I'm a serious snack-o-holic. I fully admit it. I like to snack. I love to much on things.
I'm also ... obsessed with furikake. It is my condiment of choice, for nearly everything. Some people use table salt and pepper on their veggies, some grind fresh black pepper over plates of creamy pasta or salads ... I *generously* sprinkle on the furikake. All the time. I carry little packets of it (I use little mini pill bags!) with me everywhere I go. Like I said, obsessed.
Many years ago at this point, the catering department at my office introduced a new item: Japanese Chex mix. Yes, that would be housemade Chex mix, made with furikake. It is sweet and salty. Beyond addicting. And thus, a monster was created.
Over the years, I've ordered it, and saved all the leftovers, at every chance I get. I'm sure my group is sick of it, but I just can't get enough. (Side note: Just like popocorn, it is even better if you freeze it! Super crispy!). Obviously a great snack by the handful, but I also love to throw it on top of salads for crunch and flavor.
Since then, I've also gotten my mother, a Chex mix affectionado herself, to learn some Japanese Chex mix recipes, and she always makes me batches when I go to visit, made even more special by customizing with my favorite brand pretzels, my favorite other mix-ins. A worse monster has been created.
And then ... a pastry chef I know launched his own business, and ... introduced furikake Chex mix to the line up. And *white truffle* furikake Chex mix. Are you kidding me? The bar just got higher and higher, and I can attest, yes, his *is* the best. Sorry mom. (MackBox review coming soon!)
But sometimes, I don't have an excuse to order from my catering team, my mom is on the other side of the country, and, well, I'm not ordering from a fancy pastry chef. So I need to look retail. And imagine my surprise when I was able to actually find furikake Chex mix!
It comes in 3 varieties: Original, Matcha, and Japanese Seven Spice.
I was seriously excited to try it.
"Our Original Furikake Seaweed Snack Mix provides a unique blend of sweet and savory flavor combined with crunchy goodness of different shapes and textures. Seasoned with premium seaweed and yummy seasoning, this snack will leave you wanting more."
I started with the original.
Everyone has their own preference on what to mix in, and since LoloYum doesn't partner with Chex brand, they do not use Chex cereal, but rather "crunchy pillow puffs" (on my packaging, "corn puffs" now on their website). My mom started adding Bugles cereal to hers, which at first I was opposed to, but I decided are a great addition. I was pleased to see that although they also don't partner with Bugels, they added "crazy cones" (on my package, "Bugle Shaped Snacks" on their website now). The mix is rounded out by standard, thin style, buttery pretzel sticks, and bagel chips (not found in any of my other favorite mixes).
And of course, plenty of furikake and sesame seeds.
It looked great, well coated, clearly caramelized and crispy.
So ... how did it measure up?
I'm also ... obsessed with furikake. It is my condiment of choice, for nearly everything. Some people use table salt and pepper on their veggies, some grind fresh black pepper over plates of creamy pasta or salads ... I *generously* sprinkle on the furikake. All the time. I carry little packets of it (I use little mini pill bags!) with me everywhere I go. Like I said, obsessed.
Many years ago at this point, the catering department at my office introduced a new item: Japanese Chex mix. Yes, that would be housemade Chex mix, made with furikake. It is sweet and salty. Beyond addicting. And thus, a monster was created.
Over the years, I've ordered it, and saved all the leftovers, at every chance I get. I'm sure my group is sick of it, but I just can't get enough. (Side note: Just like popocorn, it is even better if you freeze it! Super crispy!). Obviously a great snack by the handful, but I also love to throw it on top of salads for crunch and flavor.
Since then, I've also gotten my mother, a Chex mix affectionado herself, to learn some Japanese Chex mix recipes, and she always makes me batches when I go to visit, made even more special by customizing with my favorite brand pretzels, my favorite other mix-ins. A worse monster has been created.
And then ... a pastry chef I know launched his own business, and ... introduced furikake Chex mix to the line up. And *white truffle* furikake Chex mix. Are you kidding me? The bar just got higher and higher, and I can attest, yes, his *is* the best. Sorry mom. (MackBox review coming soon!)
But sometimes, I don't have an excuse to order from my catering team, my mom is on the other side of the country, and, well, I'm not ordering from a fancy pastry chef. So I need to look retail. And imagine my surprise when I was able to actually find furikake Chex mix!
