Tirol White Marshmallow Assortment チロル マシュマロチョコアソート

A pack of 9 Tirol with a theme: Marshmallow. There are 3 pieces of 3 flavours each:

Strawberry Marshmallow

This one is light pink in colour and smells very strongly of strawberry. The fluffy white marshmallow inside is soft and surrounded by a strawberry sauce. The outer layer of strawberry chocolate is more like a mousse. This chocolate melts in the mouth.

Caramel Marshmallow

This has no aroma and tastes weird to me. Not exactly caramel, very creamy though. The mashmallow is very soft once again.

Cocoa Marshmallow

Dark chocolate surrounding the white marshmallow with a chocolate sauce trickling out. The dark chocolate is bitter and rich, over-riding the sweet soft mashmallow. 

The strawberry would have to be my favorite of the three, followed by cocoa. The caramel was not a hit with me sadly. 

Tohato Green Tea Caramel Corn トハト 抹茶キャラメルコーン 🌽

I've had this packet in the pantry for a couple of months now but it was only today I decided to bring them out as my 2 year old son was wanting something different to munch on and he loves matcha flavor anything. 

I didn't realize at the time I bought them that these were bigger than usual, the packet states they are "でっかい" which means "very big".

They are really big and unfortunately have a shape and colour like doggy doo-doo.

Although the flavor is matcha (green tea) it is overpowered by the strong, very sickly sweet caramel flavor, and not only that there is some kind of raw sugar coating on the outside which means after one piece I am screaming for some water.

I do like Caramel Corn usually but I am disappointed with these because of the sweetness, it is too much, especially for a mega size corn.

The only plus is that my son and I held up the pieces to our face to make happy and sad faces, and my son thought it was big enough to be talked into like a telephone. :)

Caramel Nuts Tirol (Premium) キャラメルナツ チロル

So here is my last blog about Tirol for now. I've managed to review quite a lot of different Tirol flavours during 2012 and that's all thanks to a very kind friend in Tokyo who sent them over to me during the year. So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank her so much for her kindness, not just for the Tirol and all the other snacks she sent me but for her friendship and support. Thank you so much S! :)

Caramel Nuts....it sounds pretty good and it's one of those combinations that is used over and over by confectionery makers the world over. Just think of Snickers and Picnic for starters. 

When I opened this Tirol I couldn't smell anything but a sweet scent. However when I bit into it I could smell Snickers! It smells just like it!! The chocolate on the outside is a caramel colour and there is a layer of dark chocolate on the bottom followed by a biscuit piece, peanuts, caramel and then chocolate. There is a lot going on in this chocolate, that's for sure!

Sadly, the flavour just wasn't as good as a Snickers. The chocolate and caramel were just so sweet, that even though the nuts were plentiful, it just wasn't that good. I really feel like the peanuts needed some salt to balance out the sweetness, then we could have had that salty peanut butter and chocolate combination going on.

I'm kind of sad that this one didn't live up to my expectations either. I usually really enjoy the Tirol chocolates. I will be looking forward to trying some new ones in 2013.

If you have tried some Tirol chocolates this year, what were your favourite?

Takoyaki Caramel たこ焼きキャラメル

A friend sent this candy to me and I had forgotten about it, until I was searching for something and knocked over a box and it fell out. I pulled it out and thought I should taste it to see if it's as good as the real thing (haha).

This box of Takoyaki Caramel has 20 individually wrapped square pieces inside, and it's not a very appealing colour. It looks like someone has blended a takoyaki ball and poured it in a square mold. Hub wasn't too keen to try this as I had previously bought Genghis Khan Caramel a couple of years ago (I reviewed on a former blog) and he wasn't keen on it (but I loved it).

Aside from it's unappealing colour, it has absolutely no smell, and is quite hard. Biting into it I immediately get a taste of ginger, followed by brown sauce and onion. The ginger is the strongest flavour of all and gets quite hot on the tongue. I can see where they were going with this but there is really no taste of tako (octopus) in this which is quite a shame really (but I guess it's hard to replicate).

Hub said it was so-so, I guess he felt that the star of the show was missing so the flavour was a bit wishy washy. I'm not a huge fan of it, but I don't want to waste the 18 pieces left so I guess I'll find some friends who would like to be guinea pigs (haha).

