Freedom Japanese Market is a family business that curates, packs, and ships original, made-in-Japan snacks to all corners of the globe. About a pound of handpicked Japanese candies and snacks sent straight to your front door!
They have three box sizes:
Puchi Pack – 5 to 8 full size and sample snacks $14.99 p/m (£11.29)
Original Pack – 12 to 16 full size and sample snacks including 1 DIY candy kit $24.99 p/m (£18.89)
Family Pack – 24 to 32 full size and sample snacks including 1 DIY candy kit $45.99 p/m (£34.62) Two of everything – double the snacks without double the price.
Longer subscriptions are lower price, and shipping is included.
I’m reviewing an Original Pack. While the box takes 10 – 20 days to arrive (which coming from Japan with no extra shipping costs is bloody good) it arrived in perfect shape.
This is a family business, and there’s family picture on the box!
On top is their menu leaflet:
and the monthly origami:
Isn’t that cool?
Sanae makes all of these herself! Such an amazing skill.
Mmmmm, I see so many yummy things!
I’m going to start with my favourites.
If you’re a dedicated reader of my reviews you’ll know I absolutely adore Umaibo. Umaibo are crunchy sticks of puffed corn, and the name means, literally, ‘delicious stick’. Yes, they are indeed delicious.
This one is Tonkatsu flavour.
Tonkatsu, incidentally. is breaded fried pork cutlet.
Another Umaibo! This time Mentai flavour, which is pollock roe. This is a unique Japanese flavour, and a lot nicer than it sounds! Think savory and very slightly spicy rather than overtly fishy.
This dinky little thing is a Choco Daifuku. Daifuku are mochi with a sweet filling of some kind.
Mochi are soft rice cakes. The texture is kind of like a dense marshmallow, and this one is filled with chocolate.
By the way, if you’re picturing the kind of rice cakes you buy in Western supermarkets, the crunchy round ones, these are nothing like that. These are made from pounding very glutinous rice into a soft paste, hence the soft texture.
This candy will be familiar to Western tastes, even if the name isn’t. Little Gang is popping candy/pop rocks! This has a fruity flavour, and while they suggest sprinkling it on ice cream, I think it’s pretty good on its own.
These are Champagne Cider Mochi. Sadly, they contain no alcohol. Still tasty.
This is a snack-size pot of Orange Queen, an orange flavour yogurt.
Of course, it’s not the kind of yogurt that requires refrigeration, so the texture isn’t really like regular yogurt. It’s thicker and more sticky.
This is a nice big bag of another favourite of mine, Caramel Corn! This is Fruit au lait flavour, like fruity milkshake.
Japanese caramel corn is not like popcorn, rather it’s sweetened corn puffs, crunchy and delicious. I have great difficulty, when opening a bag, of stopping myself from eating the lot in one sitting.
These little bite-size soda-flavoured hard candies are called Kinbaku Iri. They come with a tiny (Japanese) fortune on the package.
OK, these are properly exotic. Yes, they’re Pineapple Potato Chips!
Yes, it sounds very strange. The pineapple flavour is more like pineapple candy, but they still have a slight saltiness which goes surprisingly well with the sweet flavour.
These Kaki no Tane are a mix of peanuts and little rice crackers (crunchy this time) with a soy sauce flavour.
This month’s DIY candy kit is called Horadekita!
It’s a pretty simple one this time, containing apple-flavour candies with dipping sauce and sprinkles to create your own mini candy apples.
The last savory snack is Cheese Arare, which are mini cheese-flavoured rice crackers.
I love the cow on the package! And I finished these in about ten seconds flat, because I love cheese.
This month’s bonus item is a Candy Mic. Tiny ramune (Japanese soda) candies in a microphone-shaped plastic box.
This is another great assortment from Freedom Japanese Market. This month’s box contains thirteen items, and although only three are savory there is still a terrific variety.
Because I’m allergic to shellfish I couldn’t eat everything in last month’s box, but this month I don’t have to share with anybody! (Though of course I will share anyway, because I’m nice like that.)
Freedom Japanese Market only sources snacks direct from Japan, so is exactly what you would buy in stores there. You can buy Japanese snacks in the UK, but they are produced for the export market, so are generally different from the domestic versions. Also, the exported items spend months in the shipping process, so won’t be half as fresh.
One of the most fun things about this box is the opportunity to try new flavours. I can tell you, there’s no way I would have tried pineapple crisps before this!
This is also a family business, and encouraging small businesses is important. Their customer service definitely has a personal touch, not least the creation of all those origami!
I think the value is pretty good for what you get. Sourcing all these things individually would be more or less impossible, and never for anything like as cheap as this. As always, smaller boxes (Puchi) aren’t such good value, so I think it’s definitely worth spending the extra eight quid and getting the Regular pack. Or if you want to treat your family, get the Family pack. You’ll still have one of everything for yourself, plus the kudos of sharing!
