Japanese Peanut Snack, Choco Ball- Is This M&M™’s Distant Cousin?

The mascot for today’s candy, Choco Ball, is a famous critter in Japan who’s gotten some anime face time on the series Gantz. Remember the creepy bird alien from the series? Yeah, that guy is inspired by this guy, Kyoro-chan.

Morinaga is the company responsible for the odd bird mascot thingie, and the products it fronts: Choco Ball Peanut, Choco Ball Strawberry and Choco Ball Caramel. Morinaga also produces the perennial favorite, Hi-Chew, among other tasty goods.

Choco Ball!

Morinaga doesn’t get much review time here on the site since they don’t pimp their goods in St. Louis nearly as much as Meiji and Glico do. In fact, this box of Choco Ball Peanut actually came from Canada, not the STL area. What gives Morinaga? No love for the Midwest, or is it just St. Louis? Let’s see if Choco Ball is all it’s cracked up to be….

Packaging
Meh, I wouldn’t look at the box twice if I were looking for a J-snack to satisfy a sugar crave. The browns, orange, yellow and red all sort of blend together- nothing pops out and says “BUY ME DAMMIT!!”. In fact, the box looks dated, as if it’s still the original design from when the candy was first introduced in the 1960’s.

This lil’ box was a gift from a friend, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed it in the store. However, the bird-thing gives me the willies in that it’s kinda uggi and not cute- a must for Japanese mascots (being cute that is). I might have noticed the box just for that.

Although the product is displayed on the box, one would be hard put to guess the halved Choco Ball is actually the peanut variety. Not good for someone with food allergies who doesn’t read kanji. So it’s okay to put “Kyorochan Fan Club” in English on the box, but not a potentially fatal food allergen? Score: C

Texture
This candy has a one-two-punch crunch in the form of a wafer coating and the peanut itself. The slightly hard chocolate coats a nice, crisp cookie layer, which has a great bite. The peanut follows up on the wafer action and delivers the final crunch. Score: A

Flavor

Choco Balls Detail

Choco Ball Peanut has a good pea-nutty flavor with a mild chocolate lead. The chocolate envelops a wafer which in turn coats the nut. Choco Ball’s chocolate isn’t as milky as I thought it would be, and is a bit waxy. It tastes a bit…cheap, but combined with the wafer and the peanut, its lack isn’t as apparent.

The wafer doesn’t add much in the flavor department, aside from adding more sugar, but it enhances the flavor of the peanut and takes the bitter edge off the nut. If the wafer wasn’t there to take one for the team, Choco Ball Peanut might not be as tasty as it is. Score: A+

Verdict
Choco Ball Peanut is a good, satisfying candy but reminds me of American candies in its quality. The wafer is a nice touch, but adding chocolate to nuts is nothing new to one who grew up on Snicker™’s and Peanut M&M™’s, which Choco is reminiscent of. However, it’s still worth buying and snacking on, though I recommend Choco Ball for the mindless variety of snacking, aka- grazing.