El Mexicano Marias Cookies

When I came back to the U.S., one of the things I thought I should do was diversify a bit so that I covered snacks from other countries. While I've done that a little, I've still mainly focused on Japanese snacks. I have forgotten that I wanted to shoehorn in some other things, and Mexican snacks in particular. I have ample access to them, and they're generally pretty cheap, and writing about them encourages me to keep sampling new things.

Unfortunately, after awhile, I stopped "seeing" things. This is what happens when you live in a place for awhile. Everything fades into the background noise and you just don't even think about it. One of the things I appreciated about living in Japan is that I tended not to do that, and I wish I could stop it from happening here, but I do have to make an effort.

One thing I noticed in Mexican markets is that they are generally well-stocked with a sort of cookie that looks very plain and resemble butter cookies or crackers. I didn't expect much of them, and I expected even less of them when I picked up this package for a mere 33 cents (33 yen) for 6 oz./170 grams. That's a lot of cookie for very little cash. Most of the time, I see these types of things in enormous packages and I wondered what the appeal was.

One thing I never noticed before is that "Maria" is not the product name, but rather the name of a type of Spanish cookie which is fairly simple. It was created in celebration of the union between a Russian Countess and the Duke of Edinburgh in the late 1800's. It's essentially the unofficial official cookie of Spain and Mexico and apparently a popular first treat for children. At a young age, they eat it dipped in milk. That's a lot for a simple cookie to live up to, especially one that looks more like a cracker and costs a pittance as mine does.

I like how snacks from other countries come with some sort of historical pedigree. It makes the way in which most American snacks developed seemed pretty boring by comparison. In fact, I think most American snacks were either accidents, or willful attempts to take advantage of the plethora of cheap high fructose corn syrup available. Twinkies were invented because the equipment used to make strawberry cream snack cakes were idle when the fruit was out of season so they figured out something else to use the machine on. That's a far cry from a cookie inspired by a royal wedding that won the hearts of no fewer than two countries.

Getting to this little cookie, I realize that this being so cheap means that it is unlikely to be the apex of Maria cookie goodness. That's okay though because I do factor price into my ratings. I have to say though that, off the top, I didn't like the smell of these. There is a weird, somewhat fruity, chemical smell which is mirrored in the taste. I believe that it is fake butter flavoring and it's not horrible, but takes some getting used to. That's not really an endorsement nor am I encouraging others to buy these and acclimate themselves to it. It's just a statement of fact. I liked these better after I could learn to overlook that weirdness.

I tried these two ways, both as a plain brittle cookie and dipped in tea. As a plain cookie, it's tolerable, but not particularly flavorful aside from the fake butter and a tiny bit of sweetness. It's much better when dipped in something that adds another dimension to the flavor. Dipping also almost instantly transforms it into something extremely soft and more cake-like so you get both a textural change and some more flavor depth. I think they'd be better with coffee as well.

These are a simple pleasure, and at only 17 calories per cookie and not being especially "more-ish", not much of a threat to the waistline. They're not bad at all and I am inspired enough to buy another brand with a higher price tag for comparison, but I wouldn't buy this brand again even with the super low price tag. I think these are best used as a light tea time snack or as the base for some type of cooking, like a cookie crumb crust for a pie or to make an icebox cake. In fact, the way they lap up moisture would seem to make them a stellar (and cheaper) substitute for the classic Nabisco Famous Wafer icebox cake.

Note that I found a person who reviews a ton of Maria biscuit types and these were rated as "3" on his scale of -5 to +5. That would mean that, among this type of biscuit, a seasoned reviewer thought they were pretty good. Interestingly, he also noted a fruity flavor, so I'm glad to hear that that wasn't just my imagination.

Incidentally, in Asia, and, of course, Japan is included, these are often sold as "Marie" biscuits and I used to see the Morinaga brand of them all of the time. Going by the box illustration, they certainly do look quite similar to the Mexican ones, though I'm guessing the taste would be somewhat different.

Lawson Frozen Sweets (product info.)

I wonder how many times I've started a post with "since coming back to America..." Well, this is the first time that I can follow that with, "this is the only thing I've thought, damn, I wish I were still in Japan so I could try that!" It's not the concept of "Lawson Frozen Sweets", nor the fact that they come in such boring flavors as chocolate, mango, green tea, strawberry, coffee or even "soda" (that would be "ramune"). It's the fact that there is a yuzu* ginger flavor! How awesome would that be? Someone go buy one and enjoy it for me.

Lawson isn't going to stuff its shelves with these in so many varieties. They are staggering the release and the yuzu ginger one won't be around until July 9. Chocolate and mango have been available since April 9 and strawberry and green tea since May 14. Coffee comes out June 4 and soda on June 24. I guess they're saving the best for last.

