Meltyblend (Royal Milk Tea flavor)

Meltyblend (Royal Milk Tea flavor)

I've recently have been part of an unofficial snack club at work. Seemingly once a week a member brings in a snack for everyone to sample. This week when I was doing some grocery shopping, I came across this baby at my local Chinese grocery.

The Attraction
With a name like Meltyblend, I was already intrigued. Throw in "royal milk tea flavor" and an interesting square packaging and this box was quickly tossed into my shopping cart. I also have to disclose that I have previously sampled many Meiji chocolate products over the years and have been very happy with the result. So, I'm a little bias...

Review
When first opening the box, what's interesting to note is the individually wrapped pieces of chocolate. I guess with a name like "Meltyblend", its probably best that each piece be packaged this way. When opening my first piece of chocolate, I was surprised to find that the chocolate itself was partially melted. Now, I understand the name, but this is ridiculous! Anyway, I squeezed it into my mouth and it was OK. To be honest, I was so put off by the chocolate being melted, the flavor didn't even register. Perhaps that was just a fluke...a second piece would be needed immediately.

Take two: Ahh...better. This second piece, looked as advertised; a cube of chocolate that is reminiscent of a cube of sugar...except that it's made of chocolate. Upon tasting it again, the chocolate lived up to it's namesake; it melted quickly in my mouth. First, I noted how creamy the chocolate was (although all Japanese based chocolates tends to be creamier and smoother than their American chocolate counterparts). Shortly after, the "royal tea flavor" came through. The flavor the chocolate tries to emulate is essentially a "milk tea" or tea with milk flavor and it does so subtly.

The Sweet
Smooth creamy chocolate with hints of "milk tea" flavor. Nice "flip top" package design.

The Bitter
Pricier than other Japanese chocolate imports. Coming in at about $2.99, it's less likely to be your ever day go-to chocolate fix.

Did the flavor knock my socks off so much that I would I run out to the store to pickup this box again? Probably not, when you can score some other tasty Japanese chocolate bars for about a buck less, but if a member of the snack club brought in another box, I would happily take some and probably sneak some extra pieces to keep at my desk...

Jackfruit

Jackfruit

This go around, I cover jackfruit. Now, prior to this sampling, I didn't even know what the heck a jackfruit was or what it looked like.

The Attraction
I was in an Asian grocery store when the gf picked it up and started looking at it because she hadn't had any since she left Taiwan several years ago.Next thing I know, an older Indian gentleman started telling me how tasty it was. When I asked my gf what she thought of it, she gave it the ringing endorsement of " it's not bad". How could I refuse after a declaration like that...

Review
The picture above is one I found online and I had to use it because the jackfruit itself was sold in cross sections. I can understand why because it was going for about $4.29 a pound. I decided to hedge my bets and get the smallest piece I can find.

At first, the spikey-green exterior and the fruit bearing interior reminded me of a durian (another fruit found commonly in Asia). Thankfully there wasn't a smell like one.

Seems like the good parts you eat are the parts that look like bulbs with a pit on the inside. Peeling these "bulbs" from their sometimes "gluey" homes, took a little effort. Another thing I noticed when I pulled the fruit out, is that is was slightly "foamy" feeling in texture. Think like a piece of dehydrated apple ring that you might buy at the store. I'm not sure if that's just because I had an older jackfruit or if it's naturally that way.

First bite: The dehydrated apple ring texture analogy also translated to when you bit into it. It had the same type of feel. Flavor-wise, it had a sort of banana mixed with a little apple flavor to it. As I continued to eat it, I found myself wanted to try more because the flavor and texture combination was so foreign to me.

The Sweet
I enjoyed the flavor and texture of the jackfruit. It's also a healthy snack option.

The Bitter

At $4.29 a pound, this won't be at the top of my "snack" list, although if you think about it, many snacks lining the supermarket shelves aren't much cheaper. In addition, the availability of it also makes it a less likely to find treat.

If you are looking for a healthy snack option and are ok with the flavor of banana, but are tired of going to the "old stand by" fruits, you should give jackfruit a try.I know I would again.

Mint Moon Pie Crunch

On a recent road trip, I was excited to see signs for a Cracker Barrel along the highway. For me, the thrill of Cracker Barrels aren't the actual food they serve in there; it's the waiting area where they have hard to find assorted candies and snacks, so it was only natural that I pay it a visit. Upon my entry into the waiting area, I laid my eyes on this baby and knew I had to try it. Now, I have to disclose that about a year ago went on a mini Moon Pie binge and tried the Chocolate, Vanilla and Banana flavored pies when I came across a local deli that sold all three flavors, so it felt like "my density" (a la George McFly) to try this new variation of the Moon Pie line of products.

The Attraction

As a fan of Moon Pies, it was natural that I give this a go. 

Review

I am normally not a fan of mint, but because I loved Moon Pies so much, I was willing to look past the mint flavor to give this item a try. One of the things that struck me was how the packaging was different from the other "normal" Moon Pies. This was a two pack and the pies themselves were smaller.

Upon opening the package and sliding out a pie, I realized that this mint pie was much firmer than the pies I had sampled previously. Honestly, I could hardly wait to take a bite into it. (therefore the fuzzy picture)

My initial bite was surprising in every way possible, unfortunately, not in a good way. The first thought that occurred to me was how the "tops" and the "bottoms" of the pies were not soft like the larger pies; they were more like thin chocolate wafers. In fact, it wasn't until I was prepping this entry that I realized that the wrapper itself says "crunch" on it. The next thing was the mint filling itself. It wasn't the fluffy marshmallow-like texture that I knew and loved in the traditional pies. This filling was pasty.Think more like the filling of a York Peppermint Patty. I finished the rest of the pie in part because I couldn't believe how much I didn't like it.

The Sweet

The Moon Pie company continues to try to expand their product lines.

The Bitter

From the uncharacteristic crunchy outside to the disappointing filling, it's hard to find anything I did like about this snack.

What I came to love about the Moon Pie products were the soft flavored shells that enveloped the fluffy marshmallow filling inside, so for me, this snack was extremely disappointing. This item bared no resemblance to that winning combination. Unless you love York Peppermint Patties, but wish it had a crunchy wafer shell, I would skip this snack and save the calories on something else.