Kabaya Guimauve Strawberry ギモーヴ ストロベリー

Guimauve is the French word for Marshmallow. Marshmallow comes from the plant of the same name and is used in candy and in hot drinks, eaten by itself plain or toasted. As the marshmallow powder is quite difficult to obtain, most manufacturers use gelatin to get marshmallow to that sticky, chewy consistency that we love.

Kabaya have come up with their own take on Guimauve by creating it using Gummi. It is shaped into squares, the French way, and it doesn't have the powdery outside like most marshmallows that come in big bags, instead it has a smooth matte finish.

It smells sweet and floraly, but even without eating it there is a tartness that wafts up my nose. Biting into it is not the same as biting into a marshmallow, it has a little bit more resistance. When it is squeezed, it flumps down in half, unlike a marshmallow that bounces back. The inside after being bitten, resembles something like a marshmallow mixed with a sponge.

The difference with this Guimauve is that the strawberry flavour takes a back seat to the tartness, and it tastes more like a strawberry sherbet than I expected. The flavour is even more pronounced when you suck it instead of chew it.

I'm not a fan of sour candy, I don't hate this, but I don't exactly love it either. It's a little bit hard for me to get my head around this candy. I keep coming back for more but only because it's weird. Who ever heard of a marshmallow made out of gummi? Somehow the texture works. It's just the flavour that is not my thing.

This is not blow-your-head-off super sour, but it has enough there to make you think it's sherbet. I would only buy it if sour candy is your thing.

Brand: Kabaya Calories per pack: 116 Website: http://www.kabaya.co.jp Buy it now at napaJapan

Kracie Neruneru Nerune Strawberry Make-at-home candy ねるねるねるね自分で作れるキャンディー苺味

Such is the way of reviewing Japanese snacks is that I don't really adventure out into the totally weird and wacky products unless by force (thanks napaJapan!).

It's not something I would ever buy for myself and I didn't really know this product existed.

Nevertheless, I'm willing to give it a go, just because when I googled it, I found other people had tried it and survived, so it gives me hope it's not too bad. ;)

The name of the candy "neruneru nerune" is quite cute and is the sound of stirring in Japanese, which is quite apt because the candy has three stages, two of which involve stirring.

Inside the packet is a white plastic tray with two pockets, one big circle and a smaller circle. There is a triangle indent on the side which breaks off and is filled with water to stir into the mix in packet 1, which becomes a thick blue glob.


Next in goes packet 2, a small amount of white crystal that instantly turns the mix pink and makes it plump up so that it looks very similar to strawberry mousse. Packet 3 is filled with coloured sprinkles and that goes in the opposite round pocket.


When all the mixing is done, you grab the plastic spoon that was included and take a big scoop of the mousse-like whip candy and dip into the sprinkles then into your mouth.

An interesting concept for kids and my husband, though I wasn't too thrilled about the flavour. It's very much like sherbet, in fact if I didn't know better I would say it is sherbet. There is a slight hint of strawberry flavour but mostly a sour sherbet hit. If you eat it without the sprinkles it will be a full-on sherbet hit. If you dip it in the sprinkles there will be the sherbet hit with a sweetness.

I'm not a fan of sticky, wobbly, gooey textures, but this was ok with me. The sherbet is really good, although not quite the strawberry I was expecting. The idea of this is what sticks the wrong way with me in that it all consists of powder and water, so basically it's just chemicals mixed with water and eaten. Not really something I would want to give to my kids if you know what I mean?

Yasu really enjoyed this, in fact he had nearly the whole thing himself, and I could see that kids would probably really enjoy the mixing and making and dipping in as well. Although the packet states it is "calcium enriched", it's not really something I would give children often because the ratio of calcium to chemical would not be very even would it?

A fun treat, if not so often, I would recommend to you. My sticking point might not be yours, and the taste is quite good if you like sherbet. :)

Happy Puccho Chocochip in Chocostrawberry 幸せぷっちょチョコチップ in ちょこいちご

Surprise packages in the mail are wonderful things aren't they? As are the people who send them. Especially when they are from places far far away where all our favourite snacks come from, in my case, Japan.

This was part of a parcel but I didn't know it until days later when I went to the box and found it hiding! So it was a double surprise ;)

Puccho is fairly new to my tastebuds and my first foray was not so good. Chocolate/Strawberry with chocchips is a fairly mundane flavour though, so I was expecting to like this flavour.


The colour of this candy is mostly pink and has a line of chocolate running through the middle and appears at both ends. There are significant chocolate chips at either end, and strawberry gummi pieces in the middle.

The candy actually smells like icecream, neapolitan flavour. Biting into it there is the tartness of strawberry, a milky icecream taste, and then the actual chocolate in the candy gives a rich chocolate icecream flavour. Amongst this though, it's quite hectic in my mouth, because the gummi balls escape and run away. It's hard to explain, but when the gummi and chocolate come out from the centre, the candy itself kind of comes apart and goes every which way. The gummi pieces are soft and slippery so that biting down on them just makes them spin out of control either towards the back of my throat or the other side of my mouth.

At the end, the texture is reminscent of chewing gum, because it has a chewy texture with a bit of graininess. Depending on what side you bite down on, you can experience the chocolate or strawberry flavour first.