The description makes these sound like a frappucino-style beverage made with slushy ice and sauce. The green tea one has sweet beans on top of it and the fruit ones either come with tiny amounts of fruit or are garnished for the photos to make it appear that they are. My guess is that these are actually fairly icy and supposed to remind one of kakigori (shaved ice with syrup, similar to a sno cone).

*Yuzu is Japanese citron, a unique blend of citrus that tastes like a happy marriage between lemon, orange, and grapefruit, possibly with some kinky action from a tangerine.

Random Picture #164

In Japan, "soda" refers to "ramune", which is an odd chemical concoction which resembles bubblegum at times and club soda mixed with funky chemical sweeteners at others. I think that ramune is to Japan as root beer is to the U.S. While I didn't detest ramune or "soda" flavors the same way Japanese folks did root beer, it wasn't something I'd tend to seek out.

Therefore, I would never buy this "Gari Gari Kun" popsicle, at least not to eat it. I would consider buying it so that I could cut out the picture on the front of the box, punch two holes in each side and wear it like a mask on my face to frighten small children at Halloween. Gari Gari Kun remains the most unappealing mascot I have ever encountered in my life and his visage never does anything other than make me want to turn away in horror at his enormous maw and bizarrely positioned nostrils. Don't even get me started on his codpiece (as portrayed in the previously linked post).

Tirol Black Coffee and Bear Chocolate (product info.)

Tirol is turning into the king (or queen, if we want to not be gender biases here) of cooperative endeavors with other manufacturers. For a company that sells chocolates for 40 yen (about 40 cents) each as their signature product, this feels weird. It's like the people who make RC Cola or Mallow Cups engaging in joint ventures with Starbucks or Pillsbury. And I realize that many of my readers aren't American, nearly 50 years old, and familiar with old-fashioned and regional products. Just think of whatever dinky small-time product you grew up with starting to penetrate multiple markets by making new and marginally related food-stuffs with bigger name businesses.

The concept of this coffee is rather cute, though not exactly unique. The coffee is just cold black coffee, but it's supposedly designed to be better when enjoyed with a Tirol chocolate. If you don't want to buy a separate chocolate, they have you covered because they put one under the lid (look carefully at the picture above and you'll see a square of "Milk" chocolate under it. The types of candy vary. I've seen some with almond chocolates under them, too. This is being sold at Family Mart for 165 yen ($1.65). My guess is that this is all novelty value over quality, but I can't deny it's a cute concept.

Speaking of cute, Tirol is also released a new chocolate called "Tirol Kuma" (bear). It's condensed milk chocolate with freeze-dried red beans, fruit-flavored jelly, and dried pineapple. It sounds dreadful, to be honest, but if I find one at an Asian market, I'll probably buy it.

Cafe Tirol Lemon Tea and Coffee Jelly assortment

My husband is not a very visually oriented person. In fact, I'll not infrequently point out something design or art-oriented and he'll say he did not notice. However, after I bought this, he picked the bag up and remarked that it was really designed well. We both thought it brought to mind two very famous coffee shops without going so far as to infringe on their copyrights. I thought of Starbucks because of the color scheme and he thought of Tully's because of the stripes. They did a good job of evoking the coffee shop experience while still avoiding being sued. 

In Japan, I imagine this sells for around 150 yen ($1.50) as it is the regular small chocolates rather than premium ones. It's still listed on Tirol's web site, but they don't offer prices for this. I paid $2.19 for it at Nijiya. The only way I could find to buy them online was via eBay for obscene prices ($7.49 and $4.00). Unfortunately, Candysan, which tends to offer some of the better prices on such things, doesn't carry Tirol chocolates of any kind. 

Even the little packages are nicely designed!

The lemon tea chocolate is an interesting blend of lemon and tea with a strong bitter finish. I'm not sure if the bitterness is supposed to represent the bitterness of strong tea or the pith of a lemon. This is not a bad thing, necessarily, but it comes on as a bit of a shock after the mellow tea and somewhat sweet lemons flavors. Inside is a bland little biscuit which adds a nice textural element and perhaps lightens up the sweetness of the candy in general. I like the cookie being put in the tea candy because it has shades of "afternoon tea" with tea and a biscuit.

The coffee jelly has a very strong coffee flavor coupled with some strong sweetness. The top is white chocolate, which is either supposed to represent whipped cream (likely) or milk (less likely). The thing is that, I had coffee jelly on occasion in Japan and this very much captures the taste of that treat. The jelly candy in the middle is soft and easy to cleave and, like the biscuit in the tea candy, adds some textural interest.

I really liked both of these for their strong flavors and textural variety. Though they aren't the most incredible, mind-blowing chocolates I've ever had, they have both high novelty value and are pleasurable. What I tend to ask of such candy is that they have solid flavor strength without being disgusting or overbearing and decent depth of flavor. These score well on both fronts. If you like coffee and tea, I'd say they're worth a try. The only risk is that the packaging will have you craving a latte or frappucino.