"This delicious sweet and salty Hawaiian inspired snack mix is traditionally made in small batches at home. Sticking with our goal of providing all-natural products, we’ve developed a clean-label recipe with no high-fructose corn syrup, no preservatives. It features furikake seaweed and is available in 3 flavors."Yup, meet LoloYum, a snack food company that makes exactly one product: furikake snack mix. Oh yes. Sure, theirs is also non-gmo, small batch, baked not fried, no HFCS, yadda yadda, and I kinda might prefer versions with MSG ... but hey, making it slightly better for me is not a bad thing. And, they are based in San Francisco, so I feel good supporting a local business.
It comes in 3 varieties: Original, Matcha, and Japanese Seven Spice.
I was seriously excited to try it.
 |
| Original Furikake Seaweed Snack Mix. |
I started with the original.
Everyone has their own preference on what to mix in, and since LoloYum doesn't partner with Chex brand, they do not use Chex cereal, but rather "crunchy pillow puffs" (on my packaging, "corn puffs" now on their website). My mom started adding Bugles cereal to hers, which at first I was opposed to, but I decided are a great addition. I was pleased to see that although they also don't partner with Bugels, they added "crazy cones" (on my package, "Bugle Shaped Snacks" on their website now). The mix is rounded out by standard, thin style, buttery pretzel sticks, and bagel chips (not found in any of my other favorite mixes).
And of course, plenty of furikake and sesame seeds.
It looked great, well coated, clearly caramelized and crispy.
 |
| Original Furikake Chex Mix: Close Up. |
Well ... I'll cut to the chase. I didn't like it. Sure, I knew it wouldn't be as good as MackBox, nor as my mom's custom version, but I thought I'd at least want to eat it at some point. I found myself trying it over and over, and just never wanting it.
Component-wise, it was fine.
The "pillow puffs" are larger than Chex, and have more edges. They are puffier, which just made them more munchable, an improvement of sorts. The "crazy cones" were really no different from Bugels, another good form to have in it. Pretzel sticks were standard. The bagel chips were an interesting addition, but also the worst component - they seemed burnt, way too crispy. I wanted crispy, but these were rock solid. I do like to have some kind of nuts in the mix, but they aren't necessary, so it was ok to me that this was nut-free (bonus points though to macadamias when included!)
The real issue though was the seasoning. Yes, there was furikake (ok, shredded nori, sesame seeds, salt). And the expected soy sauce, butter, and sugar needed to coat it and make it savory and sweet. There was also ... "liquid butter concentrate", with soybean oil and soy lecithin as main ingredients, and not actually any butter, but, I looked past that. The dominant flavor was sesame. Hearty sesame. Burnt sesame. I almost wonder if my batch *was* burnt, given that the bagel chips and overall taste just seemed burnt. But it didn't look that dark ...
Anyway, yeah. I didn't care for it. It was hearty, but strangely sweet. It tasted healthy. But not, since so sweet. Such an odd combo.
I tried it as a snack, I tried it frozen, I dried it tossed in salads, and in the end, I ground some of it up to just use as a sprinkle on salads, but I never actually liked it.
I didn't try the other flavors after this.
Component-wise, it was fine.
The "pillow puffs" are larger than Chex, and have more edges. They are puffier, which just made them more munchable, an improvement of sorts. The "crazy cones" were really no different from Bugels, another good form to have in it. Pretzel sticks were standard. The bagel chips were an interesting addition, but also the worst component - they seemed burnt, way too crispy. I wanted crispy, but these were rock solid. I do like to have some kind of nuts in the mix, but they aren't necessary, so it was ok to me that this was nut-free (bonus points though to macadamias when included!)
The real issue though was the seasoning. Yes, there was furikake (ok, shredded nori, sesame seeds, salt). And the expected soy sauce, butter, and sugar needed to coat it and make it savory and sweet. There was also ... "liquid butter concentrate", with soybean oil and soy lecithin as main ingredients, and not actually any butter, but, I looked past that. The dominant flavor was sesame. Hearty sesame. Burnt sesame. I almost wonder if my batch *was* burnt, given that the bagel chips and overall taste just seemed burnt. But it didn't look that dark ...
Anyway, yeah. I didn't care for it. It was hearty, but strangely sweet. It tasted healthy. But not, since so sweet. Such an odd combo.
I tried it as a snack, I tried it frozen, I dried it tossed in salads, and in the end, I ground some of it up to just use as a sprinkle on salads, but I never actually liked it.
I didn't try the other flavors after this.
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