Bourbon Sakuramochi Mochi Chocolat

In a previous post, I mentioned how hard it is to find traditional Japanese sweets outside of Japan. That time, it was mitarashi dango, but here's another one to add to the list: sakuramochi. Sakuramochi are pretty little pink rice cakes filled with sweet red beans and wrapped in pickled sakura (cherry blossom) tree leaves. They might look or taste a little different depending where in Japan you get them, but they are sweet with a subtle very subtle sourness.

Bourbon makes this fancy line of chocolates called もちしょこら (mochi shokora), or Mochi Chocolat. On my last napaJapan purchase, I got the Matcha, Ganache, and Sakuramochi flavors. The thought occurred to me to review the matcha mochi chocolates right after I polished off the whole box, but at least I remembered to do the sakuramochi.

The box contained two separate packs of 4 mochi balls, so if you have some self control, you can share them or at least not eat all at once lest they go stale. I wish the box had contained a little pick or spear because the sticky little mochi were tough to get out of the container. The mochi chocolates smelled a little like fresh cherries with a hint of a sour, pickled aroma - and that's a good thing!

Rest assured that the outer coating was soft, sticky, actual mochi! According to the box, the middle layer of cherry chocolate was made with sakura leaves. It had no chocolate taste whatsoever, just a delicate cherry flavor. The red bean center was nice, adding just a touch of sweetness and a little pleasantly beany texture. The whole thing was a soft, lovely medley of textures and mild flavors.

A-

Bourbon website

Polishing Off the June Skoshbox

The items in this review were provided by a marketing representative.

For the past week or so, I've been reviewing snacks from Skoshbox, a new subscription box service just for Japanese candy, snacks, and trinkets. Let me repeat that I received a promotional box, but I'm not affiliated with Skoshbox and did not (nor will I) receive any compensation for the reviews or for anyone who subscribes. I just think it's a great idea and I want to help spread the word! You can find my previous reviews here and here.

Skoshbox is $12 a month including shipping, and you can find more information at their website. If you do decide to sign up, you can use the code SNACKLUV04 by July 15th to receive a free mystery snack with your first box! Currently, Skoshbox only ships within the US.

UHA High Concentration Milk Candy was a little scary because of my lactose intolerance, but it was nothing a little Lactaid couldn't fix. The hard candy was extremely milky, as expected. It tasted a lot like drinking heavy cream, and it was pleasant and rich. The candy itself melted down slowly and uniformly, leaving no jagged edges as it got smaller.

The Marukawa Orange Fusen Gum came in a set of 4 gumballs in a small box. I split it with my husband, so we both chewed 2 pieces at once. The gum was very soft and smooth, making it a little tricky to blow bubbles. The flavor authentic orange with a little extra sweetness, sort of like a creamsicle. We both loved the gum, and the flavor longevity was about average (less than 5 minutes).

The Shoyu Bite-Sized Senbei had an extremely mild soy sauce flavor that was so subtle, it got a bit lost in the salty and buttery flavors of the crackers. They had a great crunch, but the flavor was a little bland. These would be an excellent introduction to senbei, because some varieties have much more intense flavors.

Since matcha (powdered green tea) is my favorite flavor in the world, the item that had me the most excited was the LOOK Matcha Mousse. It contained two flavors: Matcha Azuki (red bean) Matcha Milk. Unfortunately, the chocolate lost a little something in shipment, and it was a bit dry.

The dry chocolate lost its smooth texture and a bit of its cocoa flavor, but the insides were still intact. The mousse in the Matcha Azuki had a mild flavor, and the sweet red bean gel was sweet and almost jammy. The Matcha Milk mousse was a little creamier and stickier, and the matcha flavor was stronger. I liked both, but liked the Matcha Milk just a bit better. In cooler months, the chocolate would be just fine, but it wasn't up to the journey this time of year.

Despite a few issues with chocolate texture, I loved my June Skoshbox, and I'm definitely going to subscribe. For the overall experience, I give Skoshbox an A-. The only change I could recommend would be fewer chocolate items in warmer months. Still, Skoshbox is a great way to try new Japanese snacks, or to enjoy your old favorites! The June box had a great variety of items, and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next month!

Skoshbox website

Look Matcha Anmitsu

I really need to replenish my stash. It's down to just one KitKat (Yakiimo). This weekend, I had wanted to go to Toronto for a little shopping, but various parties and gatherings kept us in town. The weekend was fun, anyhow, but my candy supply is in critical condition.

