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.

On our search to find the best snacks in the world and eventually offer them available for purchase with international shipping we have sampled a variety of unique items.   Our last snack review took us to the Philippines and we tasted a spicy chip known as Oishi Prawn Crackers.  Today we are investigation a sweet snack from Taiwan or officially the Republic of China (ROC).  

Our Taiwanese snack comes from the Jin Jin brand, which from what we can determine is owned by Jellico Food Company.  Jellico intruded themselves nearly 20 years ago with fruit jelly, or mini fruit gels as they are best known.  In addition to mini fruit gels Jin Jin, also offers creamy ice bars.  Our review today is for the Jin Jin Mango Coconut Jelly snacks.

Will World of Snacks stock Jin Jin Mango Coconut Jelly when we launch our international snack store early next year?  We are pretty confident this snack will be a part of our normal inventory, although we are not 100% sure to classify this tasty treat as Taiwanese or Chinese.  If you’d like a special coupon and to be notified when our online snack store launches be sure to leave us your details.

World of Snacks has been searching the globe for the very best snacks found anywhere. We've created this international snack blog to track our search for inventory that we will offer for sale in our foreign online snack store set to open later this year.  So far we've explored confectionery items from 27 countries.  With this snack review we are back in China.  On our latest Chinese snack sample we tasted an American owned snack (Paul Frank Mints) that is manufactured in China.  This review, we are hoping for something more authentic.

For our authentic Chinese snack review we opted for the Shih Fang Hsih Coconut Rolls.  If you are one of our many faithful international snack enthusiast you know this is the part of the review where we take a look at the company that manufactures the snack.  This review will have to be a little different.  There is absolutely no information on the Shih Fang Hsih company other than they are based out of Taiwan.  So that's all we really know.  Following the company details we typical dive into information about the particular snack that is being reviewed.  Well, not much information on the snack either. In fact, I was only able to find one other company in the world offering Shih Fang Hsih Coconut Rolls online, and they were no help.

So we are going in blind on this international taste test.  The packaging does inform us of what the snack is, although they did misspell "rolls" on the tab.  The background is milky and reminds me of noodles.  The design and logo are poorly constructed and overall this snack from China looks rather cheap.  Hopefully Shih Fang Hsih knows how to make a tasty Coconut Baked "Rools."

In our search for the very best snacks from around the world we are heading to China! Initially we thought we’ve uncovered a fun and playful mint from China but after our preliminary research for this snack review, we quickly learned, like many things made in China, this snack actually is produced by an American company.  So this week we are taking our international snack blog back home to the United States.

Our international-ish snack is a banana flavored mint licensed by Boston America CORP. The company specializes in creating high-quality impulse items that from first sight entice potential buyers to purchase them immediately.  Well, we have to say they are doing a very fine job, and that is why we are reviewing an American-Chinese mint!

Although Boston American CORP makes a wide range of unique and playful snack items I chose the Paul Frank Banana Mints because another love of mine (other than international snacks) is collecting fine art.  I hate to omit that my only interaction with Paul Frank’s company previous to inquiring the banana mints was researching an artist name Shag that I am a fan of.  Both artists have a similar style and have worked together on occasion.  As I write this snack review I can already tell I will be learning more about Paul Frank in the very near future.  For the purposes of this article, he is world famous and has a large international following.  Now let’s take a look at the Paul Frank Banana Mints by Boston American CORP.

As an impulse item it goes without saying, the packaging is over the top and very eye catching.  The tin is a shinny light blue and there is monkey in the center names Julius, who apparently has almost as large of a following as Paul Frank himself.  The tin fits in the palm of your hand and contains a ton of mini banana styled mints.  Now we know how the Paul Frank Banana Mints look, lets see how they taste!

If you had to guess, what do you think this snack tastes like?  You are right, BANANAS!  Other than the sexy packaging this treat is pretty straightforward.  They remind me of the mixed fruit hard snacks that used to be sold (and may still be) in quarter vending machines in building lobbies and other random places.  They are hard and sweet, but take a minute for the full impact to get in.  My test panel today consisted of myself and our 10 year old Director of Taste, and we both really enjoy them.  Our only debate is do you suck them and let the flavor build, or just chew through the crunch.  

Will World of Snacks carry Paul Frank Banana Mints in our upcoming launch of our international snack store?  Well, we may.  I imagine we will host a page of collectable candy tins and this one will need to be included.  We are not sure if it will be a full time inventoried item or something brought in on occasion or for promotional purposes.  We hope you enjoyed our review of these fun and tasty Paul Frank Mints.  If you haven’t submitted your e-mail yet to get our store announcement and coupons be sure to do so now!  Where in the world are we heading next?  You’ll have to come back later in the week and see for yourself!