12.22.07
Marron Pocky
In case you were wondering, Marron is Japanese for chestnut not Maroon like I keep saying in my head. Although if Glico made Maroon Pocky, I’d try it since Pocky has rarely done me wrong. And also they probably make Maroon Pocky anyway as they make every other flavor under the sun.
This snack was procured in the great J-listing of ought seven, courtesy of badmovie and his mad snack buying spree. You may get tired of this disclaimer because there are an awful lot of snacks from the great snack gathering still to review. But at least there will be one less after today right? Right!
Chestnut Pocky. It smells nutirific despite the rather bland appearance (I prefer more contrast in my Pocky, but that’s a personal issue and not one that’s going to result in pea de-pointage) and there seems to be little inclusions in the Pocky goo. I tried to isolate the inclusions but some appear to be just little nodules of clear crunchiness (much like a bit of rock candy hanging out in the coating), while others might actually be bits of nut. Neat. However, I’m not sure what chestnut should smell like so if it’s not a sort of cross between peanut and soy nut with a little bit of Mrs. Field’s cookie store thrown in, then these don’t smell like chestnut at all. If so, then they are spot on.
As for the munching, there is the usual ubiquitous Pocky stick crunch and vanilla graham like taste which we’ve all come to love and respect over at the JSFR. Mmmm, Pocky stick. The goo is a sweet nutty flavor that might be peanutty, could be almondy, perhaps even a bit of soy bean flavored. Is it chestnut? Well, if chestnuts tasted like generic nut then yes. One of my Pigs said if you “take away all the character from a nut but leave its base nuttiness then you would have these” and we all agreed. It’s not bad, but it really doesn’t stand out and scream CHESTNUT as much as it does NUTTY. That cost it a half pea but like most of the Pocky so far, it’s still a good munch with a
Rating of 3.5 wasabi peas out of a possible 5 wasabi peas.
Kevin said,
December 31, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Last night we went to a huge Japanese grocery / bookstore / gift shop / food court complex in downtown Seattle. And outside, they were giving away roasted chestnuts. I meant to grab some to munch on, but I had weighty matters pressing on my mind (read: men’s room!) and forgot. Our host, Nix, said that there wasn’t really much distinct flavor to the roasted chestnuts. Just that they tasted kind of generically nutty. It’s possible that the Pocky (which they had at this grocery store — but no Winter Pocky, I checked) tasted exactly like Chestnut after all….
Lenka said,
August 13, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Picked up a pack of these at the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Schaumburg, IL and tried them for the first time … yep, roasty, sweet and nutty with a slight hazelnut-coffee taste. Not bad, but I still miss the lovely Creme Brulee Pocky I bought a few years ago – and haven’t seen since.