Yamayoshi Hokkaido Rich Butter Potato Chips

 Hokkaido butter better than "regular" butter?

The Attraction

For awhile there, a post of mine that received a lot of traffic was a very early review I did of a D-Plus Hokkiado Cream bun. I'm not sure why, but it was up there in hits for awhile. Out of curiosity, I wondered if people out there just had a fascination with Hokkaido cream or anything related to Hokkaido. Now is my chance to find out.

The Review:
Aside from this experiment to see how much interest another Hokkaido flavored product would generate, this snack didn't jump out at me. I've already gone through my honey-butter phase (Calbee, Haitai, Calbee and Haitai), and although these chips don't advertise honey, they certainly let you know it's all about the butter...Hokkaido butter to be exact.

What's the big deal, you say? Apparently it is in Japan. Don't believe me, see here.

So with that pretext in mind, I was now super curious to see what these chips were about. Was it about the fans of butter in Japan or is this just a late comer to the S. Korean "butter" fad of last year?

Looks like regular chips

I open the bag of chips and there is no distinguishable scent or odor that presents itself. Perhaps a slight buttery smell, but hardly enough to notice. Like the other chips I mentioned earlier, these chips are not as oily as American made potato chips seem to be.

Chip meets mouth and it's a very casual affair. If not for the advertised flavor on the bag, it would not be clear what flavor exactly would these chips be. It's neither savory nor sweet or rather it's both, but subtly at the same time. The "Hokkaido butter" flavor of these chips does not grab you by the hand and says, "Lets dance!", but it prefers to talk to you while it slowly bobs it's head and the next thing you know you are surrounding by other people on the dance floor bouncing to the music.

In this case, I think adding "Hokkaido" to the butter description, is for marketing purposes as Hokkaido doesn't seem to create butter than has any substantial distinguishable flavor difference from conventional butter. I liken it to saying, "Wisconsin Cheese". So much for a new "flavor".

I'm no clearer what Hokkaido butter is

The Sweet:
Subtle sweet /savory flavor interplay.

The Bitter:
Maybe too subtle for snack lovers that like a definitive savory stance

Conclusion:
I can now see why / how the "honey" aspect of the honey-butter craze of recent memory was an important addition. It pushed those products closer to the sweet side and it set the expectation that the snacks would have some "sweet" elements to it. These Yamayoshi Hokkaido Rich Butter Potato Chips without the added honey are more agnostic in it's flavor. Like butter itself, it doesn't firmly set its foot down as savory or sweet, but rather it seems to thrive happily living somewhere in the middle.

Video of the Week 

This is not at all what I imagined it would be like

You like rice, I like rice, over half the world loves eating rice....but did you ever stop to think about how it's grown? Those poor ladies in the muddy fields slowly planting each rice plant by hand, day after day, all day long while the blazing sun is shining down upon them. Well, you are living in another century like I was, my friend. Welcome to the new world. Stay awhile.