Yaokin – Morokoshi Wataro

I’ve always been more partial to corn snacks, be it corn chips or corn based snacks like corn nuts. Something about corn as a texture feels heartier and crunchier for some reason. Not so much for actual food though. Hard to say no to fries and a good roasted potato. Even among corn snacks I have a preference for certain textures. I tend to gravitate towards the crunchy,

Based on what I could find, morokoshi wataro translates to corn and corm rings. If you are anything like me, you probably haven’t heard of corm before, but I assure you it’s not as foreign or scary as it sounds. It’s basically the term for an underground stem. In this particular case, it’s referring to taro, meaning the snack is made from taro and corn. And now I’m curious if other corn based snacks use taro or some sort of taro based ingredient for texture. I would look it up, but I’m too lazy to do that right now.

The texture is very airy, and consequently kind of dry much like a cheese puff. These are a bit denser though, and don’t melt nearly as fast as the cheese puffs we have over in the North. I can only surmise that the taro is used mostly for texture, and to add a bit of starchiness to the snack to give it shape and allow them to make it into a nice round shape. While it won’t melt as quickly in your mouth, it does still melt, so if you like that melty experience that cheese puffs can give you, that’s here too. You just have to be patient. Kids these days could learn a thing or two from patience. Of course, if you lack that, you can always just chew through, and it has a nice mouth feel to it that way too. While it is a bit dry, it’s not dry to the point that you need a drink after them. They somehow manage to melt into a moist pile that won’t leave you parched. I also realize that “moist pile” is possibly the worst combination of two words to try and sell a snack. Bottom line is, the texture is nice.

These are also not as salty a cheese puff. They tend to be a bit more mild, but have a sweetness to them instead of being salty throughout. The flavour kind of reminds me of a sweet soy sauce. It starts off with the slight sweetness and finishes with a savoury salty note that is some soy based sauce of some sort. It’s a fairly typical taste as far as Asian flavours go, and I’m down for it. Something about corn flavoured snacks just gets me.

My understanding is that these types of snacks are considered penny, or budget snacks that kids can get for fairly cheap with some pocket change or leftover lunch money. I think it does what it sets out to pretty well, offer a tasty, somewhat satisfying snack for a low price. If I were a kid in Japan, I could totally see myself making these a staple snack I would buy after school or at a grocery store. While this particular brand might be hard to find, (though I doubt it) you could probably find something similar at your local asian grocer. Would definitely recommend these, especially if you like corn snacks.