Yuraku Black Thunder Chocolate Bar Fuwa Saku Kinako

Black Thunder Fuwa Saku Kinako is named for a texture Yuraku invented a word for.

Fuwa means airy, saku means crisp, and the bar is engineered to deliver both at once: brown rice puff for the airiness, soybean puff for a drier crispness, cocoa cookie dissolving between them.

It is a lighter construction than the standard Black Thunder, which is compacted and dense — the same brand working in the opposite direction.

The flavour is kinako, roasted soybean flour, one of the oldest things in the Japanese sweet repertoire — nutty and faintly sweet, dusted over mochi and warabimochi for centuries.

Yuraku uses two kinds.

Hokkaido soybeans make up 90% for gentle sweetness and body, and Tanba-variety soybeans the remaining 10% for aroma.

Tanba is a prized heirloom soybean from the hills between Kyoto and Hyogo, large-grained and intensely flavoured, and a small proportion of it carries a long way.

The chocolate carries Lorraine rock salt, mined from an ancient seabed in northeastern France.

Salt in chocolate does what salt in caramel does — it cuts the sweetness and gives the finish an edge — and against kinako, which can read flat on its own, it is doing real work.

Yuraku Seika launched Black Thunder in 1994. 17 g a bar, 92 kcal, with a ten-month shelf life.

About this item
Item Name : Black Thunder Fuwa Saku Kinako
Brand : Yuraku Seika
Item Form : Semi-Chocolate
Allergens: Wheat, milk, soybean
Number of Items : 17g (Pack of 1)