Japan’s favourite whisky and chocolate pairing just got even bigger

“Twig” chocolate is a great partner for whisky, but what happens when it becomes a full-on branch?

It’s been 50 years since Morinaga’s Koeda (“Twig”) chocolate was released, and to celebrate the milestone anniversary, the company is going big, releasing a limited-edition Koeda chcolate that’s 50 times larger than the usual knobbly twig-like chocolates.

Released on 21 September, these big twigs have been pretty hard to find, but our intrepid reporter K. Masami was able to track one down recently. Measuring in at 72 grams and around 28 centimetres in length, the little twig Masami picked up looked more like a big branch.

▼ It towered over her cucumber…

▼ …and was around the same length as her cat…

To get a real sense of the monstrous size of the chocolate, she lined it up next to a regular Koeda chocolate. A normal twig is about five centimetres in length and weighs about 1.4 grams, so this new version was truly huge by comparison.

▼ Yup, that’s about 50 little twigs in one serving.

▼ The extra large size means there’s about 50 times more puffed rice pieces to enjoy too.

Masami knew the only way to do justice to a chocolate this special was to pair it with its perfect partner — a glass of good Japanese whisky. The rich chocolate and puffed rice pieces are said to be such a good accompaniment to the spirit that Morinaga even brought out a special whisky-flavoured Koeda back in 2016, and Masami has long been using the little twigs to stir her whiskies.

Tonight, though, Masami’s whisky was going to look very different, and as she placed the new 50th anniversary chocolate into her drink, it felt familiar yet strange at the same time.

Wow. Never in her life did Masami think she’d see her little chocolate grow to be this big. It was now more like a muddler than a stirrer, so she muddled and stirred and then muddled some more, and after taking a sip of her drink she brought the wet end of the stick to her lips and bit into it with glee.

That’s when she realised it wasn’t just the size of the chocolate that had changed, but its taste too. It seemed less crunchy and slightly chewier than usual, and the flavour wasn’t as rich as the little sticks she’s used to.

It just goes to show that size doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things — while the log-like chocolate may have looked impressive at first, in the end it was the more compact versions that packed more of a dense, flavourful punch.

The little twigs may be the best partner for whisky, but the big twigs are still a lot of fun to play with! Priced at 537 yen each, they’re only around for a limited time and until stocks last, so if you come across them, don’t shun them — definitely give them a try. It’s not every day you get to eat a chocolate branch, just like it’s not every day you get to eat chocolate-flavoured fish from a can. But that’s another story…

Photos © SoraNews24 
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