I don’t often eat hard candies because it takes such a long time to get through a whole packet and I get bored of the same flavours, but the lovely vibrant turquoise of this packet caught my eye in the supermarket and I couldn’t resist.
The tagline for Kanro’s Maison de Confiserie brand declares these sweets to be ‘France in a mouthful’, but I’m not convinced that there’s anything particularly French about mint chocolate chip ice cream. I suspect that, as with the meaningless writing on so many hundred yen shop gift bags, French has simply been used to suggest that this a chic and grown-up product.
The candies are individually wrapped in attractive shiny turquoise and chocolate-brown packets that reflect the mint/chocolate flavours, though the actual sweets inside are paler than the images suggest. All the pieces were perfectly star shaped with a nice sheen to them and a light cocoa scent.
I was pleasantly surprised upon first tasting one – it really does taste just like mint chocolate ice cream!…for about ten seconds, after which the refreshing mint fades away and you’re left with a flavour similar to weak hot chocolate of the kind you make using boiling water. It’s a little chocolatey but there is no milkiness or creaminess to make it more substantial.
These were certainly nothing spectacular but the initial minty hit was enough to keep me from abandoning them to the back of the cupboard and I found that they make a nice accompaniment to evening hot chocolate. I don’t think I’ll buy them again but I’ll enjoy the ones I have left.
6/10
Kanro Maison de Confiserie Petit Chocolat Mint ￥178 12.9kcals per sweet
The Sweet Japan Blog 