The Best Japanese Chocolate and Cracker Snack Shaped Like a Mushroom
Perhaps the best use of two dollars, Meiji's Kinoko No Yama ("mountain mushrooms"), are found at even the most average Japanese market. The chocolate cap and biscuit-like cracker stem harmonize wonderfully. And the chocolate-to-cracker ratio is spot on. While the milk chocolate isn't great quality, similar to Glico's Pocky, there's something about the chocolate's density that offsets the cracker stem perfectly.
Don't be confused by other woodland-shaped chocolate and cracker competitors! There's the tree-stump snack, Bourbon's Kikori no Kirikabu ("chocolate and cookie snack") and the bamboo-shoot snack, Meiji's Takenoko No Sato ("village bamboo shoot"). These don't come close to Kinoko No Yama.
Who knows which came first, and, frankly, who cares. The chocolate-biscuit ratio in the tree stumps and bamboo shoots is way off. Too much cracker, people! And honestly, why tree stumps? Do people actually eat tree stumps? Or a whole mess of them? It makes no sense!
But desperate times call for desperate measures. When the chocolate-capped mushrooms are nowhere to be seen, I've caved and bought the bamboo shoots. And I can tell you, they are no substitute for Kinoko No Yama.
Deliciousness aside, I do sometimes wonder why they're shaped like mushrooms. And I am a little stumped. Maybe there's some kind of Japanese cultural significance in having snacks shaped like things found in nature, but my Western mind just can't wrap itself around that. Maybe the mountainous mushrooms have a cultural connotation with longevity? Good health? Wisdom? It escapes me, but I'm OK with that. Because they're really that good.
I find it disconcerting when food doesn't taste like what it represents—the hot dog gum that doesn't taste like hot dogs but fruit. Or those awful gummy hamburgers that taste nothing like a hamburger. It's deceptive because those gummy snacks are far from tasty. Now that I think about it, it would probably not be delicious if Kinoko No Yama did, in fact, taste like a fungus.
Nevertheless, how many foods out there expect you to activate a suspension of disbelief and actually reward you for it? Case closed. Kinoko No Yama are the best Japanese chocolaty cracker snacks.
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14 Comments:
Aww! they look so cute
FoodieCutie at 5:33PM on 01/25/08
I love these! The new Limited Edition Vanilla flavor is to die for!
CandyAddictSera at 5:43PM on 01/25/08
There's a vanilla? I must have them. there was a grape flavored edition last year a friend brought us from Japan, and it, too, was incredible.
beth1 at 5:59PM on 01/25/08
Ow wow, those are great! I wonder if they've got them at H Mart or Mitsuwa...
me3dia at 6:08PM on 01/25/08
I didn't realize they still made these. They were a much-loved part of my childhood. I remember thinking that it would be fun to make a forest-themed cake and use these for decoration.
Come to think of it, they might not be a bad alternative for meringue mushrooms on a buche noel...
thebasilqueen at 6:39PM on 01/25/08
These would be great on a buche de noel or gingerbread house. I had them at a friend's birthday party last summer and thought they were really fun. The Japanese really know how to do snack candies.
FigswithBri at 6:55PM on 01/25/08
i love these so much!
chrisfurniss at 7:01PM on 01/25/08
me3dia--they do sell them at mitsuwa. that's where i get mine.
beth1 at 8:17PM on 01/25/08
oooh... i remember a burger version from when i was a kid with a similar concept of biscuit bun and chocolate patty... yum!
onedaylingers at 8:04PM on 01/26/08
I got both the regular kind and the dark chocolate version (blue box) at Mitsuwa today. I found the milk choclate ones a bit too sweet for my Valrhona Guanaja-spoiled palate. The dark chocolate ones, however, are very good (even the biscuit stems are chocolate-coated).
cacao at 9:59PM on 01/26/08
@onedaylingers: do you mean these japanese burger chocolate biscuit snacks?
Raphael at 11:35PM on 01/26/08
This post took me right back to my childhood! I used to eat these at the train station, although Pocky was always my favorite - these had too much chocolate in proportion to the cookie for me. I love seeing them in the Japanese market though. And I just might have to try the vanilla!
ChiefFamilyOfficer at 12:04AM on 01/28/08
Raphael: i remember a different brand, but these look pretty similar =)
onedaylingers at 2:13AM on 01/30/08
H Mart in Baltimore has these exact same ones.
bmorecupcake at 1:59AM on 02/06/08