Thursday, January 8, 2009

Japanese KitKats: Yuzu & Red Bean Soup

Yuzu KitKatAs a huge fan of citrus, I was immediately smitten with Yuzu. Though they look like bumpy, ugly grapefruits they’re a bit more like tangerines.

I first experienced it in candy with the Yuzu HiCHEW and have eagerly consumed anything Yuzu I can get my hands on since. (And am considering planting a Yuzu tree in my back yard.)

So the Yuzu KitKat was enough to get me to place a pre-Christmas order with JBox. However, they were pretty expensive. $4.25 for 150 grams.

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These little minis are two short fingers in a package (66 calories).

They smell like tangerines, chocolate and Cheerios.

The chocolate is rich and creamy and the zesty notes of Yuzu, which include grapefruit, mandarin, lime and tangerine come across immediately. The crunchy and bland wafers give it a bit of crunch. Towards the end there’s even a little bit of a bitter aftertaste from the citrus zest.

One of my favorite Japanese KitKats ever.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Red Bean KitKatKitKat Oshiruko

Azuki beans are used to make many confections in Japan, including a thick and sweet paste filling for mochi and a dessert soup called Oshiruko. Oshiruko varies depending on where you get it, but the little picture on the box looks like a thin, sweet bean broth with azuki beans and a dumpling of mochi in the middle.

The first Azuki KitKat I had was a white chocolate version, so I was definitely curious to try the red bean and milk chocolate combo in the newest Limited Edition from Nestle Japan.

This is definitely the kind of KitKat that fits into my mantra of “open your mouth, expand your mind.” Before I started my candy obsessed website I was pretty content with my American and sometimes Italian candies. I stuck to flavors and combinations that seemed logical to me. Combining beans and sugar (besides perhaps molasses baked beans) didn’t seem very confectionery to me. But now that I’ve had a good amount of mochi and red bean caramels I can say that beans are a natural, earthy & textured base flavor for candy.

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This KitKat comes in the lovely box that is common in the Asian KitKats. Each little portion holds a two fingered KitKat. The front of this wrapper also has the new style of nutritional labeling that includes the calories right there - 110.

They’re glossy and pretty out of the mylar wrapper.

They smell like dirt. There are notes of freshly sawn wood, beets, caramel and rusted iron. It’s quite a different experience.

The bite and textures are the same as other KitKats. The milk chocolate is sweet and pretty creamy. The wafers are light and crunchy. The flavor is just as it smells - beets, charcoal, a hint of milk chocolate and butterscotch pudding. The Azuki flavor doesn’t quite make it in there, in fact, if I didn’t know that it was a red bean KitKat I probably would have guessed beets.

It’s not bad, a little bitter at times (which I don’t usually experience with other red bean items) but overall a tasty experience.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Related Candies

  1. Grapefruit Mentos (Japan)
  2. Japanese Black Sugar & Tropical Chews
  3. Candy Bites: The Sweet, Crunchy & Creamy
  4. Frey Supreme: White, Lemon & Lime and Citron & Poivre
  5. Niederegger Marzipan Orange
  6. KitKat Red Bean & Fruit Parfait
Name: KitKat Yuzu & Oshiruko
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: JList.com
Price: $4.25 & $2.20
Size: 150 grams & 80 grams
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, Cookie, Japan, Nestle, KitKat, Limited Edition

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:43 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I’ve heard so many rave reviews for the Yuzu KitKat. I wonder if I can still get my hands on some?

    Comment by Deb on 1/08/09 at 10:54 am #
  2. They smell like dirt.

    My mind will stay happily unexpanded for now, thanks.

    Comment by Liz/pdx on 1/08/09 at 12:12 pm #
  3. Another review here http://japanesesnackreviews.blogspot.com/2008/12/oshiroko-kitkat.html pretty much said the same thing…

    Comment by Sweet Pursuit on 1/08/09 at 3:31 pm #
  4. Sera's avatar

    The Oshiruko KatKat here is my favorite of all the azuki bean flavors to date.

    I sadly haven’t gotten my hands on the Yuzu one yet. Sounds so good! smile

    Comment by Sera on 1/08/09 at 5:00 pm #
  5. I loved the Yuzu KitKat (reviewed it myself here: http://japanesesnackreviews.blogspot.com/2008/11/yuzu-kitkat-mini.html), but, as Sweet Pursuit mentioned, was not a fan of the oshiroko one.

    You are far more gracious about the, er, “earthy” aspects of the oshiroko one. I really thought it was awful. I still have half of the bar sitting around waiting to spring it on some unsuspecting victim at some point. wink

    Comment by Orchid64 on 1/08/09 at 6:07 pm #
  6. Oh, no more yuzu kitkat on J-box! Must you torment me so? And I looove yuzu….I did buy some of that korean citrus tea-marmalade. That will have to do, then…

    Comment by Annemarie on 1/09/09 at 7:40 am #
  7. Woo more flavors to try, haven’t spot them around yet.

    Comment by (( K@Y )) on 1/09/09 at 4:14 pm #
  8. Wait, first you say: They smell like dirt. There are notes of freshly sawn wood, beets, caramel and rusted iron. It?s quite a different experience.

    and then: The flavor is just as it smells - beets, charcoal, a hint of milk chocolate and butterscotch pudding.

    So what happened to the dirt, freshly sawn wood, and rusted iron??  Either it tastes like it smells or it doesn’t. Stop taunting those of us who are looking for freshly sawn wood and rusted iron tasting candy - give it to us straight! :^) :^)

    Comment by Tricia on 1/09/09 at 5:11 pm #
  9. I`m sorry if you already know this but - Did you know they have KitKat Mini Watermelon, and KitKat Goldpack?

    Comment by Ren on 1/09/09 at 10:26 pm #
  10. Sounds worth a try.

    Comment by Jeanna on 1/10/09 at 7:45 am #
  11. Both of these sound amazing! I love yuzu as well, so I should check in the Japanese supermarket for these the next time I drop by.

    Comment by Zentastic on 1/10/09 at 9:46 am #
  12. Ooh, Yuzu. My roommate got some yuzu senbei from a friend, opened the package, offered me one, then promptly went on vacation. My self control where cookies are involved is legendary, but when she got back, they had mysteriously vanished.

    Comment by Bethama on 1/11/09 at 12:57 am #
  13. I am sooooo NOT trying those…I’m pretty sure kit kat wasn’t meant to taste like citrus.

    Comment by Alexia on 1/11/09 at 8:21 am #
  14. We are going to have to hunt these down. We are with you on the Yuzu.  We actually did just get a healthy plant for our backyard.  They can be a bit tricky to get to fruit, but the gentlemen at the Japanese nursery we bought it at gave us some hints.  We want to find the Yuzu HiCHEWS too.  Just found your site and love it.  Thanks for the diligent research.

    Comment by White on Rice Couple on 1/12/09 at 2:03 pm #
  15. There’s another yuzu KitKat, too, yuzu pepper! It’s really good.

    I also had the oshiruko one recently. It’s not my favorite of the red bean ones, but it’s pretty tasty.

    Comment by Grace Anderson on 1/13/09 at 12:37 am #
  16. My husband got me some of the Yuzu ones for Christmas, so now I am looking forward to trying them.  I also got the Limited Edition Soy Sauce flavor…I’m not sure how that’s going to be smile

    Comment by Angela on 1/27/09 at 4:59 am #
  17. I like the fact that they put out a lot of different ones, but macha was the best. I wish they would have kept it.

    Comment by japanese words on 4/12/09 at 10:14 pm #
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