June 07, 2006
Pocky patrol
We went to the Tan-A market to pick up some pickled scallions and also to mock the post-dated Pocky. We'd noticed before that they started blacking out the sell by dates on expired Pocky. Maybe they heard us making fun of them in the store, or maybe they read this blog, but they recently started printing out little labels with a date far in the future and sticking them over the blacked out sell by dates.
We are not fooled. Now when we check the sell by dates, we make sure they aren't stuck on. Ha! And no matter how much I want Men's Pocky, I'm not buying any till they get in some fresh stock.
Anyway, we went there to mock and mock we did, because most of the Pocky varietals had stuck on sell by dates. But we found the chocolate coconut flavor, and it was fresh. It is also awesome. The package says it's only available for a limited time, but I bet Glico didn't consider the Tan-A strategy of everlasting stock. The regular Pocky in the red box didn't have a sell by date, just a lot code. We took a chance and found it was fresh too. We also found legal Almond Lucky Mini and Takenoko no Sato (Bamboo Shoot Village). The Almond Lucky Mini is not as dark chocolate as the package implies, but has a smooth chocolatey taste.
I'm kind of amazed at how Japanese chocolate snacks actually taste like chocolate nowadays. Is this for export-only snacks, or is the Japanese palate growing more discriminating with regards to chocolate? Japanese chocolate used to taste like wax (the Bamboo Shoot Village snack has that old fashioned waxy taste). Back when I was an exchange student, I used to haunt the candy aisles of the convenience stores, desperate for a chocolate fix that actually tasted like chocolate. I eventually found a choko-monaka, a sort of ice cream sandwich with chocolate inside, that had the taste I wanted and there was only one store, way the hell out in Kawasaki, which carried that particular brand. I taught an English class in Kawasaki once a week and I would buy a choko-monaka and eat it on the way from the train station to my class. Vessel in the Fog chocolate bars, also not easy to find, were pretty good too. I remember eating one in August at Goshikinuma; it was boiling hot and the chocolate melted all over me.
I'm glad I have better chocolate access nowadays.
422 words | June 7, 2006 09:25 PM | KitchenI miss Vessel in the Fog. When we were in Yamaguchi we found someone on rec.food.chocolate who was willing to do a trade: $20 worth of Ghiardelli for ~$20 worth of distinctive Japanese chocolates. VitF featured heavily, as did Greenwood spread.
I always thought Pocky chocolate was pretty good.
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner at June 8, 2006 12:13 AMBack then, I was cranky with Pocky because when one is seriously chocolate deprived and craving large chunks of fatty, melty, chocolatey chocolate, that one millimeter thick coating of chocolate on a stick just doesn't cut it.
Lotte Air, similar to Vessel in the Fog, was also good. Google turns up not much more than a blog entry on green tea flavor Air Crunky. I wonder if they still make it.
Posted by: 100wordminimum at June 8, 2006 08:57 PM