Taco Bell is at it again. Their newest unholy abomination is the naked egg taco, which is a breakfast taco which uses a fried egg as the taco "shell." I'm a little late on this one, since it's been out nation wide since August 31st of this year. On Taco Bell's website, the taglines for this product are "What the shell?" and "The breakfast of your dreams."
The naked egg taco consists of the customer's choice of either bacon or sausage, along with seasoned potatoes, cheddar cheese, and nacho cheese sauce stuffed in the fried egg "shell." A cardboard stand helped keep this all together. I went with the bacon kind. It was rather greasy, not surprisingly. And, of course, despite my mocking of it, I really enjoyed it. I like all the ingredients separately, and combined into one worked just fine. It was a little awkward to eat, and looked strange, but the taste was very good. See my post on January 28, 2017 for more about Taco Bell's other weird creation, the naked chicken chalupa, as well as more information about the chain as a whole.
Since this post was a bit short I decided to also include a list of NFL players who went on to act, in television shows and/or movies. This is not a complete list, obviously. I left out players who just did cameos playing themselves, or who just acted in football-themed movies. I've included representative statistics for them as I could. Bear in mind that stats weren't kept as carefully in the past, even for something as obvious as tackles made. (Sacks, for example, weren't kept officially until 1982.)
1) Ernie "Fats" Holmes. Holmes played as a defensive tackle/nose tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots from 1972-78. He played in 84 games, with 58 starts. He also started for the Steelers in their winning teams in Super Bowls 9 and 10 (1974 and 1975 seasons). As an actor, he was in a 1986 episode of TV's "The A-Team," as well as a memorable turn as a bouncer fighting a vampire in the original version of "Fright Night" (1985).
2) Charles "Bubba" Smith. Smith played from 1967-76 with the Baltimore Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Houston Oilers as a defensive end/defensive tackle, playing in 111 games, with at least 55 starts (stats are incomplete). He recovered 4 fumbles, and was named to 1 All Pro team and 2 Pro Bowls. He also started for the Colts winning team in Super Bowl 5. He's best known for acting in 6 "Police Academy" movies (1984-89) as well as in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" (1990), and episodes of "Wonder Woman" (1978) and "Good Times" (1978).
3) John Matuszak. Matuszak was the first overall pick of the 1973 NFL Draft, and went on to play with the Houston Oilers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Oakland Raiders from 1973-81 at defensive end/defensive tackle. He started 106 games, played in 123, and recovered 7 fumbles, including one for a touchdown. He also won a Super Bowl as a starter, with the Raiders in Super Bowl 15. As an actor, he was in such films as "Caveman" (1981), "One Crazy Summer" (1986), and most memorably, as "Sloth" in "The Goonies" (1985).
4) Lawrence Taylor. Taylor played linebacker with the New York Giants from 1981-93, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He played in 184 games (starting 180), and intercepted 9 passes for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also recovered 11 fumbles and accumulated 132.5 sacks, good for 13th all time. He was also named to 8 All Pro teams and 10 Pro Bowls, and started and won 2 Super Bowls--22 and 25. On the big screen he acted in "The Waterboy" (1998) and the "Shaft" remake (2000), among others, and will be in the upcoming "Storm Cell", for which he both acted and co-wrote the screenplay.
5) Dick Butkus. Butkus was another Hall of Fame linebacker, who played with the Chicago Bears from 1965-73. He played in 119 games, and recorded 22 interceptions for 166 yards as well as recovering 27 fumbles, one for a touchdown. He was named to 8 Pro Bowls and 5 All Pro teams. In his second career, he was in "Brian's Song" (1971), "Mother, Jugs, and Speed" (1976), "Johnny Dangerously" (1984), "Gremlins 2" (1990), and "Any Given Sunday" (1999), among others.
