Arare (hail stones) are made with glutinous rice (mochi kome). They can be either fried or baked, and have a crunchier texture than senbei. I like arare since they’re smaller than senbei and seem to come in more flavors as well. This particular snack, Tsuna Age Arare, is tare, “dressing” flavor.

Bon Chi Corporation is the manufacturer of today’s snack and they make all manner of senbei and arare.

Packaging

Great packaging for this snack. The green is appealing as is the bold kanji and equally bold romanji. The contrast in colors and reflective textures made this bag eye-catching in a sea of other Asian snacks. The actual arare are proudly displayed on the front and the back gives a brief description of the contents: “Japanese crispy snack. Dressing and salty taste. Good quality.” I like it when I’m informed how a particular food will taste. Score: A+

Appearance

Tsuna means “rope” and Age means “fried” in Japanese, it’s a fitting description for a snack that looks like twisted bits of deep-fried rope. The matte texture is a departure from the shiny sugar and shoyu glaze many rice crakers sport. Score: B

Texture

Tsuna age arare has a truly gratifying crunch. However, the crunch quickly melts way and becomes a greasy paste. These arare are definitely different than other rice crackers; they’re really greasy and oily. The oil sticks to the back of the throat and is too cloying. It’s actually disgusting how oily these crackers are.

One of the main reasons I like Japanese snacks is because the majority of them have a light taste and texture, even in the instances they’re fried. The grease in these rice crackers is a major turn off. I keep having to clear my throat or drink hot tea to get the oil out. My hands are also greasy. Gross. This is an unexpected find in a Japanese snack and very, very unwelcome. Score: F

Flavor

Dressing? Tare? These are supposed to taste like dressing? I wasn’t expecting a Catalina salad dressing flavor, but I was expecting some sort of vinegary tang. I’ve made many tare (dressings) and they utilize vinegars, miso, sesame, ginger and shoyu. Tuna age doesn’t even come close to any of those. One of the ingredients is vinegar powder, but it’s the seventh one listed. Vegetable oil is number two on the ingredient list. Oil wins over vinegar in this round.

These lil’ nasties remind me strongly of the American snack, Bugles. They taste like greasy, deep fried corn snacks, but there’s no corn in tsuna age. So there’s vinegar, but I can’t taste it, and there’s no corn and yet I taste corn…Score: F

Verdict

I’m very unhappy with this Japanese snack. It’s disgusting and nasty. This Japanese cracker is just like many American junk foods, right down to the grease and lack of sophisticated flavor. Even prior arare, which have let me down in the flavor department are way, way better than this. I’d rather eat shoyu and sugar then these icky deep fried concoctions.

There are several varieties of Japanese rice crackers, which have have been explained before, but the main differences I’ve found in these crackers are in appearance and texture, not flavor. Sad but true.

On a very subtle level, there are different flavors, such as nori, cheese, “spicy”, wasabi, soy sauce; and even sweetened crackers. But these are very subtle and a clean palate is a must in discerning some of the flavors.

Since I’ve set myself on a quest for the most awe-inspiring sembei two years ago, I’ve been repeatedly let down. Nothing really stands out and says “OMG! Aren’t these just the best damn sembei EVA?!!”

The packaging for today’s sembei seems somehow more inviting and “mature” than other sembei bags. It seems to say, “Gimme a try; I’m different!” Rigghhht. Well, fine, since you’re only $1.99, Nagisa Age, you can come home with me, but you better live up to being a sembei apart!

While I’m not sure what Nagisa, Japanese for “beach”, has to do with crackers (perhaps an allusion due to its rippled appearance?) I do know from my culinary adventures that Age means fried. Hmmm, fried crackers…sounds promising.

The crackers look dark and crunchy; the soy sauce glaze is quite apparent. Still, even though soy as a sembei flavor has been used to death, they are fried, and since I rarely eat fried foods, this will surely be a treat, right?

Ho-hum these crackers aren’t so different as their brethren after all. The nagisa age are very crunchy- a plus- but very salty-a negative.

They’re not, bad but they’re still underwhelming. I must say, I love the texture, which is harder (however, they’re not like stale sembei, which are hard and nasty) and crisper than other crackers. The lumpy, nagisa-esque exterior adds to the pleasant texture. The soy flavor, though, is absolutely boring.

The flavor is that of any other senbei or arare, but with a much stronger emphasis on the soy and hella salty. No hint of sweet like okaki; the salt kills any other actual flavor. A picture on the back packaging suggests using these on top of noodles; seems a much better idea than eating these straight from the bag.

If I were a bar tender, I’d make sure I had a ton of these to offer customers. Cause after eating just a handful, I’m so thirsty, I’d drink just about anything to quench the parchness. Oh well, tried yet another rice cracker and wasn’t impressed. Maybe they do all taste alike.

TEXTURE: FLAVOR: APPEARANCE: PACKAGING:

Giving Nagisa Age an average of: