Glico Winter Kirameki Pocky Chocolate Golden Butter

Winter Kirameki Pocky is built on browned butter, and Glico puts it in both halves of the stick. Kogashi bata — butter heated until the milk solids toast and the whole thing turns golden and nutty — goes into the chocolate coating and into the pretzel underneath, at 0.9% of the product. The French call this beurre noisette and treat it as a pastry technique rather than an ingredient; working it through a mass-market snack is an unusual amount of trouble to go to.

Caramel powder does the rest, at 4.5% of the chocolate. Between the two there is a lot of toasted sugar and toasted dairy happening at once, and what stops it collapsing into sweetness is salt — Glico adds enough to cut through, which is what gives the flavour the depth the company is describing when it calls this kirabiyaka de yūga, glittering and elegant.

Kirameki means glitter or sparkle, and the name is doing seasonal work: this is one of two winter-only Pocky editions Glico releases each year, sold from October until stocks run out. Pocky has been on Japanese shelves since 1966 and is the country’s most internationally recognised snack, but these winter versions stay domestic. The other is Winter Kuchidoke, a melt-in-the-mouth chocolate finished in cocoa powder.

About this item
Item Name : Winter Kirameki Pocky Golden Butter
Brand : Glico
Item Form : Chocolate
Allergens: Milk, wheat, soybean
Number of Items : 24.5g x 2 Packs (Box of 1)