Snack Review: Sweet Potato Monaka Ice Cream

It's fall in Japan, which means that satsuma imo, kabocha and kuri reign supreme. (That would be sweet potato, Japanese pumpkin, and chestnut... mmmm.) There are a wealth of seasonal products on the shelves right now, but I always seem to be drawn to the freezer bins in search of new, interesting items.

We always have a box of some sugary junk in our freezer - whether it's ice cream sandwiches, mochi ice cream, or chocolate dipped bars. The thing I've noticed is that Japanese ice cream isn't necessarily good. The quality is relatively low* and portion sizes are small... but the novelty factor is high, and that totally makes up for the lack of decent ice cream.

I mean... where ELSE in the world are you going to find a potato shaped and flavored ice cream bar?!

This monaka boasts the flavors of sweet potato from Kagoshima Prefecture and has a dyed outer shell to mimic the look of the real thing. Inside is sweet potato-flavored ice cream with a layer of sweet potato paste or jam... this stuff is pure sugar goop, but it's delicious sugar goop.

The colors and shape made this really fun to eat. As you can see in the above pictures, the shell had not only the coloring but the dimpling that a real potato would have (but thankfully none of the dirt). It was quite thin and did a good job of staying together even after the ice cream melted a little.

Edit: According to the manufacturer's website this is not an ice cream product, but rather an "ice milk" product. Whatever that means.

Compared to the packaging, the actual ice cream bar is quite small. The inside was supposed to be satsma-imo flavored as well, but it was really overshadowed by the potato-sugar-goop. I wish there was a little less of it. 

In terms of taste I would give this a 3 out of 5. It was good (by virtue of the fact that I'm a sucker for anything sweet potato) but it was really one dimensional in terms of flavor and almost sickeningly sweet. I wouldn't eat it again, but I'm glad I gave it a shot.

Even though I wasn't a huge fan, this "oimo monaka" has its own hashtag on Twitter and is listed as one of the top seasonal ice cream treats this year so I recommend checking it out for yourself! It retails for about 130 yen and can be found at your local grocer this fall and winter.






* When I say that ice cream quality is low, I mean that it pales in comparison to my beloved hometown Ben and Jerry's. Nothing can compete with my first and true ice cream love.