6) Terry Bradshaw. Bradshaw quarterbacked the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1970-83, starting 158 games out of 168. He completed 51.9% of his passes for 27,989 yards, with 212 touchdown passes and 210 interceptions, for 7.2 yards per attempt and a total passer rating of 70.9. He also rushed for a further 2257 yards and 32 touchdowns. Most notably, he started and won 4 Super Bowls--9, 10 13, and 14. Highlights of his acting career include "The Cannonball Run" (1981), "Married with Children" (1995-96), and "Failure to Launch" (2006), for which he did a nude scene.
7) Matthew Willig. Willig was an offensive tackle for the New York Jets, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, and St. Louis Rams from 1993-2005, starting 43 of 153 total games. He recovered 3 fumbles, and played in Super Bowl 38 with the Panthers. As an actor, he appeared in such shows as "The West Wing" (2006), "Dexter" (2007), "NCIS" (2015), and films such as "Year One" (2009) and "We're the Millers" (2013).
8) Bob Sapp. Sapp is best known as a kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and pro wrestler, but he did manage 1 game as a offensive guard with the Minnesota Vikings in 1997. Among the movies he acted in were "Elektra" (2005), "The Longest Yard" (2005), and "Conan the Barbarian" (2011).
9) Carl Weathers. Weathers is another person better known for his acting. But he did play in 8 games with the Oakland Raiders in 1970-71 as a linebacker. Highlights of his acting career include turns in "Magnum Force" (1973), "Predator" (1987), "Action Jackson" (1988), "Happy Gilmore" (1996), and TV's "Arrested Development" (2004-5, 2013). However, he's best known for playing boxer Apollo Creed in the first four "Rocky" movies (1976, 1979, 1983, 1985).
10) Terry Crews. Crews saw action as a linebacker for the St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers, and Washington Redskins in 1991, 1993, and 1995, playing a total of 32 games. He accumulated 2 tackles and 1 assist. Some of his acting roles include "Training Day" (2001), "Starsky and Hutch" (2004), "Get Smart" (2008), "Bridesmaids" (2011), the 3 "Expendables" movies (2010-14) and TV's "Arrested Development."
11) Ben Davidson. Davidson played with the Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins, and Oakland Raiders from 1961-71 as a defensive end/defensive tackle. He was named to 3 Pro Bowls and 1 All Pro team, and won an NFL title with Packers in 1961. Among his acting roles were characters in "Behind the Green Door" (1972), "Conan the Barbarian" (1982), and "Necessary Roughness" (1991)
12) Bill Goldberg. Goldberg is clearly best known for being a pro wrestler, but he did have a brief NFLcareer with the Atlanta Falcons from 1992-94 as a defensive tackle/nose tackle. He started 1 out of 14 games, and accumulated 11 tackles. Highlights of his acting career include "Universal Soldier: The Return" (1999), "The Longest Yard" (2005), "Santa's Slay" (2005), and "American Satan" (2017).
13) Alex Karras. Karras played from 1958-62, 1964-70 with the Detroit Lions as a defensive tackle. In 161 games he intercepted 4 passes, and recovered 16 fumbles. He was named to 3 All Pro teams, and 4 Pro Bowls. Among his acting projects were roles in "Blazing Saddles" (1974), "Porky's" (1981), "Buffalo '66" (1998), and TV's 'Webster," for which he and his wife were co-creators as well.
14) Merlin Olsen. Olsen was a Hall of Fame defensive tackle with the Los Angeles Rams, playing in 208 games from 1962-76. He recorded 1 interception (for a touchdown), and 9 fumble recoveries. Incredibly, in his 15 years he was named to 14 Pro Bowls. Among his roles were turns in "The Undefeated" (1969) and on TV's "Little House on the Prairie" (1977-81) and "Father Murphy" (1981-83).
15) Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. Williamson played from 1960-67, with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, and Kansas City Chiefs as a defensive back. He was named to 2 All Pro teams and 3 Pro Bowls, and accumulated 36 interceptions for 479 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also was a member of the Chiefs in Super Bowl 1, after infamously talking a lot of trash before the game (and getting knocked out of the game, late). Among his acting roles were in TV's "Star Trek" (1969), and in films like "MASH" (1970), "Hell Up in Harlem" (1973), "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996) and "Vegas Vampires" (2007). I also learned he's written 12 movies, and directed 23! (I think that many/most of these were direct-to-video films.)
