Tirol Chocolate – Yogurt Mochi

Christmas time is usually when I tend to go crazy with snacks and food, like most people do. With how crazy we get with food, you would think we were getting ready to hibernate. Alas, the pounds don’t shed themselves quite that easy for us. Since I’m gorging myself on everything that isn’t attached or nailed down, I figured I might as well review some of it.

Today is yet another flavour of Tirol. This one is interesting though. The flavour of yogurt is not something new. In fact, it’s something that has been around since I was a kid (which is a really, really long time). To clarify, when I say yogurt, I’m actually referring to Yakult. Yakult is a probiotic drink that is touted as being healthy, when in reality it’s just sugar, water and skimmed milk. The drink was first created in Japan in the 1930’s and has been a hit all across Asia ever since. While most of us realize it’s not healthy in any meaningful way (quite the opposite actually), the taste is just some magical and recognizable. This is why there have been so many other brands to create their own versions. Calpis is probably equally well known, while many other brands have their own take.

What stays consistent is the flavour, which this chocolate is based off. While the flavour of yogurt drink has always been a big thing, it seems that it has in recent years, become a much bigger part of Korean snack culture. During my trip to Korea a while back, I noticed they had yogurt flavoured everything – yogurt almonds, yogurt gummies, yogurt chocolate, yogurt chips etc. You name it, they have a yogurt flavour of it. I bring this up because this flavour seems to be much easier to find in Korea than in Japan. It almost seems as though it was made specifically for the Korean market. Judging by the writing on the back, this may actually be the case, since half of the text is in Korean, while the other is in Japanese.

It’s also worth nothing that because this was so hard to find, the chocolates themselves have suffered significant travel damage. You’ll notice what I mean very quickly. If you’ve ever had an asian yogurt drink, you would instantly recognize the smell, as I have. It’s a very sweet, dairy like smell that has a yogurt like quality to it. To people who have had Yakult or any other yogurt drink, you would agree that this smells spot on. Looking into the bag, I can already see that there appears to be leakage or meltage that is pretty severe. I can see some of the chocolate has dried and caked on the outside wrapper, so already a bad sign.

Trying to open the wrapper, pieces of dried chocolate fly all over the place. This has to be one of the messier reviews I’ve done. Upon opening it up, I am greeted by what can only be described as, edible leprosy. The piece is falling apart, it has two colours (which I’m sure is not intentional), and the top has fused to the wrapper and torn off the actual top.

I want to say that this piece has the signature pattern on it, but alas he’s falling apart here. While I’ve never been one to care that much about appearances, this crosses the line into unappetizing to look at. Not entirely sure it’s even safe to eat. But I’ve come too far to back down now.

Once I got pasted the ghastly presentation, I have to say this is actually quite tasty, both texturally and flavour wise, as surprising as that may seem. I’ve been a fan of Tirol’s mochi flavours thus far, and this is no exception. The texture is still there, and that chewiness helps to make the piece less one note. Flavour wise, it is on point – it has that sweet, yogurty flavour that I have come to associate with Yakult. While the top is missing a bit, I can still taste the yogurt syrup/jelly that was on top of the mochi. I guess the best way to describe it is having a sweet, dairy like flavour with a strong tanginess to it. Given the consistency is almost a gummy now, and it somehow melted and fused with the chocolate on top, I imagine the chocolate is very sensitive to heat, more so than other pieces.

While the outside of the piece looks like it has come down with leprosy or some sort of skin condition, the flavour has actually kept well and the delivery of the yogurt flavour is quite great. I bet this would taste even better if it was fresh and not heat-damaged, but it’s still quite solid.

While I want to recommend this piece to others, I would have a bit of difficulty doing so, since even I had a lot of trouble finding this. If for some reason you get lucky and chance upon this, pick this up without hesitation. That is, unless you have tried Yakult or Calpis and decided you really don’t like it. In which case, maybe stay way from this?

And with that, I bid you all adieu while I go watch people battle to the death over a cheaply priced television. Oh, how I love boxing day!