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Tonight we are munching on a new snack fresh from Korea. Here on World of Snacks we already offer a decent size selection of the best chips from Korea, but we are always looking for more yummy treats to include. So will the Crown Caramel Corns Peanut Snack make the cut? Let's dive in and see.  It's the shinny red packaging that first caught our eye. The pattern is reminiscent of old school bags of peanuts at the circus, but it's updated and features a pair of pistol slinging peanuts - still in their shell of course. These fun characters have a Cap'n Crunch vibe, even though they are clearly cowboys (or cowpeanuts). If you are outside of the US, you may not be familiar with Cap'n Crunch Cereal. If that is the case, you need to get familiar! The Crown logo is barely noticeable along the top of the bag, and the main lettering reads "New CarmelCorns Peanut Snack & Peanut Caramel." Now we know what this Korean snack looks like - it's time for the taste test!  After struggling to rip open the bag you are greeted with a burst of peanut smell. It's an earthy aroma that is also noticeable while actually eating the snack. If you've ever stuck a shelled peanut in your mouth, it tastes kind of like that initially. It wasn't what I was expecting and I was a little put off at first. However, after the second piece, I could not get enough. The shelled peanut flavor is enhanced with caramel that is only really noticeable after you get over the first round of peanut flavor. It's a light caramel that tastes like a real high-quality honey. It's just sweet enough, and it's definitely not overpowering. The texture is like a Cheeto Puff, but firmer with a bolder crunch. After several pieces I was again reminded of Cap'n Crunch Cereal, which again is a good thing. So will World of Snacks offer Crown CaramelCorns Peanuts Snack for sale here in our international snack store? If we can find it in a smaller bag we will for sure include it in our selection of Korean Chips. The sample size we have for our tasting is too large to ship economically. If you are searching for this snack now, be sure to let us know - we might have a bag or two in our store. As always, keep on snacking!
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It's no secret, here at World of Snacks we absolutely love Japanese Kit Kats. In fact, we can't get enough. Not only are they among the first snacks to sell out on our website, we literally want to try every single flavor they offer. One unique flavor we have offered for quite some time now but haven't had the time to sit down and really enjoy is the Melon Mascarpone Kit Kat. There is no moment like the present, so let's review this imported treat.  So melon a flavor Kit Kat? Yup. It's not just any melon though. It's a particular melon that is from Hokkaido, Japan. From the packaging and the taste, we believe this mystery melon is none other than the cantaloupe. Which is great, we love cantaloupe! You know what else we love? Mascarpone cheese! If you haven't had it, this cheese is more like whipped cream than traditional cheese. Admittedly, we have not tried these two flavor together though. So how do they taste? We cannot tell you just yet.  For those who have followed our snack blog over the years, you know we look at the packaging pretty closely before we do the official taste test. Why? We love the packaging. Also, my personal background is marketing. But enough about me. Let's talk more about this Melon Mascarpone Kit Kat.  Where to start? Well, it comes in a bright green box containing 3 mini bars. For those in the United States, you'll notice the Kit Kat logo is preceded by a Nestle logo. That doesn't make sense here because Kit Kat is not a Nestle product, it's made by Hershey's! You may be surprised to hear that Kit Kat actually is a Nestle candy, in the states is only a licensing deal with Hershey, everywhere else it is indeed Nestle. The only other interesting quirk of the box is Hokkaido is shown. So if you are a geography nerd, you should really be excited. Chances are you are not and may not care about any of this. You just want to know how this Japanese Kit Kat tastes. You have waited long enough.  Melon Mascarpone Kit Kat is awesome. No really. The melon flavor is sweet and rich but somehow manages to remain subtle. The Mascarpone cheese rounds it out and really pairs well with the melon. It does not taste like anything else we've sampled, and it really excites us when we find something so unique.
