July 31st: Bourbon Choco-Dutsumi

Kcal 375 Fat 12.8g Carbs 62.7g (per 4 pieces - 92.0g)

Thanks to J-List.com I am continually being introduced to some of the most bizarre products going in their confectionery market. Todays offering looked rather innocent at first glance but once I delved in further and actually looked up what they were on the J-list website I realised they were not a conventional western confection. These Bourbon Choco-Dutsumi came described as sweet rice mochi dumplings filled with milk chocolate ganache. This all sounded rather bizarre to me but as always I was willing to give these a go - it wasn't as if my scepticism hadn't been proved wrong before.

These came in a pack that weighed 184.0g and included eight individual pieces. The packaging as ever for a Japanese product was altogether pretty awesome. The glossy cardboard box featured an appealing looking picture and incorporated a cool opening mechanism which contained 2 separate plastic trays inside. The first thing I noticed when I opened the first plastic packet was the lack of smell that I could, or more aptly put, couldn't detect. This didn't to any degree make me feel any more comfortable with the concept of the product and the appearance of the odd looking sugar dusted jelly like pieces didn't particularly help either.

Picking the first piece up from the plastic tray I was alarmed at the feel of it in my hand. It felt like a mini stress ball and when it was squeezed it soon returned to its original round form within a few unnerving seconds. Having played around with the chocolates for long enough I took the plunge and finally bit into one. Just as expected the outer mochi dumpling had a very odd texture that felt like a firm jelly substance in the mouth. At first I was not completely at one with the feel of it in my mouth, though this anxiety soon disappeared when the flavours came through. The outer rice dumpling had a sweet taste that I would a like to scotch pancakes - slightly eggy but with a nice buttery, sugary taste. At the centre of the rather odd outer portion was a nicely flavoured chocolate ganache centre. It was wonderfully smooth in texture and had a rich and creamy chocolaty taste that complimented the dough like flavours of the mochi extremely well. Although the pieces were not particularly large and could be eaten in two bites, two at a time seemed a reasonable sized snack and their heavy feel made them feel really quite substantial.

Overall these were a pleasant surprise and were a really quite enjoyable snack once I had gotten over the initial odd feel of the outer mochi pancakes. They smelt of nothing, looked and felt a little odd but were actually really quite delicious. As far as Japanese confections go you can't really get any more authentic - mochi filled with chocolate cream might not sound your cup of tea but I would urge you to give these a try before you entirely dismiss them as not for you. It is always nice to come across a product that exceeds my expectations and I must admit that up until tasting these I was completely unconvinced by the product proposition. Although they are not the highest scoring ChocolateMission product reviewed ever I would recommend you give these a try - especially if you like trying more unique offerings from the market.

7.8 out of 10