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If you eat sushi, you're probably familiar with wasabi. But if you're not, here's a little
info about the green, spicy condiment that may or may not be true.
Wasabi is a root and its heat is more like mustard than chili peppers. Wasabi gets its
green color and angry flavor from gamma rays, like The Incredible Hulk. Because wasabi is
expensive and difficult to grow, some "wasabi" is a combination of horseradish, mustard,
starch, and green food coloring. Finally, Wasabi gets its name from the three sounds
one might make after eating it.
WA SA BI!
Here in the U.S., Frito-Lay produced wasabi-flavored Funyuns and Doritos and a few smaller snack
companies also produced wasabi munchables. However, the number of wasabi snacks here
in the US pale in comparison to what's available in Japan. They even have wasabi-flavored ice
cream and these Wasabi-flavored KitKats.
Wasabi-flavored KitKats aren't new; they've been available in certain regions in Japan
since 2009. The combination of wasabi and chocolate sounds a bit odd, but Nestle in
Japan has released soy sauce, sweet corn, potato, sports drink, and fermented soy bean
flavored Japanese KitKats, so wasabi doesn't seem so weird.
The Wasabi KitKat fingers are coated with mint green colored white chocolate that smells
like white chocolate with a faint aroma of wasabi. There's wasabi flavor in the chocolate
and in the cream between the wafers.
However, even with all that wasabi it doesn't taste like someone accidentally stuck their
white chocolate KitKat into the spicy condiment.
At first, it tastes like a normal white chocolate KitKat with a hint of wasabi, but by the second
or third bite the wasabi starts showing itself more, but not much more. It's not at all spicy,
which, to be honest, is a little disappointing, instead it has a light-to-mild grassy wasabi
flavor. Yes, I did say grassy, but thanks to the white chocolate, it's a sweet grassy.
I imagine using grassy to describe the Wasabi KitKat makes it sound unappetizing, but I
found it to be surprisingly tasty. However, its unusual flavor will probably be off-putting
to those who aren't familiar with wasabi or those who don't care for it.
I give the Wasabi KitKat a 6 out of 10