It's a novelty item really, so it was good to try it out and see how it measures up, I think it would make a great souvenir from Japan if anything, and probably I would only buy it for that purpose.

Rilakkuma Picnic Tirol リラックマ ピクニックチロル

Tirol have teamed up with Rilakkuma, everyone's favourite lazy bear to bring out this pack of "Picnic Tirol". It has 9 pieces of individually wrapped Tirol featuring cute pictures on the wrapper. There are 3 pieces each of 3 flavours - Pudding, Caramel Cookie, and Choco Marshmallow.

On the front of the pack Rilakkuma is sitting holding a bunch of flowers and he has his friend Korilakkuma (so called as she resembles a smaller version of Rilakkuma). Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma also feature on the chocolate wrapper design along with their birdie friend Kiiroitori (Yellow bird).

I was pleasantly surprised to find this pack contains 3 new flavours, and I'm especially excited about the pudding flavour.

It's such a shame to open this pack, really. As the tear line is situated both sides of Rilakkuma's head, so it literally tears open across his forehead. If you're a big fan of Rilakkuma, you might down the side of the pack.

Pudding

This Tirol has two different kinds of wrappers, one with Rilakkuma holding a glass of lemonade, and the other with Kiiroitori holding a glass of lemonade. They're both very cute. The chocolate is a cross between a custard and caramel yellow colour. The chocolate smelled like coconut and caramel and was quite sweet. The chocolate breaks easily when bitten into and there is a soft jelly inside that tastes like caramel, even having a sauce left behind from the jelly that has a slight burnt sugar taste. The chocolate complements the burnt flavour by bringing back the sweetness and the flavours mixed together reminds me of a classic creme caramel pudding. I think they have done this well, although I'd prefer a little less burnt sugar in mine.

Caramel Cookie

The wrapper designs for this flavour are either Rilakkuma playing a guitar or Korilakkuma riding a scooter with Kiiroitori on the back. The chocolate is a toffee colour and smells like hard caramel. Biting into it, the chocolate is soft and sweet and the inside consists of biscuit pieces and caramel chocolate all melded together into a hard block. The caramel flavour isn't as strong as I expected on this, but it's really crunchy and I enjoyed it.

Choco Marshmallow

The design for these chocolates featured Korilakkuma holding a bunch of flowers on all 3 pieces. The chocolate is quite dark and smells like chocolate brownie. Biting into it there is a strong dark chocolate flavour, the bitterness is the first thing I taste, then there is the soft centre of marshmallow and dark chocolate sauce. Although I'm not a dark chocolate lover, I liked this one as the marshmallow centre was sweet and offset the bitterness to make it very enjoyable.

Overall, I probably liked the Choco Marshmallow the best, the Pudding second and the Caramel Cookie third. They all have their good points. I liked the jelly in the Pudding but not the burnt sugar flavour. I liked the crunch in Caramel Cookie but the flavour was too weak. I am not a fan of dark chocolate but the Choco Marshmallow somehow complemented that with sweetness of marshmallow.

I think this is a really sweet pack of Tirol and I'm sure it was probably popular in Japan because of the design and the interesting flavours. The fact that it has 9 pieces means it's great to share with friends.

Have you tried this? If so, what did you think? :)

Meiji Chelsea Hokkaido Milk Scotch Caramels 明治チェルシー北海道ミルクスカッチ

Another Chelsea review! Can't help myself because I found this new flavour at napaJapan and just HAD to try it. You know I love all things Hokkaido, and they're usually pretty good.

This flavour is Hokkaido Milk Scotch and it comes in the same format as always - a small box with a slide out tray of 10 individually wrapped hard caramels. The box is cream and maroon and looks very smart. I was really surprised by the colour of the caramel, I thought it would be a cream colour, but it looks like an average caramel colour.

 

 

The caramel itself doesn't really smell like milk, it smells of a very rich and strong caramel, almost smoky.

At first the caramel is surprisingly sweet and there is a slight coffee flavour which deepens into a rich creamy caramel. There is no coffee listed in the ingredients so the taste is probably just a fluke, but, it really is yummy. It has a really "milky" taste in the caramel which gives it a really creamy flavour that I love. The words that popped into my head while eating this were "cream caramel"...it tastes like a dessert of the same name would.

Yum! I thoroughly recommend these... a candy that is rich and decadent.

