master plan for world domination by corn. It's irresistibly good, and I recommend it to any lovers of corn, and don't we all love corn?
