Koikeya Karamucho Potato Chips Hot Chili

This is the chip cut of Karamucho, and it is the version most Japanese people picture when the name comes up.

Thin, wavy slices rather than the batons of the stick line, which changes how the seasoning behaves: a chip carries the chilli on the surface where it hits immediately, while a stick holds it against something denser.

The chip is the more direct of the two.

Karamucho was the snack that taught Japan to eat spicy food.

When Koikeya launched it in 1984, there were essentially no hot-flavoured snacks on the domestic market — Japanese palates were understood to want salt, soy and seaweed — and the company took a real risk.

It worked, and kara, hot, with a mock-Spanish suffix became one of the most recognisable brand names in the country.

The trio of elderly women on the bag have been there since the start.

The seasoning is built on meat and vegetables as much as on chilli.

Chicken bouillon and a vegetable extract powder supply the savoury depth, a flavoured oil carries it, and the chilli sits on top of that rather than alone — which is what Koikeya means by karauma, hot and savoury together.

The potatoes are 100% Japanese-grown and non-GMO. 55 g to a bag.

About this item
Item Name : Karamucho Hot Chili
Brand : Koikeya
Item Form : Potato Chips
Allergens: Milk, wheat, soybean, chicken, pork, gelatin
Number of Items : 55g (Pack of 1)