If you are one of our thousands of customers and blog followers, you know we usually end with a determination if we will feature the snack under review in our store. If you were paying attention, you would know we already offer Melon Mascarpone Kit Kats for sale online. If you've read this far, you are too invested not to buy one. Order one mini bar or opt for the whole box. As always, keep on snacking world. Do you live Pringles? Many people do – to the tune of $1.5 billion in sales annually! Here in the U.S. they are a household name and boast 34 (yeah that's right) different flavors. However, that doesn't mean we have them all. One such missing flavor is Pringles Wasabi Nori. So you guessed it, that's our international snack under review.  Where do Wasabi Nori Pringles come from? So if you can't get this chip here in the U.S., where can you buy them? Well right now you'd have to travel all the way to Japan to try this unique treat. If we love them, we will change that and offer them here in the U.S. in our international snack store. So let's take a closer look and see if it's your lucky day.  Our sample of these Japanese Pringles came in a 1.88 oz can. It's mini in comparison to what we are used to, but it's not quite single serving size. Of course, Mr. Pringle adorns the green can, as does what must be a wasabi plant and a chip on top of a piece of seaweed. Oh yeah, there is also a mountain in the background. If it wasn't for the Japanese text and this bold flavor concoction you may think these are the American counterpart.  What do Wasabi Nori Pringles taste like? Well, they do taste like Pringles. The crunch is familiar, although once we opened the can we realized the shape is different. These Japanese chips are clearly rounder. The wasabi is muted. I personally was hoping for a zesty pop but other tasters said they enjoyed this amount of flavor. The nori, it was muted too. Both flavors were very subtle but I was thankful the seaweed wasn't overpowering. Overall we all enjoyed them. But did we love Pringles Wasabi Nori? Not really. However, we think they would be an excellent seller and they are good enough for our picky taste testers to munch on. So, hopefully in the near future you will be able to buy Japanese Pringles here at World of Snacks and have them shipped from our U.S. based store to anywhere in the world! Until then, be sure to check out all our great Japanese Snacks.
Recently we added a large selection of Kasugai Gummies to our international snack store. All the flavors have been extremely popular, but the Ramune flavor has been our best-seller. Being that we are fans of Ramune soda, we knew we had to sample this Japanese Snack for ourselves.  Wait, what is Ramune Soda?Before we rip this bag open we wanted to take a moment to talk a little more about Ramune Soda, as it's the inspiration of this snack under review. Here's what it looks like:  Look familiar? Probably not as it's primarily available in Japan. It comes in a very distinct bottle. When you open the soda you compress a marble into the top of the bottle. As you drink the beverage the marble rolls around. It's unusual, but fun. As you can see from above, it comes in a variety of flavors, just like Kasugai Gummy Candy. The snack we are tasting is based off the original flavor, which is a lemon soda. We may visit this unique soda on our snack blog again in the future, but until then let's get on with our review!  The Kasugai Ramune Gummy Candy comes individually wrapped. This makes it easier to share. Don't worry, sharing is not required. The packaging is pleasant and the light blue color is pleasing. So it looks nice, but how does it taste?  No my hand is not dirty, the gummy gives off a little shimmer. As it's a soda based candy, it made me think of carbonation. At first the flavor is bubble gummy. Shortly after the lemon soda kicks in. It's like a slightly sweeter Sprite or 7UP flavor that lingers for a long time. The texture is not chewy like many Haribo Gummy snacks. Instead it's firm at first with the ideal amount of bounciness. You can enjoy the snack in two chews. It's highly addicting and being individually wrapped is nice. It makes sure you don't eat the whole bag in one sitting! For those who have followed our snack blog over the years you know we generally close with a decision if we will stock the snack under review or not. However, this one is already for sale online here in our snack store. What are you waiting for? Go buy a bag right now!
