03.05.11
Pucca (strawberry pretzel)
It’s Pucca time again here at the JSFR and apparently this particular flavor came from the Meiji (of Japan) Singapore subsidiary. Meiji has all sorts of subsidiaries all over the place it seems, which is good because Meiji makes tasty treats. They also are a pharmaceutical company which is an interesting diversification.
I’m also excited to round out the Pucca and Pucca-a-like strawberry flavor for it seems like I’ve done Hello Panda and Koala’s March in strawberry but not Pucca and so far, panda, koala and Pucca are my only examples of goo filled pretzel or graham like entities. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t add another Pucca-a-like to the category because I totally would if I could find one. For now, I’ll settle with the three and today I’ll cap out my strawberry.
The other two Pucca-a-likes which we tried in strawberry were not very good at all (Koala which every one of my Guinea Pigs hated save one outlier…who I gave the rest of the critters to) and decently delicious (Panda). This sounds like I am ramping up to put strawberry Pucca in the middle but this is not the case. I will say that this Pucca has the same pretzel bland problem that pretty much all but the chocolaty Pucca had but like the chocolaty pucca, somehow the strawberry compensates for a lack of pretzely goodness. If I pop a strawberry Pucca in my mouth and do not crunch it, I do notice the boring pretzel fishy skin. Meh. However, if I do crunch it, the delicious smooth strawberry goo has a chance to escape and wrap it’s delicious strawberriness around the pretzel. This is tasty.
The strawberry goo is nice and soft like smooth frosting and happily strawberry flavored. It’s not fresh berry but I don’t think anyone would really take issue with that. What it is, is deliciously strawberry flavored (perhaps with a capital F) with a nice nod towards the fruit. There is also a pleasant strawberry smell which leads to the likewise if not better pleasant strawberry taste. No olfactory let down here. Strawberry Pucca is also crunchity and pretzel wheaty and all together yum.
Rating of 4 Wasabi Peas out of a possible 5.