12.05.09
Imohore Batake Biscuit
SeanWhoseNameIsNate strikes again with the JSFR gifting and when I say strike I’m probably talking more baseball than hot ironing. We had high hopes for these “Baked wheat crackers” (from Japan even! Check that out…reviewing actual Japanese snacks at the JSFR! Novelty) what with their cute little magenta mascot thing and what looked to be a chocolate frosted cookie deelie. Incidentally, what is that mascot thing anyway? A giant mutant plant (Pomegranatezilla?) Perhaps some sort of viney kite thing given how hard the little blue haired child is pulling on the anthropomorphic magenta lemon (who looks like he/she/it might just be trying to reach the sun). And…is he/she/it winking at the sun? Is there some sort of subtle Jolly Green Giant/Icarus thing going on here? I am a bit boggled.
I am also boggled at how off our expectations mark we were about the tastiness of Imohore Batake. The first whiff carries a faint fruity flavor, which we weren’t really surprised at especially if we thought the magenta package creature was a giant, flying pomegranate. What surprised us was that the fruity comes from the chocolate, which is not so much fruit flavored but substandard enough to wax into that bad chocolate false fruity taste. Yuck. One of my Guinea Pigs quipped that it was the chocolate equivalent to bad instant coffee. Yuck^2. I hate to say it, but Nestle’s puts out a better chocolate and they aren’t really that good so be warned.
The biscuit was the only thing that could bring up the poor quality chocolate disappointment and they tried by adding a light crispy crunch. However, with the crunch came a disappointing blandness and generic low quality cookie taste. In looking at the ingredients, I noticed that there is sweet potato powder listed and that could account some for the odd taste. On the other hand, sweet potato shouldn’t be that unforgettable and disappointing so…meh. You’re better off spending your 2 bucks on Pepperidge Farm Milanos because they are much better and won’t leave you looking for something to wash their flavor out of your mouth.
Rating of 1.5 Wasabi Pea out of a possible 5.
Sean K. said,
December 23, 2009 at 11:10 am
Wow. I thought these would be just like the mushrooms or koalas, but I think those are both made by Meiji, and I guess Glico isn’t necessarily ready for the small chocolate/biscuit shaped like some real-life thing market.