{"product_id":"meiji-almond-chocolate","title":"Meiji Almond Chocolate — Whole Roasted Almonds, 79g","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhole almonds roasted over an open flame, sealed in a milk chocolate built to carry the roast rather than cover it, so the first thing you taste is the almond's dry, hard snap. If you know chocolate-coated almonds from an Australian supermarket, this is the same idea with the balance tipped towards the nut. It is an everyday box in Japan, off supermarket and convenience-store shelves rather than a gift counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the pack: \u003cstrong\u003eアーモンドチョコレート\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003eaamondo chokoreeto\u003c\/em\u003e), simply \"almond chocolate\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt won't wreck your hands.\u003c\/strong\u003e These don't come off on your fingers. You can eat them at a desk, or one-handed in the car, without reaching for a napkin.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCheck the weight against what you have seen here.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is the 79 g box. Meiji cut it down from 88 g, and several Australian listings still show the old size.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe shine is shellac.\u003c\/strong\u003e Each piece is polished with a glazing agent: shellac, a resin from an insect. It is what makes them gleam, and it is worth knowing if you avoid insect-derived ingredients.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe honest bit: this is not quite the recipe it was.\u003c\/strong\u003e Meiji has cut back the cocoa butter and raised the vegetable fat, when cocoa prices climbed. It touched around forty Meiji products, and regular buyers in Japan noticed and said so plainly — you should hear that from us rather than find it later.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains milk, almond and soy. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing first. There is no resealable zip on it: the inner tray closes over but nothing seals, so it is a box to get through rather than one to keep half-open. It is still chocolate in an Australian climate: it handles better than most because of that coating, but keep it somewhere cool, which is Meiji's own instruction too. And if you are weighing it against the other two Meiji boxes, the difference is texture and coating rather than quality: this one is crisp under plain milk chocolate, the macadamia is soft, and the matcha is this same almond under a green-tea coating.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Meiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48289821458658,"sku":"SH-SNK-0027","price":6.03,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/meiji-almond-chocolate-pack.webp?v=1788098089","url":"https:\/\/shintop.com.au\/products\/meiji-almond-chocolate","provider":"Shintop Trading Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}