Dots: Summer Edition

Watermelon Dots - Dollar Tree 

Last fall, I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed Ghost Dots. The Halloween variation contains the classic year-round flavors, but every candy is the same shade of looks-like-it-glows-in-the-dark green. (They don't actually glow, FYI.) The novelty of the Halloween version is you don't know which flavor you are going to get because they all look the same. 

In snacking, I would classify myself as a hunter-picker. I seek out what I want, leaving my least favorites (usually orange or grape in most mixes) for last. Or I meticulously make the rounds until everything is even and then choose the least favorites to go first so I can savor my favorites last. (Not sure if that is a normal thing.) Long story short, I couldn't do that with Ghost Dots, but I liked it. I really liked it. Even though I was never a massive Dots fan, I went out of my way to buy several Ghost boxes before they disappeared for the season. But my supply ran out, and normal Dots just don't appeal to me, so I decided to try this summery version instead. 

And this is kind of similar in a way. They all look the same....because they are the same. This entire box is just watermelon flavored, and I have never had Dots' take on Watermelon, so let's home I like it! 

Double Dose of Melon Goodness - Haribo Watermelon and Major Melon MTN Dew

Watermelon Haribo & Major Melon MTN Dew

Spring has sprung, literally yesterday, but I'm already craving summer, and nothing says "summer" like watermelon. I have two different products today, one a candy, the other essentially humming bird nectar, who wants to take bets that I'll be bouncing off the walls later? 

So Freaking Cute, I HAD to have it

Sumikkogurashi Puccho (with Washi Tape!) - Hung Voung Market

Hello, my name is Maria, and I am a sucker for cute packaging and a craft supply hoarder. It's like this product was made for me.

I am not a San-X fan, in fact, I had to google these characters to even know what they were, but I couldn't resist a tiny roll of (potentially) adorable washi tape. 

For those interested, these characters are Sumikkogurashi, pretty much adorable little animals/objects/anthropomorphic food who prefer living a solitary live in the corner of a room. An oddly specific interest for sure, and their bios indicate that each character has their own issues, like body insecurity, being generally fed up, and being discarded. The concept seems like a downer at first, but...same. 

See for yourself: 

Fancy Fruity Friends Drinking Beverages? - My New Tumblr Aesthetic?

Friends Drinking Beverage Clear Fruity Sodas - H-Mart 

These bottles are really freaking cute. I'm not sure if the size translates well in these photos, but each one is about half the height of a 16 oz. soda bottle and they're made of heavy glass. For their size, their price tag was a little on the steep-side (since they're imported and all) so it came down to aesthetics or frugality...

We all know which option won out. Let's pop these bottles!

Puccho Fruit Chews - Grapefruit & Yubari Melon

Puccho, Grapefruit & Melon - Asian Food Markets

Even though I have reviewed a BUNCH of different Puccho flavors, there is only one other Puccho review here on the site, and it's the Banpeiyu Da Mon Puccho. 

All the other posts are still in my Tumblr archives, and we both know I'll probably never get around to transferring all those posts over....so let's start fresh with a little information about this candy. 

Puccho is a fruit chew candy produced by UHA. At a glance, the fruit chews look similar to Hi-Chew and many other dense fruit chews from Asia, but this particular variety has some different mix-ins that make it unique. Usually those mix ins are small, stiff, oval-shaped gummy candies with their own unique flavors, but I have had some in the past that used fizzy candy as well.  

Unlike Starbursts, which are more like a stiff taffy that dissolves as you chew it, Puccho has a denser, bouncier, almost gum-like chew that dissolves more slowly. It's a texture I have only experienced in Asian candies, like Hi-Chew, and it's something you really need to experience for yourself to truly appreciate. 

There are tons of flavors available, pretty much every fruit you can imagine, as well as localized specialty items, cola, ramune, and even a mystery fruits flavor. I've tried every flavor I've come across and even though I do have a few favorites, I have never been disappointed.

Will today mark the end of that winning streak? We shall see. 

Grapefruit Melon Project 7 Gum - Target

Grapefruit Melon Project 7 Gum - Target

Annnnd we're back! Sorry for the short hiatus; I've been really busy preparing for the Summer Fancy Food Show. It's this weekend in NY! This is my second year attending as a member of the press (so fancy!) and now that I know what to expect, I've been spending a lot of time preparing and packing.

Thanks to all that prep work I have some time to catch up on some foodie reviews!

Monday was the first day of summer and that night there was a Strawberry Moon? How freaking cool is that?! I may not have anything strawberry themed to review, but what's more summery than watermelon?

Honey Dew Melon Cake Review

This was a regretful purchase...

I’ve been trying to post more content to my YouTube channel, so please head over there and see me awkwardly talk to cameras while my dog begs for food.

Chobani Watermelon Limited Batch Greek Yogurt - Walmart

Chobani Watermelon Limited Batch Greek Yogurt - Walmart

Summer is quickly disappearing and the fall food items are already showing up on the shelves, so I better start cranking out these summery food reviews fast! (I have quite the backlog of summer and limited edition items I gotta write up but, as I said in my last post, the PUMPKINING is upon us!) Where did the time go? It's cliche, because everyone says it,  but I really feel like summer flew by. I haven't even been to the beach once this year! Also, it's freaking AUGUST, why is pumpkin spice everything back already? Don't mistake me for a pumpkin spice hater, my 2012 and 2013 pumpkin galleries are proof enough that I am a fall-foodie lover, but this is pretty ridiculous.