This flavor of LOOK is Millstone Ground Matcha Anmitsu. I'll just take them for their word on the millstone ground bit, but anmitsu is a Japanese dessert made with jelly cubes, sweet red beans, black sugar syrup, and in this case, matcha. Everything is better with matcha.


The pieces just smelled like milk chocolate. Inside the shell, the matcha filling was creamy with small, grainy, millstone ground bits that melted smoothly. The flavor was a bit bitter and grassy, but it was very mild. Above the matcha filling was a thin layer of anmitsu, which was just slightly bitter with a hint of azuki flavor (only detectable when the syrup is tasted alone).

The milk chocolate was sticky, but the sweetness balanced the mildly bitter flavors nicely. I liked the grainy to smooth texture of the filling, but it would have been interesting to see some of the jelly texture brought in (I suppose that's best left to Tirol). It's hard to recreate the marriage of tastes and textures that is anmitsu. Matcha Anmitsu LOOK was pleasant, but the flavors, especially the matcha, just weren't strong enough to wow me.

B

Fujiya LOOK website

Country Ma'am Ujikintoki Cookies

Since I don't live in Japan, Country Ma'am cookies are something to which I have very little exposure. On my last visit to Kyoto, I tried a kinako version that was tasty, but I think that's the only time I've had them. You can read several reviews of different types of Country Ma'am cookies at Japanese Snack Reviews.

Ujikintoki is a type of Japanese shaved ice dessert (kakigori) made with matcha syrup and red bean toppings. The package suggested putting the cookies in the refrigerator to simulate the shaved ice dessert. To get the full effect, I tried three different preparation methods: straight out of the bag, one hour in the refrigerator, and 20 seconds in the microwave.


Straight out of the bag, the cookie was grainy and very sweet, but it had a soft and chewy texture. The matcha and azuki flavors were subtle, and I also tasted brown sugar. The chocolate chips seemed downplayed by the other flavors.

Refrigeration brought out the chocolate and azuki flavors, but the matcha was almost undetectable. Also, the cold made the cookie a little crunchy and I prefer a softer chew.

I'd definitely recommend going with the microwave option. The warm, buttery cookie had a nice chocolate and matcha scent, and they were so soft and gooey. They tasted like brown sugar or molasses with less azuki flavor and a little more matcha.

A-

Fujiya website

UHA Uji Matcha Azuki Milk CuCu

Without shame, I'll admit that the pictures of gorgeous marbled cubes on the front of this bag drew me in. Of course, the matcha flavor didn't hurt at all, since it never takes much convincing to make me buy matcha sweets. These were under $3 at a Japanese import grocery store.

The little cube dog on the bag said Cute Cube which is probably the origin of the name, CuCu. The candy is supposed to be a medley of Uji matcha, Hokkaido azuki, and condensed milk.


The candies were shaped like dice, and though they weren't quite as pretty as the picture on the bag (the actual white stripe was rather dull), they were still lovely candies. The matcha flavor was strong and immediate, with buttery and rich hints of condensed milk. There were some hints of azuki flavor, but they served the matcha well.

They never got sharp like some candies can, and they maintained their rounded cube shape throughout the entire smooth melt. The packaging was super cute, too, but I wish the wrappers were clear so that I could admire the marbled cubes in my candy dish. These were delicious, and I had no trouble eating 2 or 3 in a row. It's yet another example of matcha done well by UHA.

Check out another review at The Candy Bowl.

A

UHA website

Morinaga Straberry Daifuku Hi-chew

I don't often blog about traditional Japanese snacks (known as wagashi) for a couple of reasons. First, I live in the United States and they are a bit hard to come by, and second, there's already an excellent blog for that!

Instead, I have to settle for reviewing cheaper candy based on wagashi, like these strawberry daifuku Hi-chew! The real thing is a strawberry covered in red bean past and wrapped in mochi. Here's a recipe for real strawberry daifuku, in case you can't track down the Hi-chew. The real thing is most definitely better.


There was no detectable mochi smell to these candies, just a strawberry aroma. Mochi was just barely present in the flavor, though the strawberry dominated. It was a tart, authentic strawberry, and it was quite good. As with all Hi-chew, the candies had a chewy, almost rubbery texture.

Red bean paste was completely absent from the flavor profile, but despite the failure at tasting like daifuku, it still made for a tasty strawberry candy. It's been a long time since I've had regular strawberry Hi-chew, so I can't say how it compares - I doubt there is much of a difference.

Check out another review at Tasty Japan.

B+

Morinaga website

Tirol Premium Roundup

Premium Tirol are rather difficult to locate in the United States. Many Japanese stores in the Midwest carry the regular assorted Tirol packs, but I have never seen the premium variety in stores.

The flavors in this review are Cream Anmitsu, Vanilla Yogurt, and Hokkaido Cheese, and they were purchased from napaJapan. Premium Tirol are slightly larger (and supposedly of better quality) than the standard variety, and the flavors are changed more regularly, much like KitKats.


First up was Cream Anmitsu, which was a Tirol version of a popular Japanese dessert that is somewhat like a fruit salad with jellies, red beans, ice cream, and sometimes mochi. The piece smelled like azuki and mochi, and the gel and syrup were slightly sweet. The gel inside was like the agar jelly in the dessert - the texture reminds me of chewing on the inside of your cheek. The chocolate was smooth, creamy, and carried most of the bean flavor. The syrup gave the whole thing a fruity feel, and was a great representation of the actual dessert! A-


Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, is known for its dairy products, thus we have Hokkaido Cheese flavored Tirol. It smelled and tasted just like cheese spread and not like real cheese. There was no sign of chocolate here, just a processed cheese flavor with a crunchy biscuit. If that's your thing, you'd probably like it. I was surprised at the uniqueness, but not impressed with the flavor, and my husband thought it tasted like Combos. C


Finally, there was Vanilla Yogurt (and a different light source in my photo). It had a strong vanilla scent, and a cool vanilla taste. It was like a creamy white chocolate homemade candy (think a meltaway mint without the mint) that melted in my mouth. The syrup inside was basically simple syrup infused with vanilla, and the center piece felt like meringue on my tongue. It was quite tasty, but I didn't really taste yogurt, just vanilla and white chocolate. I have never tried the actual product on which it is based, but I did like the chocolate. B+

Orchid64 of Japanese Snack Reviews has also reviewed all three of these flavors, so have a look at her take on Hokkaido Cheese, Cream Anmitsu, and Vanilla Yogurt. For a positive review of Hokkaido Cheese, check out Tasty Japan.

Tirol website

Bourbon Matcha Mont Blanc

On the last day of our time in Japan last month, my husband and I went to a nearby grocery store in Kyoto to get some cheap things to fill the empty space in our suitcases. That was the only place I saw large packages of single serving cakes, so I decided to try these.

Mont Blanc is a famous and fairly popular dessert in Japan. It is very pretty, and though typically made with chestnuts, sometimes there are other flavors included, like in these matcha cakes. Of course, being a packaged product, I didn't expect these to be as good as the real thing.


Although the box claimed that these had the aroma of matcha, all I could smell was something odd (probably preservatives). Moving past the smell, the taste wasn't really matcha, either. Or at least it wasn't as strong as I would have liked. It might have been masked by the chestnut flavor.

To call the spongecake mild would be kind, as there wasn't much flavor to speak of, and the cream in the middle was not terribly noticeable. Even the chocolate on the top didn't really taste like matcha, just sweet white chocolate. The azuki beans throughout the layers did add a nice texture, and surprisingly, carried their own flavor well.

I might like this more with some actual matcha brewed tea, as I think the bitterness would bring out the flavors in the cake, but on it's own, this cake just wasn't flavorful at all. It wasn't a bad taste, but it was very disappointing. I would like to point out that Bourbon can make good prepackaged cakes. I took some vanilla and chocolate cakes into work, and they were much better.

C-

Bourbon website

Meiji Hokkaido Azuki Takenoko no Sato

I'm trying a new layout! Please bear with me while I work out the kinks. Anyhow, this is another one of the spoils of my Toronto trip last month. I'm always up for a different flavor of Takenoko no Sato (or Kinoko no Yama) and had yet to be disappointed...until this one.

I didn't know Hokkaido was known for azuki (red beans), but the island is known for agriculture in general, so nothing would surprise me. Azuki and an (sweet red bean paste) are often too sweet for my taste, which is strange, since it is so popular in Japan and I'm used to super sweet American candy like Skittles. Once, I made an from scratch, and it involved quite a lot of sugar.


As you can see, the little chocolates are kind of a dusty rose color (oddly similar to the color of my wedding dress), which is much lighter than real azuki beans (you can see them on the box).

The texture of these was weird. It really did seem like I was eating an, right down to the texture of the beans. The chocolate (if it can even be called chocolate) was very soft and grainy and had no snap to it at all, which threw off the usual balance of crunchy cookie and smooth chocolate that I love about Takenoko no Sato. The flavor was very mild, but because of the texture, it seemed very authentic.

If you are a big azuki fan, by all means, check these out. Otherwise, they are just a neat novelty.

B-

Meiji Website (Japanese)