16) Fred Dryer. Dryer played with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams from 1969-81 as a defensive end. He intercepted 1 pass (for a touchdown), and recovered 20 fumbles, and played in 1 Pro Bowl. He also started in Super Bowl 14 with the Rams. Finally, he's the holder of the record for most safeties scored in a game, with 2, versus the Green Bay Packer in 1973. Acting highlights include roles in "Cannonball Run 2" (1984) and on television shows like "CHiPs" (1982), "Cheers" (1982-87), "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (2015), and being the star of "Hunter" (1984-91)
17) Ed Marinaro. Marinaro played for the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, and Seattle Seahawks from 1972-77 at running back. He rushed for 1319 yards and 6 touchdowns, and accumulated 1176 receiving yards and 7 more touchdowns. He started 30 out of 58 games. He played for the Vikings in Super Bowl 8 (and possibly 9, the records are incomplete). Acting highlights were roles in "Queens Logic" (1991), and on TV's "Laverne and Shirley" (1980-81), and a starring role in "Hill Street Blues" (1981-86).
18) Lyle Alzado. Alzado played defensive end/defensive tackle from 1971-85 with the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns, and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He started 195 out of 196 total games, and was named to 2 All Pro teams and 2 Pro Bowls. He recovered 20 fumbles (with 1 touchdown), and started in 2 Super Bowls--12 with the Broncos (loss), and 18 with the Raiders (win). On the screen, he appeared in such films as "Ernest Goes to Camp" (1987), "Tapeheads" (1988), and "Destroyer" (1988).
19) Rosey Grier. Grier's NFL career lasted from 1955-66, with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, as a defensive end/defensive tackle. He played in 141 games and recovered 13 fumbles, and was named to 1 All Pro team and 2 Pro Bowls. He acted in such films as "In Cold Blood" (1967) "The Thing With Two Heads" (1972), "Rabbit Test" (1978) and TV's "The Simpsons" (1999). ("The Things With Two Heads" is about a bigot (Ray Milland) who's surgically grafted onto the same body with Rosey Grier's character. See Google Images, (or the film itself) for amusing photos.)
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Blossom Water
A couple of months ago I was wandering around Wegman's when I beheld something called Blossom Water. To quote the bottle, this product is, "Water inspired by Nature. Pure water infused with natural fruit & flower essences, lightly sweetened and finished with natural colors. Blossom Water is a healthy beverage that is uniquely flavorful and aromatic. We think you'll find it refreshingly sophisticated." So how could I resist a pitch like that? They had three kinds for sale, so I snatched them all up. Specifically, I got the plum jasmine, the grapefruit lilac, and pomegranate geranium.
The company website (drinkblossomwater.com) contained quite a bit of info. Many testimonials about how people loved them. Even an excellent review from the Today Show's Food Trends Editor (yes, that's a real title, and job) Phil Lempert. Evidently, business is booming. Blossom Water is listed as being available in 35 U.S. States, including the Northeast, Mid Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountains, Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest. So about everywhere except parts of the Great Plains and Alaska and Hawaii, apparently. It's also sold in Ontario, Canada. Aside from Wegman's, other huge supermarket chains which carry it are Whole Foods and Kroger.
Founder/CEO Steve Fortuna was (and presumably still is) an avid gardener, and while doing this at his home in the Berkshires, Massachusetts, he came up with the idea of adding flower and fruit essences to water. He took further inspiration from historic examples, such as rose water (which dates back to the 9th Century) and adding jasmine to green tea (as they've been doing in China for at least 1000 years). Together with his wife, Trish, he began experimenting with various flowers and fruits, until he came up with several combos he found winning. (Currently, along with the three I tried, there's also a lemon rose flavor.) As the site explains, the key is using steam distillation to get the flower and fruit essences, rather than using "natural flavors," or other commonly occurring flavor sources that mimic flower and fruit flavors. The company is also staunchly anti-sugar (a recent post on its blog around Halloween was about sugar's alleged link to depression). Instead they use erythritol as a sweetener. This is a naturally occurring sweetener found in fruits like grapes, watermelon, and pears. The folks at Blossom Water claim that erythritol is superior to stevia (with its alleged bitter aftertaste), and other sugar substitutes, although it is costly to derive. They also use agave (more on that in my September 13, 2015 post). Furthermore, this product is Non-GMO verified, gluten-free, kosher, and vegan. Surprisingly, it's not organic, however. The Fortunas began marketing their drinks in 2013.
