Long time no review…I wish I could say the hiatus is due to my being healthy and eating fewer sweets but sadly it’s just laziness that has kept me from updating – my candy intake remains unchanged. However, I’m no stranger to the health food aisles and probably purchase soy bars and sugar-free jelly almost as often as chocolate. One product that I’ve been eating on and off for a few years now is the ‘Cream Genmai (brown rice) Bran’ from Asahi’s Balance Up range, cream-filled biscuits boasting high levels of fibre, iron and calcium.
The wide range of flavours includes cocoa, maple, apple and lemon, blueberry and mixed fruits, but today I opted for one I’d never tried before: black sesame and kinako.
Balance Up consists of two individual packets, each containing two rectangular sandwich cookies. Typically the biscuits are a pale sandy colour, flecked with assorted cereal grains, but this version looks slightly different, containing dark specks of sesame. The unmistakeable roasted, almost burnt aroma of black sesame dominates when you smell these, and also comes through strongly in the flavour upon eating. As for texture, the biscuits have the same dry crunch and crumble as thick oat cakes, but are neither floury nor buttery. There are coarse crumbs of brown rice, sesame and wheat bran which can be very hard if they catch your teeth at the wrong angle, though on the whole I like the crunchy, granular consistency. While there is enough sugar present to make these taste like biscuits as opposed to savoury crackers, the nutty, toasted flavours of the cereal keep the sweetness in check, so it does feel healthier than a typical cookie.
The peach-tinted kinako filling has an icing-like sweetness and consistency similar to that of most sandwich cookies, such as Oreos or bourbons, but I’d say it’s a little smoother and oilier, more like a thick paste than the solid creamy disc that can be extracted intact by a skillful nibbler. I found it a little oversweetened, as I couldn’t really detect the nutty, roasted flavour of kinako, but I think the contrast of dry, coarse biscuit and smooth, sugary center works wonderfully.
The packaging is covered with figures and side-notes stating that one serving contains two thirds of your daily recommended fibre intake, and ten kinds of vitamin and so on, but it’s usually best not to place too much faith in all these attractive claims. That said, despite their sweetness, these biscuits won’t set you off on a sugar high that’ll leave you craving more later; the feeling of satisfaction is fairly long-lasting, which makes them suitable as a diet food. Personally I’ve eaten them as both part of a health kick and to satisfy a sweet craving, so would recommend them to just about anyone!
7/10
(the above rating is for this particular product but I would rate some of the fruity flavours at 8/10 as I think the tartness of fruit compliments the sweetness of the filling better)
Asahi Balance Up Cream Genmai Bran Kurogoma Kinako 2packs 169kcal/pack
The Sweet Japan Blog 