Cheetos Salty Prawn チートスえび塩味

These were in a box of snacks that I bought from napaJapan. It was the last bag of snacks and I pulled it out one Saturday afternoon while we were watching Japanese baseball on TV. 

My son heard the rustle of the pack and came running as he loves savory snacks.

We opened it together and when we put our face in the bag to smell we both immediately withdrew because the smell of prawns was so strong and overwhelming. My husband refused to have any at all based on the smell alone but later relented and had one. His first words were "it's too salty!"

My son had a few and then didn't want anymore which is totally unlike him. So I was left with basically the whole bag of these salty prawn Cheetos, which I have to admit were extremely salty, and even though the smell of prawn was strong, the taste wasn't. There was some sweetness in the Cheetos which downplayed the prawn flavour, but combined with such a great amount of salt, I was soon reaching for a glass of water. 

Two out of three people who love prawn flavoured anything rejected these, so this will give you a good indication of what these Cheetos are about. I thought they were ok but the salt content worried me. They conveniently left off the amount of salt in the nutritional table on the back of the packet. 

After I had eaten a few of these my lips started to burn and tingle which is usually a sign that a product contains MSG. I wouldn't eat them again and you should try them at your own risk. 

Asahi Balanceup Salty Vanilla アサヒ クリーム玄米ブラン 塩バニラ

Don't ask me why but Balanceup is a favourite snack of mine. I think it's because it is not only filling but it is made with real bran and always comes in interesting flavours. It is meant to be more of a convenience food, for example, to replace cereal in the morning or a snack at morning tea time if you're busy and don't have time to grab a proper meal.

The snack consists of two layers of bran crackers sandwiching a thick layer of flavoured cream, in this case salty vanilla cream is in the centre. The bran crackers are quite thick too (about 2mm) so they give a decent crunch when bitten into.

These crackers have a pleasant smell when the packet is opened and the outside of the bran has a sweetness to it, and lots of bits of bran inside the cracker make for a very crunchy experience.
The vanilla cream in the middle is sweet and has a slight hint of maple flavour followed by another hit of vanilla and finally some saltiness at the end so it seems like having sweet then savoury.
I'm not sure why the vanilla cream tastes like maple but I have noticed it before in other flavours so maybe it's coming from the crackers when it gets mixed with the cream.

The flavours are not strong but they are not weak either. This was quite enjoyable and I ate the whole bag in one sitting (4 crackers!). The bag is made up of 2 individually wrapped bags of 2 crackers each so it's great for portion control and also the crackers won't go stale if you don't eat them all at once.

Puccho Shio Lemon with Gummi ぷっちょしおレモン

Puccho is a brand I've seen out and about which reminds me of Hi-chew. It's definitely targeted towards children which is an area that in the past I've stayed away from when it comes to Japanese candy.

A new year is almost here and because of that (and that I'm reaching 100 posts), I've decided to push myself and try a few different things, one of them being Puccho.

There were a variety of flavours on offer when I bought these, but this one seemed the weirdest and less appealing flavour. Salty lemon. Hmm not unless I'm drinking tequila?


The packet is considerably summery, and looking on their website I can't find a mention so I would say this has been and gone in regards to where the Japanese market is now. However, it's summer in Perth, so good timing for me. (And I might add the best before date is February 2010, so still within the good tasting zone.)

The difference between this and Hi-chew is that this has little bits of round gummy pieces inside, plus because of the salty lemon flavour, bits of salt, would you believe.

Each pack has 10 pieces and the packet opens via a string, similar to chewing gum packs.


The piece itself feels like plastic and is white with a light yellow colour on each end, again very similar to Hi-Chew.


Biting into it there is this taste just like lemon butter, or lemon curd, it's so sour at the back of my throat! The gummy in the middle is chewy but a bit hard and it's really salty like swallowing water at the beach. Ugh.

The problem with this candy is that the yoghurt part is kind of tough like old leather and not very much like yoghurt in flavour, the gummy are lumpy and hard to chew and the salt is overwhelming like someone rolled a lemon in salt and threw it in the ocean. Eww...

I'm not a fan...these two flavours just don't go together. Sour and salt. Only with alcohol I think. I also don't like the texture, tough on the outside, hard and chewy on the inside, and stuck between my back teeth.

Did I sabotage myself by getting a flavour I thought was weird? I didn't think so at the time because I am a fan of salt and vanilla together so I thought this might be the same. I had expectations of liking this one.

$2.39 down the drain. I wonder if kids would like this? And who can I fob this onto? Anyone want a pack of Puccho with 7 pieces left? I'm serious guys.

Hokkaido Butter Shio Candy 北海道バター塩飴

The 100 yen stores in Japan are popular for the variety of goods you can buy there, all at a low price and great quality. Most 100 yen stores also have a corner selling snack foods and limited grocery items. I found these in a Daiso 100 yen store in Obihiro, among a wide variety of Japanese candy bags.

I had never seen these before but because of my love of all things Hokkaido, and Japan's obsession with salty candy/snacks, I decided that I would satisfy my curiosity by buying them.

The candies are made by Meito who appear to make candy, chocolate, teas, and icecreams. It's not a company I have ever come across before, but looking on their website I found quite a few other candy bags that I saw in the same 100 yen store as I bought these. They seem to be a cheaper candy option.

The salt used in this candy is stated to come from the Sea of Okhotsk. They also have table salt, sweeteners, Hokkaido butter, Hokkaido condensed milk, and b carotin, and the bag weighs 90g.

