japanese candy friday: pucchoko ichigo (giant jeans parlor!)

It's no secret I love anthropomorphized food characters. I have a special fondness for a certain grumpy-faced radish named Aokubi Daikon. I possess a postcard featuring an angry egg furiously demonstrating how you can turn him into an omelette. And I will buy a candy merely because its mascot is a strawberry wearing a chocolate-brown coat whose best friend is a tiny bottle of milk wearing a scarf. So sue me.

That's not the only reason to buy Pucchoko Ichigo, though. The other is this Japanese candy rarity: the taste actually lives up to the packaging. I already knew I liked Puccho, milky-fruity chews with a rubbery yet yielding texture and reliably appealing packaging. What I didn't know was that dipping a strawberry-flavored Puccho in chocolate would increase both its flavor and cuteness appeal exponentially. Sinking your teeth through the chocolate layer into the chewy strawberry center is a satisfying candy-biting experience on par with eating Kinako-mochi Choco, made even better by gazing at the package while you do it.

Ichigo-chan ga tottemo oishii miruku-chokoretto no kouto wo kimashita. "Little Miss Strawberry put on a simply delicious milk chocolate coat." How can you resist that?

All the pieces are individually wrapped, half of them in packages featuring Ichigo-chan eating a piece of Pucchoko. I love it when food characters are eating one of their brethren. Does that make me a closeted cannibal?

I've already polished off all the pieces in the package and am planning a return trip to the conbini where I bought this -- and soon! Pucchoko Ichigo is a seasonal, limited edition candy. So sad. But there is an almond Pucchoko to try and the Apple-Cinnamon and Custard Cream Puccho flavors sound strangely intriguing. While I know "strangely intriguing" is rarely synonymous with "simply delicious," I still have hope.

(See more Puccho/Pucchoko flavors here. Okay, and one more thing! Look at this amazing page of downloadable Puccho wallpapers, screensavers and notepaper! Ichigo-chan is already on my desktop.)

Comments (12)

mmmmm, the custard creme one looks really good! these are the fridays that i wish there was someplace i could get these candies near me!

Posted by gleek | February 23, 2007 10:04 PM

That is amazingly cute.

Posted by rachel | February 24, 2007 12:52 AM

Oh, that IS the sweetest candy. Inspired by you I tried out a lot of candy during my recent visit to Thailand. Not like you I kept my findings to myself.. I guess I simply forgot to photograph the candy and I can't imagine a candy review without the photos!

Posted by Malin | February 24, 2007 12:58 AM

Oooohhhh, man, I wants some of those! Yum!!

Posted by Sera | February 24, 2007 2:12 AM

Thanks for the link. I've got one of the wallpapers up on my computer right now.

Posted by sara | February 24, 2007 2:15 AM

Those look very yummy, I still have a few of the grape ones and I totally love them, because of that super fruity flavor, I'm sure these new ones taste even better

Posted by Denise | February 24, 2007 7:06 AM

oh, this is just genius! can't wait til next friday :)

Posted by craftychamploo | February 24, 2007 10:23 AM

agh! yum!

Posted by sonya | February 24, 2007 6:26 PM

Please, please bite it in half! I'd love to see how it really looks like -- the packaging is such a tease! :)

Posted by Amy | February 24, 2007 6:51 PM

Have you tried the Suppa Puccho ones as well? I love sour things, so those are definitely my favorite. The aloe flavor is pretty good, too, though.

Posted by Erin | February 25, 2007 1:27 AM

I wanna go look for some too! Peach and pumpkin kitkat!!! :))) But I'm not sure if they have it here in Singapore. :(

Posted by jo | February 25, 2007 1:37 AM

this is one of my favorite posts ever.