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Salmon-flavored Puccho candy – disgusting or delightful? 【Taste test】

Scott Wilson Jul 8, 2015
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Japan is well-known for its creative flavors when it comes to soda, snacks, and candy. Some are epically delicious. Others not so much. And this latest collaboration between Japanese candy company UHA and Hello Kitty’s Sanrio probably falls into the latter camp.

For those unaware, Sanrio has a wide variety of characters other than Hello Kitty, including KIRIMI-chan, a cute slice of sassy salted salmon. We’re not sure why an anthropomorphic fish fillet was chosen to be made into a UHA Puccho flavor, but it’s already happened so there’s nothing we can do but try it!

To see if this flavor is tasty or trash, we assigned our own brave RocketNews24 reporter P.K. Sanjun to try a few pieces for posterity. Does he savor the salty salmon goodness or does he spit it out? Read on to find out!

If you’re curious why this combination came about, apparently Sanrio’s salmon slice character KIRIMI-chan is the love interest of Puccho-kun, the mascot for Puccho chewy candy. A promotional video of their undying love was created shortly after their relationship went steady, which you can see here:

And now we have their offspring, which looks like this:

▼ Oh hey, that’s not so bad. It’s kind of cute. Let’s just unwrap it and-

▼ Oh. My candy looks like actual salmon. That’s, uh… neat?

There may be an ulterior motive for introducing fish-flavored candies as well: the decline of fish consumption in Japan. Now more than ever, Japanese people are eating more meat than fish, and children are losing their taste for fish as a result. Perhaps Sanrio and UHA understood this, and what better way to get kids to eat more seafood than making it into candy form? That’s how it works, right?

The candies themselves have a very fishy aroma when opened, and have actual salted salmon fish flakes inside. So they do have a minimal amount of nutritional value, which you can use to reassure yourself as you bite down on it.

After opening we couldn’t resist trying the mysterious flavor any longer, so into P.K.’s mouth it went.

▼ “Hm. Maybe I should have asked what this is before I-“

▼ “Ugh! This is disgusting! I can’t believe I put it in my mouth!”

At first bite, it seemed that the sweetness of the candy and salty fish taste of the salmon flakes did not go together very well. Perfectly understandable.

But upon some reflection of the strange combination that just graced his taste buds, P.K. had a stroke of genius: if you normally eat salted salmon with steamed rice, why not try the KIRIMI Puccho with it too?

▼ A match made in gastronomical heaven.

Our staff waited with bated breath as he went in for the first bite with rice. Would it taste better? Would he finally toss his cookies?

▼ Forcing it down the hatch.

▼ “Wait, what?”

▼ “It’s not terrible! I can actually eat it this way!”

It seems like the candy became nearly edible when eaten with rice. Could this really be a miracle food to get more people to eat fish? Probably not. Novelty and good-intentions aside, we aren’t sure if there is a bright future for cute fishy-flavored candies.

Final verdict
Salmon Puccho: 1/10
Salmon Puccho with rice: 5/10

What flavor do you think the Puccho and Sanrio collaboration team will come up with next? A special edition Gudetama egg-flavored Puccho? Or perhaps a Rilakkuma curry-flavored Puccho? Let us know in the comments section below!