Brand: Meiji Calories per box: 188 Website: http://chelsea-agetai.jp Buy it now at napaJapan

Meiji Hokkaido Cheese Caramel 明治北海道チーズキャラメル

I just love presents from friends, don't you? A couple of days ago I received a parcel of goodies from a friend in Tokyo. Thank you M! It was so unexpected which made it all the more lovely.

I'm back on the cheese snacks again - this time with caramel! Meiji has come up with some Hokkaido Cheese Caramel. Cheese and caramel are not exactly two flavours you would expect to see together, however it seems to work for this treat!

There are 12 individually wrapped square caramels in the bag. Each caramel is 2cm x 2cm in dimension and just over half a centimetre in height.

The funny thing about these caramels is the dairy products used in them are from my husbands home town of Tokachi! Even funnier is they are sold all the way over in Tokyo. I guess Hokkaido produce is getting more popular these days, people want to experience the country taste.

I took the caramel out of the bag while editing the photo's and all I could smell was a lovely creamy smell that kept wafting up to my nose. The caramel is smooth and glossy with a few hash marks on the top. It's easy to bite into and quickly softens. Mmmm.

Remember the Hokkaido Cheese Tirol? Well the cheese flavour is exactly the same! It's quite strong and rich and really creamy. The caramel really takes a backseat, though the chewiness of the caramel and the soft smooth texture really add to the all-over experience of the cheese flavour.

I'm a big fan of these!! However, if you didn't like the cheese tirol, I'm pretty sure you won't like these caramels, because the cheese component is very strong.

Brand: Meiji Calories per bag: 294 Website: http://www.meiji.co.jp Buy it now at: Family Mart Japan

Fujiya Caramel Milky Candy 不二家ミルキーキャラメル

I had another break from blogging over Easter - sorry guys. Copious amounts of sweets and chocolate meant that I was sick to the eyeballs of sweet stuff.

Now back to review this bag of Milky Caramel. It's not just the average Milky candy, as in a certain flavour. It's a caramel that has a milky cream filling.

Each pack has about 11 individually wrapped candies inside. They are small and glossy, about 2cm x 1cm.

These are best eaten at room temperature. I tried them out of the fridge and they were too hard and chewy and the inner cream didn't really make much difference.

But, when I had them at room temperature they were melt-in-the mouth, soft, and the inside was soft and melty.

This candy tasted like coconut when I first popped it in my mouth. It was quite sweet too. There is a vague taste of caramel flavour but not full-on like a butterscotch caramel. The inside tastes like an original milky, it's very creamy and I could taste the cream.

These were really sweet, so one was enough for me. Yasu really enjoyed these and ate nearly the whole bag, but even he only had one per day.

Overall, these are not the most special Milky around, but they do taste nice and are very creamy, but also very sweet, so if you like that combination and you see it around, I would recommend them to you. If not, it's nothing to cry about if you missed getting these. :)

Brand: Fujiya Calories per pack: 155 Website: http://fujiya-milky.com

Meiji Kinoko no Yama Melt-in-the-mouth Milk Caramel きのこの山口どけミルクキャラメル

One of my long-time favourite snacks from Japan is Kinoko no Yama (meaning mushroom mountain in Japanese).

I don't always get to try the very numerous new flavours that Meiji comes out with but I always try. I was pleasantly surprised to find this amongst the goodies in a care pack from Japan.

The website that is made for this snack is very cute and is animated. The characters who are shaped like the snack itself talks to you in speech bubbles and takes you on a trip into his home where you can get information about their mobile site, watch the new commercial, hear Kinotake-san play his guitar and sing the song, read about his profile, read the mail magazine, see party ideas and loads more.


When I opened the box of Kinoko no Yama I realised there was alot more in the box than I had expected. It was pretty full. The smell that wafted out was a creamy milky caramel scent that made me think of a cake shop.

The mushroom is made up of a pretzel stick stem and a chocolate top. The chocolate top is quite thick, so I usually eat these by crunching down on them to get an even mixture of pretzel and chocolate as the pretzel is quite plain to eat by itself if you suck off the chocolate first.

The chocolate is a light coffee coloured white chocolate. I could really taste the cream in these and secondly the caramel. The chocolate melts quickly and really is melt-in-the-mouth (but not in your hand).

