Monday, January 30, 2006

KitKat Tsubu Ichigo and Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme

Here I go again with the KitKats. But this time I thought I’d give you a domestic comparison. It’s not exactly a head-to-head post, just two reviews in one.

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There are whole groups of folks devoted to the various iterations of KitKats and I have to admit I’ve fallen under the spell, too. I picked up the KitKat Strawberry a few weeks ago. It’s a very pretty bar, the Japanese version of KitKats are sold in a box that holds two individually wrapped minibars of two fingers each. They’re also quite a bit pricier. I don’t know how much they sell for in Japan, but $1.89 for a rather ordinary candy bar is kind of extreme.

Everything about this bar screams strawberry. The pink wrapper, the smell and the appearance of the bar. It smells like strawberry waffles or ice cream. The crisp is really good and has its own wheaty flavor. The cream between the cookie layers is also strawberry and the strawberry coating is very smooth. There is no cocoa butter in this concoction though.

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but American confectioners recently came to an agreement that you couldn’t call something White Chocolate unless it has cocoa butter in it. This is good news. While cocoa butter is a fat and contains oodles of calories, it’s considered to be neutral when it comes to our body’s cholesterol level. Cocoa butter is made primarily of three different fatty acids: Stearic Acid, Oleic Acid and Palmitic Acid. While these are saturated fats, they have a neutral effect on serum cholesterol levels. I’m not saying eat chocolate to keep your cholesterol down, but plant derived, natural fats may not be as bad for you as animal fats (like dairy and lard).

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I’m not usually a big fan of White Chocolate. I like misty mints, but generally white chocolate is just too sweet and bland for me. This bar has an overwhelmingly berry smell along with plenty of sweet notes and a touch of fake vanilla. I like it. I was really surprised, because I’ve been ignoring this bar for months, but I actually liked it. Once I started writing this and tasting it as I went along, I ate the whole thing.

The berry particles were actually there and give the white chocolate a definitely pink cast with little red bits. They weren’t as big as the berry bits in the KitKat though. They provided a little tart respite from the otherwise sweet and slightly tangy chocolate. It also reminded me of strawberry yogurt or maybe strawberry ice cream. But most Hershey’s chocolate reminds me of yogurt. The strawberry bits also include seeds. So you get fiber with your bar! (They don’t mention any fiber on the nutrition info but they do say that it has 10% of my daily calcium!)

On the whole the bars had a very definite berry taste that eased the usual sickly sweetness of white chocolate that I’ve never enjoyed. I also have a Hershey’s Raspberries ‘n’ Creme bar that I’ll review in a few days. Canada also has a Milkshake (Malt) version of KitKat I need to get a hold of.

Other reviews: Candy Is Awesome - Hersey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme had some disgusting children and Candy Addict has positive feelings - Strawberry & White Maple. I haven’t even scratched the surface with my reviews here of KitKats, check out Wikipedia.

Name: Kit Cut Tsubu Ichigo & Strawberries 'n' Creme
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Nestle & Hershey's
Place Purchased: Mitsuwa (Mar Vista) & 7-11 (Hollywood)
Price: $1.89 & $.85
Size: 1.51 ounces & 1.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 159 & 143
Categories: White Chocolate, Cookie, Japan, United States, Nestle, Hershey's, KitKat, Limited Edition

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:34 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. wow the strawberry kitkats look a lot like some types of strawbery pocky. mmm…

    Comment by jamie on 1/30/06 at 11:16 am #
  2. I got a milkshake kitkat at a local Target here in northern Utah, maybe you should look there.

    Comment by Chadd on 1/30/06 at 5:14 pm #
  3. Cybele's avatar

    Jamie - I haven’t tried the Strawberry Pocky yet!

    Chadd - good to know! I’ll give it a try this weekend when I make my next trek there.

    Comment by Cybele on 1/30/06 at 5:54 pm #
  4. I tried the “Strawberry Pocky with Dried Strawberry Bits” and it tasted a lot like a Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bar. Only not cold. I prefer the ice cream bar. I’ve tried some other pocky, and I’ve found it to be horribly overrated…

    Anyways, regarding the actual entry… I don’t really like KitKats, but Malt flavor sounds awesome, as I’ve always like the flavor of Malt.

    Comment by El on 1/30/06 at 7:12 pm #
  5. I’ve always had issues with white chocolate for some reason.  I either love it or hate it.  With strawberry in it I might be on board.  I think I’ve seen that Hershey bar somewhere so I’ll keep my eyes open and grab one.
    And I’m all about Kit Kat (no clue why) and will try anything they throw at me.

    Comment by William on 1/30/06 at 8:07 pm #
  6. I bought a couple of the Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Cream and I surprisingly liked it as well.  It’s kind of reminded me of Nesquik Strawberry Milk.  Maybe I thought I wouldn’t like it because it’s pink. 

    I’m such a colorist.

    Comment by Marvo on 1/30/06 at 10:48 pm #
  7. Cybele's avatar

    Marvo - it’s funny, Brian at Candy Addict said the same thing about Strawberry Quik with the KitKat. I don’t think I ever had Strawberry Quik, I grew up in an Ovaltine household.

    William - I hear you about White Chocolate, it’s always so sweet it gives me a sore throat. I’ve been rather drawn to the Green & Black’s white chocolate bar in the past but still haven’t taken the plunge yet.