After all this buildup, the natural question is, how were they? Here's what I thought. All of these came in 16 ounce (474 ml.) glass bottles, and cost between 1-2 dollars each.
1) Blossom Water, grapefruit and lilac flavor. Purple in color. Weird flavor--not that strong, and not that tasty. (Although it's true I don't like grapefruit at all.) Also has blue agave in it. Disappointing overall.
2) Blossom Water, pomegranate geranium flavor. Red color. As with the first, not a strong taste. Maybe a hint of pomegranate. Not very good or refreshing. Almost made me thirstier. Not a fan.
3) Blossom Water, plum jasmine flavor. Purple color again. Also has blue agave. Once again kind of weak, bland taste. Not bad, but not very flavorful. Wouldn't buy again. Not worth it.
Therefore, I feel a little like a jerk for saying so, but I really didn't like these Blossom Waters, and won't buy them again (or try the one I didn't have, the lemon rose one). The Blossom Water people seem like nice folks, with good intentions, but the end result I found disappointing, to say the least. Maybe my palate is provincial.
The company website (drinkblossomwater.com) contained quite a bit of info. Many testimonials about how people loved them. Even an excellent review from the Today Show's Food Trends Editor (yes, that's a real title, and job) Phil Lempert. Evidently, business is booming. Blossom Water is listed as being available in 35 U.S. States, including the Northeast, Mid Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountains, Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest. So about everywhere except parts of the Great Plains and Alaska and Hawaii, apparently. It's also sold in Ontario, Canada. Aside from Wegman's, other huge supermarket chains which carry it are Whole Foods and Kroger.
Founder/CEO Steve Fortuna was (and presumably still is) an avid gardener, and while doing this at his home in the Berkshires, Massachusetts, he came up with the idea of adding flower and fruit essences to water. He took further inspiration from historic examples, such as rose water (which dates back to the 9th Century) and adding jasmine to green tea (as they've been doing in China for at least 1000 years). Together with his wife, Trish, he began experimenting with various flowers and fruits, until he came up with several combos he found winning. (Currently, along with the three I tried, there's also a lemon rose flavor.) As the site explains, the key is using steam distillation to get the flower and fruit essences, rather than using "natural flavors," or other commonly occurring flavor sources that mimic flower and fruit flavors. The company is also staunchly anti-sugar (a recent post on its blog around Halloween was about sugar's alleged link to depression). Instead they use erythritol as a sweetener. This is a naturally occurring sweetener found in fruits like grapes, watermelon, and pears. The folks at Blossom Water claim that erythritol is superior to stevia (with its alleged bitter aftertaste), and other sugar substitutes, although it is costly to derive. They also use agave (more on that in my September 13, 2015 post). Furthermore, this product is Non-GMO verified, gluten-free, kosher, and vegan. Surprisingly, it's not organic, however. The Fortunas began marketing their drinks in 2013.
After all this buildup, the natural question is, how were they? Here's what I thought. All of these came in 16 ounce (474 ml.) glass bottles, and cost between 1-2 dollars each.
1) Blossom Water, grapefruit and lilac flavor. Purple in color. Weird flavor--not that strong, and not that tasty. (Although it's true I don't like grapefruit at all.) Also has blue agave in it. Disappointing overall.
2) Blossom Water, pomegranate geranium flavor. Red color. As with the first, not a strong taste. Maybe a hint of pomegranate. Not very good or refreshing. Almost made me thirstier. Not a fan.