The caramel flavour is not overwhelming, it tastes more towards butterscotch than actual caramel. The pretzel is crunchy and when blended with the chocolate seems to take on a real buttery flavour.

I really enjoyed these and thoroughly recommend them. Even though the chocolate is white, it's not too sweet like some other white chocolate snacks and it has a definite dessert-style flavour.

Glico Almond Caramel グリコアーモンドキャラメル

Last November I reviewed Glico Caramel Hearts and now I'm back with another version - Almond Caramel Hearts.

This is an 82 gram pack of 22 individually wrapped caramel hearts with small bits of almond embedded in them.


As I didn't really like the original Glico caramels I didn't hold up much hope for these.

I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised.

The caramel is the same shape and size as the original flavour. The difference with these is that they are very soft on the outside and start to melt immediately after I put it in my mouth. The original version was chewy but the almond caramel is less sticky and more pliable. It also has more of a caramel flavour and texture. While chewing the caramel I noticed quite a fudge-like texture too.

The almond is not overpowering, the bits are small enough so they give a hint of roasted almond without overshadowing the caramel experience. If you suck on the caramel rather than chewing it, you tend to get more of the almond flavour.

I'm pleased to note there is nothing that tastes like coconut or lemon peel in these!

I really enjoyed these and if I would definitely recommend them! :)

Glico Heart Caramels グリコ心形のキャラメル

"The running man" is an icon well known to Glico. Their catch-cry is that one caramel will allow you to run 300 metres. Though everyone knows that it doesn't really work, it's just a sales pitch. Which begs the question, if everyone knows, why do they continue to have it written on the box?

Anyway, I've seen these around but never tried them. What really coaxed me into buying them was the free toy that was attached. At 31 I'm still a sucker for a free toy, however lame it may seem!


There was a choice between the bread maker toy, dinosaur robots, or insects. Being a girl, I chose the bread-maker, you know, to tie in with that long-held belief of men that women belong in the kitchen. Hmm.

I was right to say "lame" toy, because it is. I must have drawn the shortest straw possible because what I got was a plastic jar with a spoon. I opened the lid of the jar in expectation that I was getting something inside, but alas, only air in there. A look at the box shows me I could have got a set of scales, a bread bin, or a serving tray with tongs. Damn. Thought I was getting the cute scales. Oh well. Who wants a free jar and spoon toy?

The box of caramels only have 5 caramels in them. Supposing that you could run 300 metres with every bite, you could expect to run 1500 metres with the whole box. But you would need another box to get back. Would the 154 calories consumed by eating these be burned off in the process I wonder? Anybody tried this?


Moving along to the caramels, they are shaped like a heart. Not sure if this has anything to do with health - aka healthy hearts through running, or Glico is expressing their love for us buying their products.

The caramel really tastes like coconut and is chewy. Looking at it I thought it would be hard. In the centre there is a taste like lemon peel, powdered milk and caramel. To me, it tastes weird. The ingredients list claims alot of B vitamins, Calcium, and Sweeteners. The sweeteners I can agree on because it's so throat burningly sweet while I'm chewing it my throat feels like it's on fire.

I bet the sweetener alone could power you 300 metres. And guess what, I got a headache right after eating this too.

I guess, because it's been around for so long, Glico's heart caramels are a hit. But not with me. Certainly, Yasu's eye's started sparkling when I showed him the box. Not sure if that's out of childhood sentimentality or he just loves snacks.

I bought these for $1.38 and even with the lame toy included it wasn't worth it. I won't be buying these again. (The yucky coconut and lemon peel taste is still in my mouth!)

Kabaya Saku Saku Panda Caramel Milk さくさくぱんだキャラメルミルク

I didn't know this snack existed until I saw it on Japanese Snack Reviews. I then came across it myself at napaJapan and bought a pack along with the Halloween Crunky.

I'm pretty sure this is a Halloween version as the box is orange, the generic colour of Halloween. Something interesting I noticed now that I didn't notice is that there is a kinchaku (small drawstring bag) included in the box.

The inner packaging is a foil bag with only 50% of the space taken up by the contents. There are various cartoons and character images on the bag, another way to entertain the kiddliwinks eating them.

