Japanese snack Umaibo asks fans to choose their favourite flavours in inaugural Umaibo ranking

Snack fans vote to decide once and for all which is the best flavour of Umaibo.

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 (US 9 cents), 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 flavours available. There are currently fifteen different flavours of Umaibo in circulation nationwide, with some areas of Japan getting their own region-specific Umaibo flavours (for example, okonomiyaki flavour is only available in the Kansai area).

▼ The vegetable salad flavour is available nationwide though, and is my personal favourite

With so many flavours 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 flavours, as voted for online by 182,000 snack fans. Did your favourite make the list?

Top Ten Umaibo Flavours
10. Shrimp mayonnaise (236 votes)
9. Sugar rusk (353 votes)
8. Chocolate (372 votes)
7. Salami (621 votes)
6. Vegetable salad (653 votes)
5. Natto (fermented soy beans) (750 votes)
4. Takoyaki (916 votes)
3. Cheese (1,020 votes)
2. Mentaiko (spicy cod roe) (1,985 votes)
1. Corn potage (2,328 votes)

Taking the first place position was corn potage flavour. Corn potage (sometimes known as Japanese corn soup) is a soup made from corn, onion, milk, and heavy cream, and is a hugely popular flavour in Japan. As well as being available in canned, drinkable form, other companies have made their own corn potage flavoured 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 flavour took the number one spot. The top three flavours (corn potage, mentaiko, cheese) were also the three flavours 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 flavour 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 flavour 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
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