With over 200 flavors created and more varieties hitting shelves each year, Japanese KitKat bars includes natural flavors from fruits and vegetables to cheesecakes. The chocolate wafer bar from Nestle is Japanese King of candy with an array of flavors in convenience stores that has become a culinary gift collection especially for visitors to Japan. KitKat is a great gift as an edible good luck charm which students give each other before exams.
Photo by Elida Arrizza
Kitkat’s shelf life is short live with new products released each spring and autumn every year including special and limited edition chocolate bars. However, its success lies in the name KitKat itself that sounds similar to Japanese phrase “kitto katsu” literally translated as ‘a surely win’ making it a perfect gift for any occasion.
KitKat was first introduced in Japan in 1973 with about 10 packaging differentiation throughout the mid-90s. Japanese first variation of KitKat was almond followed by strawberry and orange before the list of varieties expanded beyond imagination. Flavors and packaging differs according to region and season.
Photo by That Food Crazy
In KitKat crazy Japan, flavors go far beyond a twist on the regular chocolate wafer and perennial favourite green tea. Flavors include fruit and vegetable, beverage-inspired taste and other weird combination.
Photo by Agel Alcantara
Japanese have great sense of exploration with fruits combining natural flavors (as described on packaging plus a range of esters) for a fruit tangy and fresh taste of subtle sweetness. KitKat fruit varieties include the classic strawberry, pear, oranges and a range of apples. Fanciful KitKat blend consist of a taste of cheesecake with strawberry or blueberry.
Photo by Eden Politte
It takes more than just chocolate engineering and mixture of taste in creating the perfect KitKat flavor. Nestle Japanese Kitkat website (http://nestle.jp/brand/kit/product/) contains an elaborate list of new product offerings and a virtual museum (http://nestle.jp/brand/kit/about/museum/) for collectors to explore KitKat history in Japan.
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