As per usual Japanese candy manufacturers each candy is individually wrapped, this candy is in a clear bag with the name in white. Each candy is small 1cm x 0.5cm, pale yellow and in a rounded rectangular shape. It has a small dent in the top.

It doesn't really smell like anything in particular. The first taste is slightly lemon and sweet. Yes, lemon. I don't know why that is. A little bit of salt emerges, and a buttery flavour also, but the lemon flavour is still present.

As I begin to suck the candy more, the buttery flavour gets stronger, and so does the salt. There is a slight sweetness but overall it is more butter and salt now than lemon or sugar flavours, which is good. The flavours are not big and bold, they are quite mild. This is a candy more for Japanese tastes, and is probably not suited to non-Japanese palates. I feel as if I am missing out when I eat this candy. I really expect it to develop into a full on butterscotch flavour, but it doesn't.

It was good for a look, obviously it didn't break the bank at 100 yen for a whole bag, and I will probably eat the rest of these, but, I wouldn't recommend them if you like bolder tastes.

Tirol Air-In Salty Vanilla チロル 塩バニラ

After coming to Japan I have been browing the aisles of supermarkets to find new and different Tirol flavours. I have not had much luck so far, only finding the regular coffee flavour.

At Jusco a few days ago, I finally found this flavour for ¥20. I originally grabbed two of them but lost one on the way home, only to find it in a friends car two days later, it had melted in the heat and lost its shape.

The image on the packet is of a sparkling blue ocean with a small island in the background and a soft serve cone in the foreground. I am not sure why the soft serve is in the image, but after googling "soft serve salty vanilla" I found a few links to icecream with a salty topping in Hakata, so maybe thats a kind of regional specialty.

This chocolate is air-in which basically means its like an Aero, it is aerated, very soft, and less dense.

From the outside, the chocolate smells of vanilla and a saltiness like the beach (cue blue water on image). The chocolate is quite soft to bite into and feels really grainy. Its really white chocolate, with a hint of vanilla, and after all the chocolate has melted, a few grains of salt.

The air-in makes the middle soft, and like mousse, and as I eat more, the salt flavour builds up, to a kind of sour vinegar like when you get a mouthful of water at the beach, that unpleasant taste in your mouth.

I never really got used to the grains in this chocolate, and I don't like the salt flavour because it's too strong. I have satisfied my curiousity and I definitely wont buy this again.

Meiji Salty Praline

Since last year when Kit Kat released their Salty Vanilla Kit Kat, there has been an explosion of Salty chocolate treats from Japan. At first major brands released Salty + Vanilla and stuck to that, but since I have also seen Salt + Caramel, Salt + Milk Chocolate, and now Meiji's offering, Salty Praline.

The box describes this as "salt & baked crepe in almond praline". It has skipped over the crepe bit in the title. It should have been something like salty crepe praline, I think.

This is a rather thin block of chocolate 16 x 7 cm in dimension and only 0.7cm high. There are 12 pieces that are moulded to be broken off easily, which they do.

The chocolate smells like cocoa used for a hot chocolate. It is glossy and smooth and melts in the mouth easily. There is a strong cocoa taste followed by bits of something I assume to be the crepe mixed into the chocolate. The chocolate is not too sweet, the cocoa flavour is very strong. I find the chocolate flavour itself to be one dimensional, there is no real depth there. The salt is not present until the very end when biting, but if you suck the top of the chocolate the salt is really there. There is no real almond flavour amongst all the other flavours, everything is mainly overriden by the strong cocoa taste. But in saying that, I did enjoy the texture of the crepe bits mixed in, that is what has made this chocolate special. Also the salt kick at the end was nice.

Overall, I enjoyed this chocolate. It wasn't too sweet, and the texture was different to most chocolates. I also liked the salt factor. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the strong cocoa flavour, but in all a nice bar.

In case you are interested, there is a Meiji Poster Gallery here that showcases all the ads they have done with celebrities, and you can save them to your computer.

Chocoball Salt Vanilla チョコボール 塩バニラ

This small box of Chocoball was a part of a giftbag of Easter chocolate I gave to Yasu this year. As Yasu loves white chocolate and Chocoball in general, I didn't hesitate in buying this at the Japanese supermarket for $2.00. It is a little bit more expensive than normal but I figured it may turn out to be a very interesting flavour.

First Nestle Japan ran the salty chocolate theme with their French Rock Salt & White Chocolate Kit Kat around the middle of last year, now many other Japanese sweets are jumping on the bandwagon, the latest to be Chocoball.

Unfortunately, my high expectations were not met. The balls themselves are small, round, and quite glossy, like they have been given a polishing before being inserted into the box. The box smells creamy and sweet but the outside of the ball tastes like nothing. I could have been sucking on a marble, the texture and taste was probably the same. (I say that because I can't remember sucking on a marble, but if I were to suck on one I would expect it to be the same as this).

When the gloss melted away the chocolate emerged mildly creamy and vaguely sweet. It didn't have that super sweet white chocolate taste that I expected. The ball inside was very malty and did not really have a lot of salt. You get more salt flavour if you crunch down on the ball rather than sucking off the coating.

All in all this was a big disappointment for me. Neither of the two flavours shone through, and it was like an effort in mildness. If you want to enjoy white chocolate without the screaming sweetness and you love a bit of malt then this Chocoball would be for you.

Yasu was happy with it, but I suspect if it had white chocolate on the outside and worms on the inside he would still be happy with it. No matter how lame it is, if it's white chocolate, he's there.

I do love my white chocolate and I would rather have throat-burning sweet than no taste at all.