    El - I should probably try these white chocolate/berry bars frozen! (I still have the raspberrry one.)

    Comment by Cybele on 1/31/06 at 10:56 am #
  8. dang it cybele, you scooped me. =) I was going to review the Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Cream this week… basically everything you said was right on. I liked this bar a lot because the strawberry flavor balanced out the white chocolate taste kinda nicely.  I was also surprised about the seeds as well… if you let a square melt in your mouth all the way you end up with seeds afterwards which is sorta weird but somehow satisfying?  And yes i was thinking strawberry quik as well! We had a lot of ovaltine too, but after my brother OD’ed on it by eating an entire glass jar of it (he got major rashes), that showed up less frequently in the cupboard..

    oh, also we got the hershey bar on sale for 34 cents at Target which is the reason was going to put it on cheap eats… might still review it though. =)

    Comment by Bryan on 1/31/06 at 9:31 pm #
  9. I haven’t seen these at Mitsuwa…I’ll have to swing by there tonight. I’ve been looking for the Sakura (cherry) version of these as well. Have you found them at any of the various Mitsuwa stores?

    I also recommend picking up the Valentine’s Day Cherry Kit Kats. So far I’ve only seen them in large-ish bags for $3, but they’re GOOOOOD. They’ve got pink-tinted white chocolate with a fairly strong cherry flavour.

    A friend just sent us some “Cool Mint” KitKats from Australia, and another sent us Strawberries and Creme from New Zealand. If you email me your address and I’ll send you a sample of each.

    Comment by Bruce Anderson on 2/01/06 at 3:30 pm #
  10. mmm. i loved the japanese strawberry kitkat.  it’s so unique!  i also found the milkshake kitkat at target (i live in georgia) and i thought of you when i ate it. weird, i know, but i’ve been reading your reviews for a while (i stumbled across your site while researching choxie) and i noticed your love of malty things.  you should enjoy the milkshake kitkat- it reminded me very strongly of whoppers.

    Comment by alliekatt on 2/01/06 at 3:59 pm #
  11. Cybele's avatar

    Dangit! I went to Target last night, alliekatt, and there were milkshakes to be had (and believe me, I looked in all the places they have candy).

    Bruce - I’m not really a fan of cherry things. I don’t know why, I think it has to do with the whole red dye = poison thing back in the seventies or perhaps too many medicines as a kid were cherry flavored.

    I am keeping an eye out for all the KitKats at the Mitsuwas, I was most interested in the wine ones, but I think I have a buddy who will send me some.

    Bryan - Marvo has scooped me before too. I also saw these last night at the Dollar tree. (Hershey’s not Japanese KitKats).

    Comment by Cybele on 2/01/06 at 4:04 pm #
  12. i know i’m coming late to the party but ... why’s no one giving props to the RASPBERRY & creme??? i liked it better than the strawberry cuz it wasn’t so head-on sweet - more “complexity”, i guess?

    meanwhiles, i found a milkshake kit kat (at - surprise - SuperT.) (and i hadn’t read your mention of it until just now so i was caught completely by surprise.) as the utah guy suggests, it appears to non-canadian. shall i send you one? being an active member of the Malt Fan Club, i’d love to get your decree

    Comment by tg on 2/03/06 at 6:43 am #
  13. Cybele's avatar

    tg - the Raspberries ‘n’ Creme review goes up today. I actually didn’t enjoy it quite as much. (As you’ll see.)

    I’m gonna try another Target this weekend and I think I’ll be successful there. (And of course stop at the faithful 7-11 that always seems to have the Lt. Edition stuff.)

    Comment by Cybele on 2/03/06 at 9:23 am #
  14. I found some Milkshake Kit Kats at the Target on Sepulveda in…I guess that’s Van Nuys? I really don’t know the lines of demarcation for the valley.

    I can’t say I care for them…the initial taste actually made me a little sick! They smelled great though.

    I also found some “Double Chocolate” Reese’s as well as some Caramel Reese’s. I haven’t tried them yet.

    I finally found some Tsubu Tsubu Ichigo Kit Kats at the Mitsuwa in Little Tokyo. $1.89 is a bit much, but these are SO good. I think these are my favourites after the Mint version.

    Comment by Bruce Anderson on 2/03/06 at 1:04 pm #
  15. Cybele's avatar

    Bruce - I’m gonna have a busy weekend now, trekking to Target again. I also picked up a Double Chocolate and Caramel (they were on sale). I was going to do a full post about all the different iterations of Reese’s at some point but I’m still missing two (fudge and peanut lovers).

    I’ll probably hit Mitsuwa again on Sunday since I’ll be near there.

    Comment by Cybele on 2/03/06 at 1:24 pm #
  16. I think i can translate part of ” KitKat Tsuba Ichigo ” . Kitkat:( obviously ) Kitkat . Tsuba : ???? . Ichigo : Strawberry

    Comment by Kisa on 1/21/08 at 5:46 pm #
  17. Now I’m going to the supermarket to have some (maybe one or two…) hershey’s bars!
    I eat chocolate almost every day since I was a child and I still prefer the white ones raspberry

    Comment by Amanda on 5/26/08 at 8:58 am #
  18. Where can I find these strawberry candies

    Comment by Loraine Perez on 9/06/16 at 7:22 pm #
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