It's kind of hectic but I really like the flavour, in fact, while revewing this candy I ate 6 pieces out of 10. Despite being an every day flavour, put together with the chocolate and the gummi, it becomes quite unique and adventurous for me. If I was in the mood for something unique I would definitely get this again, I also think children would find this quite amusing. :)

Yasu's Rating: I like the flavour, it's quite good. I would eat it again.

Mobaccho! Strawberry

The Japanese snack world is going in new directions. Not only can you have a takeaway cup of tea or coffee but you now can have your chocolate snacks in a cup for on the go.

I thought the cup is quite unique so I picked it up while shopping at Feel supermarket. It was ¥128.

They seem to be little rounded biscuit pieces covered in strawberry chocolate. These have butter, shortening, strawberry paste, milk seasoning, and malt extract in them.

The best I can say about these are they taste exactly like strawberry Pocky, but in small pieces. One little piece doesn't have much taste but handfuls at a time recreate a Pocky moment for me.

It is a unique idea, but the flavour is somewhat unoriginal. I only saw a strawberry flavour in the supermarket, and a look on the Glico website reveals no information about this snack. If you can find it, please let me know.

These were a bit of a let-down for me, and unless you want chopped up pieces of pocky in a cup, then I wouldn't recommend them.

Morinaga Ichigo Caramel (Strawberry Caramel)

This Ichigo Caramel was released for Mother's Day (May) in Japan. It was only around for a little while before petering out. Fortunately for me I received it as a gift with a bunch of other food gifts, and it makes a change from the usual Milk, and Matcha flavours that Morinaga usually make. Not to say I don't also like those, but I do like to try new flavours of caramel when I can.

This box holds the same quantity as usual. 12 individually wrapped pieces 1.5cm x 1.5cm in size. When you push the bottom of the box, the top slides up, similar to a matchbox. You can also push down from the top and have the same effect.

Each piece of caramel is bubblegum pink in colour. It doesn't carry much scent, a very faint strawberry mousse flavour, if anything.

The first taste is a very floral, almost musk-like flavour. The caramel is quite hard and takes a couple of chews to reduce the size. While chewing I get a vague strawberry mousse flavour, but there is still quite alot of floral flavour in there. The strawberry flavour never really builds up in intensity, while the floral notes are extremely strong and overwhelming. After swallowing this caramel I'm left with a taste similar to having chewed pink bubblegum for a few hours. It's not a pleasant taste, and the floral taste has burnt my throat.

This caramel was not enjoyable. Where was the strawberry?? I can just imagine the poor mum's that got saddled with this for Mother's Day. They probably hid it in the garbage when their kids' weren't looking. I guess Morinaga should stick to the basics.

Luckily this was a seasonal thing so I don't have to warn anyone off trying it. It's unlikely you will come across it, but if you do, buy at your own risk! And don't say I didn't give you fair warning. If you have tried this, let me know what YOU thought about it!

Collon Strawberry & Blueberry

When I picked up this box I thought it was Blueberry Collon. When I got it home I realised it's strawberry with blueberry mixed in. There is 9.2% strawberry juice, and 2.6% blueberry juice. Why the .2 and .6? Why not round it up to 10 and 3?

There are 6 packets in total in this box. That said, they are really small packets with only 6 collon pieces per pack. Just like the Cheesecake Collon, these are a waste of packaging, and a waste of money for only 24 pieces of Collon.

So why did I buy them? Curiousity about the flavour I guess. I like blueberry and I don't see it used in much confectionery.

The pieces smell very much like the regular strawberry collon. At the beginning there is the taste of strawberry which kind of blends into a light blueberry flavour, that ends with a tart strawberry tang. I quite like this in that the flavours of both berries are light, and blend together well. Each collon is finished off with that tangy burst at the end, which is nice. The outer shell is crunchy but easy to eat.

This snack is really easy to eat because It's not overly sweet and it has that satisfying crunch of the cookie on the outside. I wish there were more than 6 in each small pack though.

I guess these are really good for children's bento boxes in Japan or a small treat to carry in your handbag or such. The box can definitely made smaller and still fit all 6 bags in. I guess this is Glico's way of justifying charging more. I paid $4.95 for this box, compared to the regular size collon at $3.95.

あじわい苺 Strawberry Flavour Kit Kat

Ajiwai Ichigo simply means "the flavour of strawberry", ajiwai being flavour, and ichigo being strawberry.

I have seen a few incarnations of this bar, I think Nestle Japan release one every year. Most probably for those pink chocolate lovers out there.

The box is very pretty and so are the two little packets inside that contain the fingers. They have strawberries on a white background, very cute and sweet. It could have almost been a late Valentine's present.

The chocolate is very fake pink white chocolate, and there is a lovely smell of strawberry milk. I love the smell. However when I bit into the bar I got a very fake strawberry taste followed by a very sour ending. Yasu can't taste or smell anything, but he had a bit of this and said "something tastes sour!" so even with no taste he could taste that sourness. That's how strong it is!

I don't like this Kit Kat at all. It lacks depth of flavour and originality. I would have preferred it without the sourness. Strawberries don't really have that amount of sourness unless they're unripe. I don't think the Nestle team have put much thought into this Kit Kat, and I am disappointed. They did a lovely job with the presentation and packaging, how could they let us down with the flavour? I wouldn't buy it again. I like my Strawberries sweet and juicy.