In mid-2017, Calbee released regional limited flavours for its popular Jagariko line. This Calbee Jagariko Hokkaidō Zangi is one such flavour.
Zangi is Hokkaidō’s take on Japanese fried chicken or karaage. It’s said to distinguish itself by having the raw chicken marinated in soy sauce, sake, mirin, sesame oil, ginger, honey and garlic before it is covered in batter with a high starch content that results in ridges forming when the chicken is fried that lead to extra crispiness and pockets of flavour
Each tub has around 30 sticks that are golden brown colour – much darker than the pale yellow of standard Jagariko – with sizeable flecks of darker brown throughout.
These Jagariko have a faint aroma of chicken. Upon tasting, the flavour of fried chicken and soy sauce are prominent from the start, developing in their depth through to mid-bite when notes of sesame oil, ginger and garlic become distinguishable from the soy sauce and linger through into the aftertaste. The potato base here acts as a super crispy vehicle – rather than as a flavour of itself – for the intensely meaty flavour to create the sensation of eating the crispy batter of well-fried chicken.
This tub of Calbee Jagariko Hokkaidō Zangi contained 52 g. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Ōsaka, Japan in 2018.