3) Blossom Water, plum jasmine flavor. Purple color again. Also has blue agave. Once again kind of weak, bland taste. Not bad, but not very flavorful. Wouldn't buy again. Not worth it.
Therefore, I feel a little like a jerk for saying so, but I really didn't like these Blossom Waters, and won't buy them again (or try the one I didn't have, the lemon rose one). The Blossom Water people seem like nice folks, with good intentions, but the end result I found disappointing, to say the least. Maybe my palate is provincial.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Mexican Chips
We're heading back to the Western Hemisphere for this week's post, to Mexico. I managed to procure three types of tortilla chips--guacamole, crunchy fajita, and nitro flavors. Each came in a 280 gram (9.9 ounce) bag, and cost about $3 each.
These chips were all from the Takis line, made by Barcel. Barcel has been around since 1978, and is an American exporting brand of the overall Grupo Bimbo company. Bimbo is monstrously huge. It had 129,000 employees, 165 manufacturing plants, recent annual revenues of 14.1 billion dollars, and exports to 32 countries, including most of the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. This company was started back in 1945, by Lorenzo Servitje, Jaime Sendra, Jaime Jorbal, Alfonso Velasco, and Jose Mata. The exact derivation of the name is a bit mysterious. The most prevalent explanation is that it is a combination of the words "bingo" and "Bambi" (the Disney movie was very popular at the time). The website notes that by a happy coincidence bimbo is also a common Italian term for children, is similar to the Hungarian word for "bud," and that's its Chinese phoneme is close to the Chinese world for "bread." (Left unsaid was that here in the U.S. "bimbo" has negative connotations, being a slang term for a woman of, shall we say, low moral character.) Bimbo's corporate mascot is a polar bear wearing an apron and a chef's hat, carrying a loaf of bread. I don't find this choice weird--lots of companies and sports teams, etc., use a bear as a logo, but I do find their stated reasons for this odd. It's said that the polar bear was chosen for its "tenderness" and "neatness," among other things. When I see footage of a real life polar bear bloodily tearing up a seal these descriptive words aren't what springs to mind. Moving on, Grupo Bimbo is billed as the world's largest bakery company. Other flavors of Takis include Fuego, Salsa Brava, Original, Cobra, and Explosion.
Now on to my reactions to each.
1) Takis guacamole flavor. These are thin rod shapes, about 7 cm (about 2.75 inches) long by .5 cm (about .25 inch) wide. They were yellow in color, covered in green powder. They tasted like corn, unsurprisingly, with a slight guacamole flavor. Pretty good. These had a "mild" one bar out of four, spiciness rating. They were a solid chip-like snack.
2) Takis crunchy fajita flavor. Same size and shape as guacamole kind. Yellow color, this time with a reddish-orange powder covering. They looked like rolled up nacho cheese Doritos. Had a heavy corn taste. Some bite, but not as much as I expected, given their two bar "hot" rating. Alright, but a little tame. Not as good as the guacamole ones.
3) Takis nitro flavor. Again, same size and shape as the others. Their spiciness rating was 3 out of four bars, or "very hot." These were a deep red color, with a red powder. These were noticeably spicier than the others, but not blazing. I could definitely taste the lime and habanero flavors. I preferred these to the crunchy fajita kind, but not as much as the guacamole ones. So solid overall. The spice did build up as I kept eating (I was a pig and scarfed down the entire bag in one sitting).
All in all, then, I came away fairly impressed by Takis. They ranged from decent to good, and I think I will buy them again if/when I get the chance. I'm especially eager to try the Cobra flavored ones, if for no other reason than to find out what flavor the world's largest venomous snake has. Also, similar to Cheese Doodles, et. al., all of these Takis were a bit messy to eat--your fingers will be coated in powder afterwards. Finally, if anyone is interested, you can watch multiple challenge videos on YouTube wherein consumers eat the spicier flavors of Takis while avoiding drinking water, or milk, or other things to relieve the burn in their mouths.