I was pretty surprised to find only 6 panda biscuits in the bag. They all had different faces, smiley through sad. Actually the front of the biscuit is a chocolate panda, and the back is more biscuit. The chocolate side is definitely cuter. I thought the biscuit side looks quite ghoulish. Or is that their purpose?

The chocolate coating is white chocolate, and brown tinted white chocolate for the eyes and ears. The scent is overwhelmingly caramel. It's very strong.

The biscuit itself tastes like a plain sweet biscuit with coconut oil. The chocolate is caramel flavour, with a hint of vanilla. The chocolate is quite soft and melts easily. I preferred them straight out of the fridge, they are harder, and seem to have more substance.

I'm sure these are a great way for portion control, the sweet taste of the chocolate, tooth-achingly so, would make sure I ate even less than 6 of these.

The kinchaku bag included is, I suppose, for all those treats you will receive on your treating mission. It is a rather cute bag with sakusakupanda on it, and it's actually quite big, and the material, although plastic, is very sturdy.

A great gift for Halloween either in Japan or elsewhere, and a great little snack for the kids, not so much for me as its way too sweet, but I would buy this again as a gift.

Hokkaido Condensed Milk Caramel 北海道練乳キャラメル

It's fair to say I'm on a bit of a 練乳 (condensed milk) kick at the moment. Since coming back from the land of condensed milk flavoured everything (Hokkaido), I've re-ignited my passion for the creamy white substance.

Oh, I've always been a fan of condensed milk. I remember eating it out of the can by spoonful when I was a kid, and before even going to Japan, Yasu and I enjoyed the odd squeeze from a tube of condensed milk we kept in the cupboard, which mysteriously disappeared while I was away in Japan - the mouse, err Yasu consumed it all by himself the 練乳 guts!

I saturated myself with condensed milk icecream bars, chocolate bars, drinks, and lollies, but I picked up one last thing before I left. That is, Condensed Milk Caramel, from the Wine factory actually, it was only 105 yen and I figured, it was a worthwhile buy because I knew that we were both condensed milk junkies by then.

The box has 18 pieces and comes in the same format as other caramels by the manufacturer - Dounan, which by the way, a look on their website shows this as ranking #1 in the top 3! See! Just goes to show Japanese people are junkies like me :)

Anyway, so what do they actually taste like? Condensed milk, silly! They really do taste like Japanese condensed milk, they even have that really creamy taste, and slight coconut flavour.

The caramel is quite soft and easy to chew, and quickly goes into a soft pliable texture with chewing. It has the same flavour throughout, it's really yummy!! It's not too sweet either, kind of in the middle of the scale of sweetness. The box says they used 100% Hokkaido condensed milk too, so you kind of get that feeling of being transported to green leafy fields while you're chewing on this caramel. The feel of the wind in your hair. The smell of cows...ahh.

Whoops, got carried away abit there. Anyways, this is one extremely good chew!! I suggest you buy some! :)

Kabaya Pudding Chocolates カバヤ なめらかプリンチョコ

Pudding or プリン is a very popular dessert in Japan and is usually what they refer to as Creme Caramel. I am quite a fan of it myself, so I didn't hesitate in grabbing this box of purin chocolates in Yamanaka recently for ¥118.

On the box it says that these are better eaten straight from the fridge, I can see why as I had them in the cupboard and they melted quite easily, even just being on the table.

They are small and round, about 2.5 cm in diameter. There are 8 individually wrapped chocolates in the box, which is so-so value, I guess these are more aimed at kids, who have smaller mouths and to them, 8 small pieces would seem a lot.

The top is milk chocolate but is a little bit darker than the average milk chocolate colour. The bottom is a yellow coloured white chocolate which smells like caramel.

Biting into the chocolate, the outside stays firm and the middle is a light yellow mousse with lots of caramel flavour. The milk chocolate has a distinct chocolate flavour and the yellow chocolate has a caramel and slight coconut oil flavour. Combined with the caramel mousse inside, they all blend in well together.

I can't really say this is an accurate pudding flavour. The body of a creme caramel is custard, and this chocolate lacked any custard flavour at all. It seemed to focus mainly on the caramel flavour, usually a small part of the actual pudding, but no less apparent.

I am sure kids would enjoy this for the flavour and appearance just as much. I would buy these again, as they were a lighthearted and fun way to enjoy chocolate, and a nice change from the usual flavours around.