Name: Japon: El Original Cacahuate estilo Japonés (The original Japanese-style peanut)
Origin: Mexico
Found at: Superior Grocers, Buena Park
Cost: 4 bags for $1
Ingredients:
Selected Peanuts, Wheat Flour, Sugar, Water, Iodized Salt, Brown Sugar, Hydrolyzed Soy, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Caramel Coloring.
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Why I Bought It:
I've been buying and enjoying these Mexican/Japanese peanuts for years, though not always this brand. I have, however, always wondered about its origins; because let's face it: you aren't likely to come across them in a Japanese supermarket like Mitsuwa. They are staples at Mexican ones though.
A little Internet “researching” suggests that they may have been invented in Mexico by a Japanese immigrant, which I guess makes them Japanese in the same way as anything I cook is Indonesian food, even if I make pizza.
Tasting Notes:
Japanese, Mexican, or whatever you consider them, they are addictive. The peanuts' thin, crunchy shell doubles the nut's crunch quotient by 200%. In fact, I've always liked the shells better than the peanuts themselves. I've been known to de-shell them, eat the peanuts, and save the crunchy coating for last.
This brand is a particularly great brand, and I've tried my share of different ones. The shell is neither too hard on your pearly whites, nor too brittle, yielding with slight pressure.
Did I mention they're addictive? I've eaten 3 out of the 4 bags I bought before I even wrote this post, and as soon as I finish, I'm tearing into the last one.
They go extremely well with a cold beverage, no matter what it is, but preferably beer. Sapporo or Corona, doesn't matter.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.