Enough rambling, it's time to review something summery and relatively healthy, watermelon flavored Greek yogurt!

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Because this candy has 6 flavors, and such amazing packaging, I am splitting it up into multiple reviews.

Check out THIS POST on the aesthetics.

Today I’ll review 3 flavors of this soda candy:

• Melon (green)
• Ramune (blue)
• Grape (red-violet)

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Because this candy has 6 flavors, and such amazing packaging, I am splitting it up into multiple reviews.

This review will focus on the aesthetics.
You’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes I buy things just because of the packaging.  When I saw this on the shelf, I just had to photograph it. There is so much going on! There are colorful flavor-sentai, bold text, and bright foiled backgrounds. I love all of the colors! Although the design is very busy, I would love to have this blown up as a pop-art piece.

Jumbo Yubari Melon Pocky - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Jumbo Yubari Melon Pocky - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

To make up for missing yesterday’s post, here is some JUMBO Yubari Melon Pocky!

The packaging is like any other box of Pocky, just bigger. Since Yubari melon is a variation of cantaloupe, the design features split melons and fruity colors. The green and orange gradient mimics the rind of a cantaloupe, and the individual wrappers have a crosshatched pattern just like the melon’s skin. While the packaging is bright and eye catching, it’s not the best Pocky design I have ever seen.

Pandas, Koalas, and Bears. Om nom!

Time for some more scrumptious treats from the Asian grocery store! This time, I have a few different snacks with the same theme. These little critters are bear-themed crème-filled cookies. Is one brand more delicious than the other? Let’s find out!

All three cookies follow the same formula. Each box contains puffed, bite-sized, cookies with a flavored filling. The outsides of each cookie are decorated with a stamped image of an animal.

First off, we will look at a brand many of you have probably seen, Meiji’s Panda!

This specific brand has gotten quite popular here in America. They have become widely available. You can now find them at Wegman’s and a lot of convenient shops. (Recently I have seen these at 7-11.)

Meiji’s Panda may be widely available and well known, but it does not offer much variety. There are currently 4 flavors available in America.

• Vanilla Cookie x Chocolate Filling
• Vanilla Cookie x Strawberry Filling
• Vanilla Cookie x Vanilla Filling
• Chocolate Cookie x Chocolate Filling

There are savory varieties available in Asia, but I have yet to see them in America. Time to taste test these pandas!

The biscuit cookie is crisp and light, it isn’t very sweet and it reminds me of a Pocky stick. (Please see my past article on Pocky to learn more about that!)  The cookie is hollow, and inside you’ll find a soft icing-like filling. I have chocolate and strawberry varieties.

The chocolate tastes a lot like canned frosting, but it has a drier and thicker consistency. It is a bit sweeter than the coating on a chocolate Pocky stick, but nothing that will induce a sugar coma.

The strawberry filling is very similar to the flavor of strawberry coated Pocky, most strawberry Asian snacks have that artificial flavor to it, I am not a big fan of the flavor, but I am not put off by it.

Next up, Lotte’s Koala’s March.

This is another popular brand in Asia, but it is not as easily found in America. These can be found in almost every Asian grocery, but I haven’t seen them in any American convenience shops. They follow the same formula as Meiji, but these little koalas come in a wider variety of flavors. The ones I have here are creamy café latte flavored.

The biscuits this time are pinched in at the sides, and not round like the pandas, and the overall biscuit flavor is the same. The only thing different about the cookie portion is that the koalas have a denser cookie shell, while the pandas are lighter.

The latte filling has a nice milky coffee flavor to it, which I really enjoyed. Overall, I prefer the lighter cookie crunch of the pandas, but I like the variety of flavors you can find with the koalas.

Last, but not least, we have Ego’s Golden Bear.

Ego seems to be the weakest of the three brands and they are a little difficult to find, not every Asian grocery carries them. Like Lotte, they are available in more flavors than Meiji’s Panda, but they are just a bit different.

I think Ego might be the lesser of the three companies, because this packaging and the product inside make absolutely no sense. The outer box shows a realistic koala, but the cookies are little cartoon bears. Inside there is a different koala on the baggies, and the images on the cookie seem to be koalas. Then, the actual cookies themselves have a wide variety of images and creatures. Bears, koalas, teddy bears…this package was really random. (I kind of enjoyed that.)

These bears don’t come in as many flavors as the koalas, but they have a wider variety than the pandas. Here we have honeydew melon filled centers.

The cookies have that denser cookie-crunch, like Lotte’s koalas, but they almost taste stale. With all the packaging I was expecting a crispier cookie crunch. The filling does taste like artificial honeydew melon, which is nice and something I haven’t seen the other two brands do.

Out of the three, I would have to pick Meiji’s Panda as the overall best bear-cookie. Their light cookie crunch can’t be beat. I just wish it came in more flavors.

If you enjoyed this, please check out my other Foreign Foodie Finds article. Pocky: From The Screen to My Stomach

Originally this article was published on the The Pop Culture Social Club, but that site has been transferred to Tumblr and article formats have been changed. To preserve my article as I am also posting it here.