Italian Chestnut Marron Brulee with Caramel Crush by Tokushima Sangyo, Ishikawa, at Lawson's

After sweet potato season in Japan, it is chestnut or marron season. Since crème brûlée is something trending for seasonal flavours, there was a sweet potato crème brûlée selling in convenience stores, and now it is time for chestnut or marron crème brûlée. This time, it is Italian Chestnut Marron Brûlée with Caramel Crush by Tokushima Sangyo (Ishikawa Prefecture), which frequently sells its snacks at Lawson's, were I bought it.
Italian Chestnut Marron Brulee with Caramel Crush by Tokushima Sangyo, at Lawson's
This was actually one of the rare convenience store desserts that I was somewhat disappointed by.

The flavour profile itself was decent - the emphasis was on the darker, earthy and nutty notes of chestnut. There was not much vanilla, floral or creamy aspects of chestnut. But this was still an acceptable flavour profile.
Italian Chestnut Marron Brulee at Lawson's - close-up texture
What I was disappointed by, though, is that it was like a very diluted water-based pudding or starchy jelly (or diluted starchy mochi) without much cream or even chestnut essence or paste. It felt like the sweetness was also quite strong for how weak the chestnut flavour was, and there was equal parts of sweet flavour as chestnut flavour, and together they formed only two-thirds of the entire pudding flavour, hence quite diluted and quite a disappointment. Like a diluted youkan or chestnut tea. I think it is even visible in the photo below, based on how thin and almost transluscent some parts of the brown jelly are. If you see the photo of the packaging further below, you can see that the outcome is such a far cry from expectations - the picture was creamy and yellow, whereas the real thing is light brown and almost transluscent.
Italian Chestnut Marron Brulee at Lawson's - starchy jelly texture
There was not much creaminess at all either, which could be why they technically called this a brûlée rather than a crème brûlée... and that refers to the topped caramelised crunchy sugar, which is actually the separate packet of what they call "caramel crush". 

However, the caramel crush was also not particular tasty. It tasted more like a brown sugar with a hint of darkness rather than having any burnt notes of caramel. It dissolved into the moisture of the jelly too as you can see in the picture, so it wasn't even crunchy for much at all. And its sweetness worsened the already sweet and relatively flavourless jelly. 

Finally, here is the packaging and the ingredients list (click photo to enlarge to read text). As expected, sugar is the first ingredient, although marron paste follows 2nd, which is slightly commendable. There sugared egg yolk and skim milk... no cream, which explains the diluted flavour. The rest are thickening agents, namely denko (which is used for starchy textures) and kanten (which is used for jelly)... so the "starchy jelly" texture is also reflected in the ingredients.
Italian Chestnut Marron Brulee at Lawson's - packaging
Italian Chestnut Marron Brulee at Lawson's - ingredients list
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this unless you're looking for something that is very light and perhaps refreshing. Not if you like creamy custard like puddings.

Discover other chestnut treats

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