If you've been following World of Snacks over the years you may have noticed it's not often we highlight healthy snacks. Why is that? Well, to be honest there are not a ton of healthy snacks that we really get excited about. However when Yuguo Farms contacted us and asked to sample their dried mushroom chips we did get excited, and here we are.  So why are we excited about mushroom chips? The truth is, we've never had any and as you can imagine, we love to take adventures in foreign food. These chips hail from Central China, the Dahongshan region to be exact. They come from certified organic farmers who do some pretty cool stuff: Oh yeah, they are also Non-GMO certified and 100% natural. So basically they are dried mushrooms with a little bit of natural flavoring. If you didn't watch the video above, you should check it out. It's a pretty interesting process. However, you didn't come here to watch a video about Yuguo Farms Shiitake Mushroom Chips, you came for a review!  First up is Yuguo Farms Shiitake Mushroom Chips Wasabi Flavor. In a second you will notice we also reviewed original but we couldn't wait to rip these open. Speaking of ripping, let's talk about the packaging before we devour this international snack. The colors are fun. They all have an organic earthy feel to them. The text looks interesting. But they are nearly impossible to rip open! So, be sure you have scissors or a knife available if you are trying these at home. Now back to the review. They are awesome! For dried mushrooms that is. I personally thought it was a strange item to casually snack on. So I took it to a group of 5 adult U.S. males. Only one person opted out of the test and all others seemed to enjoy them. What do they taste like? Mushrooms with wasabi flavoring. Duh.  Next up is Yuguo Farms Shiitake Mushroom Chips Original Flavor. So you think I am going to tell you they taste like mushrooms. Well, you are correct. There is seasoning on them, but it's mild. They are addicting. The texture starts out crunchy and they get's a little pasty. Unusual, but good. Several of the other testers did mention if they didn't see the snack they would think they were eating a traditional potato chip.  Now it's time for Yuguo Farms Shiitake Mushroom Chips Spicy Flavor. Although we went with Wasabi flavor first, spiciness is really the key to our hearts. So did Yugou Farms win us over with this healthy snack? I hate to say it, they did not. They want to be spicy, but they are not. The flavor is savory, think Instant Ramen Noodle flavor and yes there is a little kick at the end, but they are far from being truly spicy. However, like the other two flavors they are very enjoyable. Now the grand finale. Will World of Snacks offers Yuguo Farm Shiitake Mushrooms for sale here in our International Snack Store? Not yet, but maybe in the future. We enjoy them and we think you will too. However, we do not currently offer Chinese Snacks in our inventory. We have tested a few and they have done well. Snacks from China are on our shortlist and when we role them out these healthy treats will surely be included. Do you have a snack you'd like us to review? Contact us here.
Although we stock nearly 1,000 different snacks from around the world, something is missing. Any guesses? It's popcorn! Lucky for us, the folks at Takaokaya reached out and asked that we sample their brand new popcorn line, T-Pops. I used to live in England and popcorn isn't all that common there. When I did find some, it usually had sugar on it. For those living outside the U.S., it's mostly consumed with salt and butter and you can get it this way nearly everywhere. Well, that's the plain old way. Recently popcorn flavors have become wild and crazy with boutique shops opening up and offering anything they can think of. Some flavors are good, while a majority of them are a little gimmicky. (Think Dr. Pepper Popcorn).  So when our box of popcorn from Takaokaya arrived we were relieved to find a wholesome product with non-gmo kernels, no high fructose corn syrup, and zero trans fat. The flavors aren't that wild and crazy... in Japan! Being we are international snack experts, we welcomed these flavors and quickly moved onto the review process.  T-Pops Matcha Green Tea PopcornThe first flavor we sampled was Matcha Green Tea. Here at World of Snacks we sell a ton of great green tea snacks from Japan and we were very excited to give this unique flavor a go in popcorn format. Hands down this was our favorite flavor. The popcorn is crunchy like caramel corn. It's sweet, in a rich decadent way and it's rounded out with a creamy butter and earthy green tea. It's simply AWESOME!  T-Pops Curry PopcornCurry flavor popcorn? I lied above when I said "hands down" the Matcha was our favorite popcorn, because this one came in a close second. We eat curry a lot, like at least once a week. It's also the dish our friends ask us to make when they come over. So it goes without saying that we know our curry. We also know we love T-Pops Curry Flavor Tokyo Style Popcorn. It's savory and only mildly curry flavored, but it's enough to make this treat highly addicting. There's a chance this popcorn would be our favorite if it packed a little more heat.  T-Pops Salted Cod Roe PopcornMatcha and curry popcorn aren't that adventurous, but salted cod roe is! Or is it? The package had us intrigued, as salted cod roe is not a flavor we encounter often. I've had roe before, but not in snack format. So how's it taste? Buttery, salty, and a tad savory. It's pleasant and enjoyable. It's also not that adventurous.  T-Pops Sesame PopcornHey this package looks familiar. However, the flavor is definitely unfamiliar. At first we only read sesame, which doesn't sound that distinct. Underneath the giant "Sesame" it also reads nori and salt. Nori is seaweed and this popcorn flavor is a little too fishy for our taste. But we do sell a ton of seaweed snacks from Thailand, so we know many of you will enjoy it.  T-Pops Nori PopcornWe thought the last popcorn flavor was fishy, T-Pops Nori Flavor tastes like the ocean! At first the flavor was jarring but after a few kernels it became more enjoyable and hinted towards sushi, which we love! So there you have it. We just ate a ton of popcorn (we know you are jealous). Will we offer Takaokaya T-Pops Tokyo Style Popcorn in our international snack store? Chances are we will. The selection of flavors and the quality of the popcorn is unsurpassed. So check back soon and pick up a few bags for yourself! Update 6/16/2017: We've just received a limited supply. Order now why supplies last!
