Update

Just a quick note to say that from now on I’m going to try to include a mark out of ten, price and table of values for all the products I review – also I will try to update this blog more regularly! Thank you～

Tirol Choco Daigakuimo – チロルチョコ 大学いも

Taken literally the name of this chocolate, which translates as ‘university potato’, may not conjure up any mouth-watering images, but daigakuimo actually refers to caramelised sweet potatoes, a popular dish in autumn, usually made from a kind of red-skinned sweet potato with golden-yellow flesh. The deep pink colour of the outer chocolate coating is immediately evocative of the vegetable, and it has a lovely scent with strong, warm notes of both caramel and baked potato.

The flavour of the chocolate is certainly reminiscent of sweet potato, but it has been concentrated in order to compete with the rich sweetness of the chocolate, so it is not a natural and subtle flavour like the real thing. However, seeing as this candy is also supposed to taste like caramel it should be sweet and sugary.

Cutting into the chocolate reveals a second, thicker layer of golden-coloured chocolate surrounding a crunchy center which has a very dry and brittle texture like a bread-stick, with large air holes in the middle. The biscuity filling is flecked with tiny fragments of hard, crunchy caramel and black sesame seeds  which work well to recreate the crisp texture and burnt sugar aroma of a caramelised coating. However, the hollow dryness of the biscuit is a disappointing contrast to the smooth creaminess of the outer chocolate, so I would have preferred larger candy fragments and no biscuit.

Overall I liked this a lot, perhaps for the scent more than anything, as it brings to mind images of cold nights around a bonfire and puts you in the mood for autumn~

7/10

Tirol Choco Daigakuimo – 1pc: ￥20