These chips were all from the Takis line, made by Barcel. Barcel has been around since 1978, and is an American exporting brand of the overall Grupo Bimbo company. Bimbo is monstrously huge. It had 129,000 employees, 165 manufacturing plants, recent annual revenues of 14.1 billion dollars, and exports to 32 countries, including most of the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. This company was started back in 1945, by Lorenzo Servitje, Jaime Sendra, Jaime Jorbal, Alfonso Velasco, and Jose Mata. The exact derivation of the name is a bit mysterious. The most prevalent explanation is that it is a combination of the words "bingo" and "Bambi" (the Disney movie was very popular at the time). The website notes that by a happy coincidence bimbo is also a common Italian term for children, is similar to the Hungarian word for "bud," and that's its Chinese phoneme is close to the Chinese world for "bread." (Left unsaid was that here in the U.S. "bimbo" has negative connotations, being a slang term for a woman of, shall we say, low moral character.) Bimbo's corporate mascot is a polar bear wearing an apron and a chef's hat, carrying a loaf of bread. I don't find this choice weird--lots of companies and sports teams, etc., use a bear as a logo, but I do find their stated reasons for this odd. It's said that the polar bear was chosen for its "tenderness" and "neatness," among other things. When I see footage of a real life polar bear bloodily tearing up a seal these descriptive words aren't what springs to mind. Moving on, Grupo Bimbo is billed as the world's largest bakery company. Other flavors of Takis include Fuego, Salsa Brava, Original, Cobra, and Explosion.
Now on to my reactions to each.
1) Takis guacamole flavor. These are thin rod shapes, about 7 cm (about 2.75 inches) long by .5 cm (about .25 inch) wide. They were yellow in color, covered in green powder. They tasted like corn, unsurprisingly, with a slight guacamole flavor. Pretty good. These had a "mild" one bar out of four, spiciness rating. They were a solid chip-like snack.
2) Takis crunchy fajita flavor. Same size and shape as guacamole kind. Yellow color, this time with a reddish-orange powder covering. They looked like rolled up nacho cheese Doritos. Had a heavy corn taste. Some bite, but not as much as I expected, given their two bar "hot" rating. Alright, but a little tame. Not as good as the guacamole ones.
3) Takis nitro flavor. Again, same size and shape as the others. Their spiciness rating was 3 out of four bars, or "very hot." These were a deep red color, with a red powder. These were noticeably spicier than the others, but not blazing. I could definitely taste the lime and habanero flavors. I preferred these to the crunchy fajita kind, but not as much as the guacamole ones. So solid overall. The spice did build up as I kept eating (I was a pig and scarfed down the entire bag in one sitting).
All in all, then, I came away fairly impressed by Takis. They ranged from decent to good, and I think I will buy them again if/when I get the chance. I'm especially eager to try the Cobra flavored ones, if for no other reason than to find out what flavor the world's largest venomous snake has. Also, similar to Cheese Doodles, et. al., all of these Takis were a bit messy to eat--your fingers will be coated in powder afterwards. Finally, if anyone is interested, you can watch multiple challenge videos on YouTube wherein consumers eat the spicier flavors of Takis while avoiding drinking water, or milk, or other things to relieve the burn in their mouths.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Japanese Gummy Candies
This time Wegman's supermarket provided 3 flavors of Japanese gummy candy--cola, Ramune soda, and melon. They were all from the Puchao brand, manufactured by UHA Mikakuto Co., Ltd.
Trying to learn more about the Mikakuto company was a little difficult at first, and simultaneously entertaining. That's because the first company website I came across was, unsurprisingly, in Japanese. There was a "translate page" option, but I soon found out this translation was limited. Only some passages were translated into English, and even these often used comical grammar and phrasing. I don't want to come across as being ethnocentric--no doubt American websites translated into other languages also sometimes have stilted, awkward sentences and funny errors, too. But I did notice this about the website, all the same. Some of the product descriptions were a bit amusing too, possibly due to more cultural differences, or poor translations. The ninja meat candy flavor was actually cola-flavored, and the tagline was, "You shall satisfy your hunger with hard garbage which chews up." And one flavor was "bastard gummy yogurt." Eventually I was able to locate another version of the company website which was a much better, and complete English language translation. One of Mikakuto's slogans is "Deliciousness is gentleness." With the notable exception of the "violent shigekicker extreme stimulant lemon candy," apparently. The UHA in the company name stands for "Unique Human Adventure," and Mikakuto started back in 1949.