For those who follow our snack blog, you may realize it's been a few months since we last posted. That's because we've been scaling up World of Snacks! We've moved into a larger warehouse and will be adding even more exciting snacks from around the world in the near future! Another project we have been working on is our upcoming Subscription Snack Box. In order to prepare we've been doing a ton of research and subscribing to a bunch of boxes from a variety of businesses. Of course, we don't want to share our feedback on our direct competitors but one of the boxes we've subscribed to (that doesn't specialize in international snacks) arrived this month with a chocolate bar – so we thought it'd be fun to highlight it here on our snack blog.  The subscription box we are referring to is from Robb Report, a high-end publication (magazine) that I've enjoyed for years. Dubbed Robb Vices, each month a box arrives filled with a curated collection of luxury items. This month the box included our snack under review, the K+M Extravirgin Chocolate bar. If you look close, you can see it towards the bottom of the box.  K+M stands for Thomas Keller and Armando Manni. Mr. Keller is a the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide. So he's a pretty big deal. Mr. Manni is from Tuscany and has an equally impressive reputation for quality by producing antioxidant-rich, extra-virgin olive oils.  These two rockstars have joined forces to offer this snack, "a revolutionary extravirgin chocolate high in antioxidants." Typical chocolate bars loose most of their antioxidants when the bean is roasted. These guys worked with the University of Florence in Italy and developed a method for processing each batch of cocoa beans to best preserve the antioxidants, making a bar that boasts serious health benefits (which you can read about below).  So as you can see, this isn't your everyday chocolate bar. They've done their homework and did a great job packaging it all together. With a $15 a bar price tag, we wouldn't expect any less. Now, onto what you've all been waiting for – the taste test!  Some of you may have noticed, this bar is 75% Peruvian. This is the first single origin chocolate we've highlighted here on our international snack blog. So needless to say, we were excited to sample it. The chocolate had a nice satin finish. It was smooth, but not oily. It felt good, and it was easy to realize this was a high-end bar just by the touch (as if the packaging didn't give it away). It had an earthy aroma that only hinted toward a typical chocolate bar. The bite was firm and the chocolate crumbled nicely when bitten. The flavor was mild at first but slowly became more intense. It was slightly bitter and seemed to have a subtle sweet after-bite. The first few pieces had a unique olive oil flavor but it eventually went away with more pieces. So what does all that mean? Was it good? Yes! Well at least I thought so. We had two other tasters and myself and another enjoyed it (our 14 year old Director of Taste). Our third tester didn't appreciate the flavor. Overall it was an enjoyable experience and we are glad it was included in our Robb Vices subscription box. Will World of Snacks offer the K+M Extravirgin Chocolate Bar for sale in the international snack store? Maybe someday in the future. We do intend to expand our inventory to include high-end chocolate bars from around the world. However, we have much to do before we get to that point. So for now, check out these chocolate bars – we think you'll like them!
