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food

Umaibo snack maker asks fans to choose their favorite flavors in inaugural ranking

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By Katie Pask, SoraNews24

Umaibo (‘Delicious Stick’) is a Japanese puffed corn snack that’s been around since the 1970s. Part of its enduring popularity is how cheap it is — costing just 12 yen each, meaning even grade schoolers can afford an Umaibo or two after school. Heck, they’re so cheap you could even make a house out of them!

Another reason that Umaibo is so popular is due to the wide range of flavors available. There are currently 15 different flavors of Umaibo in circulation nationwide, with some areas of Japan getting their own region-specific Umaibo flavors (for example, okonomiyaki flavor is only available in the Kansai area).

▼ The vegetable salad flavor is available nationwide though, and is my personal favorite

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With so many flavors to choose from, it might be hard to choose which one to try, but fear not — on January 11th, Umaibo manufacturer Yaokin announced the most popular Umaibo flavors, as voted for online by 182,000 snack fans. Did your favorite make the list?

Top Ten Umaibo Flavors

  1. Shrimp mayonnaise (236 votes)

  2. Sugar rusk (353 votes)

  3. Chocolate (372 votes)

  4. Salami (621 votes)

  5. Vegetable salad (653 votes)

  6. Natto (fermented soy beans) (750 votes)

  7. Takoyaki (916 votes)

  8. Cheese (1,020 votes)

  9. Mentaiko (spicy cod roe) (1,985 votes)

1. Corn potage (2,328 votes)

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Taking the first place position was corn potage flavor. Corn potage (sometimes known as Japanese corn soup) is a soup made from corn, onion, milk, and heavy cream, and is a hugely popular flavor in Japan. As well as being available in canned, drinkable form, other companies have made their own corn potage flavored things — even big international companies like KFC and McDonalds.

Seeing as corn potage is so popular in Japan, it’s not a surprise that the flavor took the number one spot. The top three flavors (corn potage, mentaiko, cheese) were also the three flavors that are Umaibo’s biggest sellers, according to Yaokin. There were a few surprise entries in the top ten though, such as "you either love it or hate it" natto at number 5, a popular flavor of Umaibo due to how similar it tastes to the real thing.

If you ask us though, the best way to figure out the best flavor of Umaibo is to buy a whole bunch of them and taste test them yourself. If the idea of eating a whole bunch of corn snacks doesn’t do it for you though, try grating them up and using them as a coating for fried chicken. We’ve tried it and it works.

Source: Umaibou official website via N Lab

Photos © SoraNews24

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Nissin Cup Noodle flavours become Umaibo snacks, and we try every one of them

-- Online survey sheds light on prefectural personality rankings of Japanese people

-- Regional Culture of Japanese Food Varies Widely From East to West

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

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