But on to the ratings. Each pack contained 10 individually-wrapped pieces, which were about 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) by 1.5 cm (about .65 inches).
1) Puchao gummy soft candy, melon flavor. White on the outside, with a yellowish-orange center. Very chewy gummy. Reminded me a bit of Hi-Chew (see November 2, 2016 post), but better than that. Not that great, though, less than average. But to be fair I'm not a bit fan of melons, or their flavors, in general.
2) Puchao gummy soft candy, Ramune soda flavor. Continuing the soda theme, this one contained embedded "fizzy tablets" to mimic the carbonation of a soft drink. This candy was also white on the outside, with blue stripes. The only textural difference I noted was it was even more chewy and taffy-like than the melon variety. I didn't notice any carbonation-like effects. It was fruity, and pretty good.
3) Puchao gummy soft candy, cola flavor. As with the Ramune one, this kind also had the fizzy feature. Which once again went unnoticed by me. The candies were brown and white. Rather like the ramune one, the cola flavor was solid, and decent. I like cola sodas okay, so that probably helped my impression.
Overall, then, these Puchao gummies ranged from less than average to slightly above average. Better, certainly than their Hi-Chew neighbors, but not exceptional. I might try other flavors of Puchao gummies, or other Mikakuto candies, but I don't think I'll buy these particular kinds again.
Trying to learn more about the Mikakuto company was a little difficult at first, and simultaneously entertaining. That's because the first company website I came across was, unsurprisingly, in Japanese. There was a "translate page" option, but I soon found out this translation was limited. Only some passages were translated into English, and even these often used comical grammar and phrasing. I don't want to come across as being ethnocentric--no doubt American websites translated into other languages also sometimes have stilted, awkward sentences and funny errors, too. But I did notice this about the website, all the same. Some of the product descriptions were a bit amusing too, possibly due to more cultural differences, or poor translations. The ninja meat candy flavor was actually cola-flavored, and the tagline was, "You shall satisfy your hunger with hard garbage which chews up." And one flavor was "bastard gummy yogurt." Eventually I was able to locate another version of the company website which was a much better, and complete English language translation. One of Mikakuto's slogans is "Deliciousness is gentleness." With the notable exception of the "violent shigekicker extreme stimulant lemon candy," apparently. The UHA in the company name stands for "Unique Human Adventure," and Mikakuto started back in 1949.
But on to the ratings. Each pack contained 10 individually-wrapped pieces, which were about 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) by 1.5 cm (about .65 inches).
1) Puchao gummy soft candy, melon flavor. White on the outside, with a yellowish-orange center. Very chewy gummy. Reminded me a bit of Hi-Chew (see November 2, 2016 post), but better than that. Not that great, though, less than average. But to be fair I'm not a bit fan of melons, or their flavors, in general.
2) Puchao gummy soft candy, Ramune soda flavor. Continuing the soda theme, this one contained embedded "fizzy tablets" to mimic the carbonation of a soft drink. This candy was also white on the outside, with blue stripes. The only textural difference I noted was it was even more chewy and taffy-like than the melon variety. I didn't notice any carbonation-like effects. It was fruity, and pretty good.
3) Puchao gummy soft candy, cola flavor. As with the Ramune one, this kind also had the fizzy feature. Which once again went unnoticed by me. The candies were brown and white. Rather like the ramune one, the cola flavor was solid, and decent. I like cola sodas okay, so that probably helped my impression.
Overall, then, these Puchao gummies ranged from less than average to slightly above average. Better, certainly than their Hi-Chew neighbors, but not exceptional. I might try other flavors of Puchao gummies, or other Mikakuto candies, but I don't think I'll buy these particular kinds again.
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