First up is the World of Snacks favorite, the Balconi Choco Orange. Why is it our favorite? Because it tastes like a chocolate covered orange dreamsicle. Not familiar? It's an orange flavored cream filled popsicle - and you should get familiar. Unfortunately we do not sell popsicles being that they will melt (as we ship them around the world), so you'll just have to order one of these instead.  Our second featured snack cake is the Balconi Mix Milk, and it's our second favorite of the bunch. This is also the only cake we are featuring made of chocolate cake. Who doesn't love chocolate cake? This version is also covered in chocolate and features a nice layer of milk cream.  Next up we have a classic, the Balconi Mix Max. Although it's a little more conservative than the others it is still a yummy choice. It also outsells the other cakes. It's a sponge cake, covered in chocolate, with a chocolate layer in the center. It's easy to see why everyone is buying this cake. It's not easy to see why you haven't ordered one yet.  Last but not least and my partners personal favorite, the Balconi Trancetto Chocolate. This version is a tiramisu rendition. It's not spot on tiramisu, but it's as close as you can get in a snack cake. It's multi-layered and delicious. So, you should buy a few.  So which is your favorite Balconi Snack Cake? Let us know below and check back soon as we add more delicious snacks from Italy and around the world!
Nearly everyone loves Doritos. In fact they are the number one selling Tortilla chip brand in the U.S. - and by a wide margin too. Here in the states there are a few fun flavors. Of course you have the classics, Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese. In recent years Frito Lay has also introduced some bold flavors in their Doritos Jacked line. What you may not know is that there are even bolder flavors offered elsewhere in the world. As you may have guessed by the headline of this article, we are taste-testing the Spicy Curry Doritos from Japan.  Here at World of Snacks we love curry. In fact, we eat it almost once a week for dinner. So when we found out there are Spicy Curry Doritos in Japan we knew we had to have them! However, we also knew it would be hard to write an unbiased review. So for this taste test we recruited twelve 25-40 year old American males whole live in the Southern United States. For those outside the country, Southerners love food but for the most part they are not adventurous eaters.  We started with a smell test. As soon as you open the bag the curry aroma hits you hard. Fortunately, all testers involved described this as pleasing. A few mentioned they thought it was foreign and unfamiliar, but none-the-less everyone was eager to try the Spicy Curry Doritos. So onto the taste test!
So will World of Snacks offers Spicy Curry Doritos for sale online in our international snack store? We are not sure yet. These are a limited edition flavor and they are very costly and difficult to get from Japan. Eventually we do plan to sell all the Japanese Doritos we can get our hands on but we are not quite there yet. Until then you can check out our current selection of unique and tasty snacks from Japan. We offer them for sale here online in the US with international shipping. As always, keep on snacking world!
At World of Snacks our mission is to locate the best snacks in the world and offer them for sale here online in our international snack store. When a candy company striving to offer the best lollipops in the world contacted us, we knew we had to give them a try. So tonight we are reviewing Original Gourmet Lollipops.  Original Gourmet offers 24 different flavors of lollipops. Although I was unfamiliar with this US based sweet company my 13 year old son already knew about these colorful pops. In fact, he even already had a favorite flavor. He also mentioned they last forever. My son is a regular taster and is actively involved in World of Snacks - so I thought it would be fun if he invited his younger half-brothers to join us for the tasting. Typically taste-tests are brief and to the point. However, with a treat that is sure to take a while to fully enjoy we decided to pair it with family game night.  The flavors we reviewed (as pictured) include Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy, and Birthday Cake.  I personally joined in on the fun with an Original Gourmet Party Punch Lollipop as well.  And the game of choice, The Simpsons Spoons Card Game. The "spoons" in this game are donuts, so it's appropriate for an international snack blog. So now the setting is set, let's end the epic build up and get on with our lollipop review!
So there you have it. All our tester agree, we are fans of Original Gourmet Lollipops. Typically we close our review with whether or not it's something we plan to add to our international snack store. However, this treat is already widely available here in the US and is also offered for sale on their website. So, right now we will not be offering these sweet treats for sale here online. So if your mouth is watering for a gourmet lolly be sure to check them out directly. As always, keep on snacking world!
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