Trying A Unique Treat: Misaky Tokyo
Posted on July 17, 2022 Posted by Athena Scalzi 15 Comments
You ever seen a rock and been like, “man I wish I could eat that”? Just have the urge to take a chomp right out of a geode and all its crunchy goodness? I have had this problem my whole life, but even more so after handling so many pretty rock samples in geology class last semester. Thankfully, I found Misaky Tokyo, a candy company that makes edible crystals treats. These crystal candies are vegan and gluten-free, and each piece is handmade in the US.
When I was deciding which box to try back at the end of June, I decided to go with the Pride Box. Normally, I don’t like to buy pride stuff from companies because usually they’re just pandering and all that money goes to super rich CEOs, but I made an exception for this company, because it’s a minority, LGBTQIA+, women owned company, and 5% of profits from each Pride Box get donated. Plus, they were including two all new flavors in this box, so I didn’t want to miss out the chance to try those.
When my package arrived, it came wrapped in a rainbow ribbon.
I’m not sure if they wrap all boxes with ribbons or if this was a special Pride Box only decoration, but it was cute!
Upon opening, there was this label of all the gems and their flavors sitting on top.
There was also another small piece of paper under this one that said that even though the crystals were individually wrapped in plastic, it was a compostable plastic packaging. So that was neat.
After I unwrapped each one, I tried to take this artsy shot, but the three in the back are out of focus as a result. So I just took them out and lined them up regularly.
As you can see, the red one is spinel, and is strawberry cherry flavored. The orange heart-shaped one is an orange sapphire, and is blood orange passionfruit flavored. The hexagonal yellow one is amber, and is yuzu flavored. The green one is jade, and is matcha flavored, and is personally my favorite appearance-wise. The blue topaz and purple jasper were the two new flavors (I’m not positive, but pretty sure). One is lavender, and the other is purple sweet potato, orange, and cinnamon.
I decided just to go in order down the line and try them. So I picked up the red, bit into it, and was surprised when I bit through the crunchy outer layer and hit a gummy center.
Here I thought I had pure rock candy on my hands. The outside was wonderfully crystalline and crunchy, and I was not expecting such a Jell-O-esque inside. However, it was an amazing combination, and worked so perfectly. As for the flavor, it was super good. The strawberry cherry was everything I could’ve hoped for. Anytime I eat something cherry flavored, I worry about it tasting like cough syrup, but I can assure you this cherry flavored candy was delicious, no medicine taste in sight.
Moving on to the orange sapphire, this one had an even thicker layer of the gummy inside.
I actually loved the fact that there was even more Jell-O-y stuff inside than the last one, and the orange flavor was so classic and simple. Totes delicious.
I was excited for the yellow one, because it was yuzu flavored, and usually the only time I get to have yuzu flavored stuff is when I used to get snack boxes from Sakuraco (since it’s a Japanese citrus fruit).
The yellow one had a much slimmer layer of the gummy inside, but had extra crunchy pieces on top, so that was nice. It was a lot closer to the rock candy I had been expecting in the first place. It also tasted great! I was mostly just a lemony flavor, since lemons and yuzu are super similar.
Up next was the prettiest in the box, the jade.
I’m quite used to the flavor of matcha, but only from Starbucks iced matcha lattes, which have 28g of sugar. This was not as sweet. This was earthy, and slightly bitter. It’s like if you’ve only ever had milk chocolate your whole life, and then you bite into a bar of unsweetened baking chocolate. So, though being my favorite in the box appearance-wise, it was my least favorite flavor-wise.
Onto the blue topaz!
Just kidding, because somehow I forgot to photograph this one. Which is unfortunate because it was different than all the others! It wasn’t filled with jelly at all! It was pure, solid rock candy. And boy was it crunchy. And it was wonderfully lavendery. I quite enjoyed this one.
Finally, the purple one.
This one was probably the most underwhelming in terms of texture, because it was the least crunchy on the outside (if you don’t include the white crunchy pieces on top), but also had a thin gummy center. Going back to the orange one, it wasn’t the crunchiest on the outside, but it had an extra thick gummy center. Also, the blue one was super crunchy on the outside, with no filling on the inside. So for this one to be not very crunchy on the outside, and not very filled on the inside, makes it the most underwhelming in the box texturally. The flavor was really great though, if you like ube (Japanese sweet potato, commonly used in desserts).
All in all, this box of candy was supremely enjoyable, and I would totally buy them again, even though they were expensive. I would recommend these if you’re someone like me who seeks out delicious, bougie treats that make you feel fancy and taste amazing. My favorite pieces from this box were definitely the blue topaz and the spinel. I wish I could buy pieces individually, instead of getting the whole box. If I got another box, I would try the Wishing Star Box.
If you’ve tried this brand before, what did you think? Which flavor here sounds the best to you? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
For geology/ crystal fans, try SoapRocks. They are mild glycerin soap, made to resemble semi-precious stones. Many are scented (with generally inoffensive botanical scents which fade pretty quickly) but you can also find unscented ones.
The large ones are pricey, but they last forever. We use them on the bathroom sinks, and one will last more than 6 months. The small sampler packs are cute, but the soap fragments are mostly too small to use easily.
https://www.amazon.com/T-S-Pink-Fire-Opal-Soap/dp/B0006V7GNW
Wow — I’ve never heard of this kind of candy before and it looks (and sounds from your description) very yummy indeed!
This is something I’m tempted to try! I’m glad you reviewed them though, as I would have a very similar disappointment with the matcha.
Fun and a great description.
I’ve never heard of such a thing as this. Rock candy, of course, but this is better. It’s fun and very clever. And apparently pretty delicious.
These look and sound amazing! I went to their website and even put the Wishing Star box in my cart, complete with the 10% discount, before I came to my senses. At $9/piece (before the discount but also before shipping), this is the sort of indulgence I need to think about, that I need to not do just on impulse. I do like that they’re very low carb, though. That’s a win.
Yum!
Unlike Geri above, i didn’t come to my senses and now have a Wishing Star box on its way.
And glad of it
Thanks, Athena. Once again you’ve found something for me to buy for both my nieces’ birthdays. They’re turning 18 in July and August and the Pride Box is ideal for both of them.
You may find https://www.reddit.com/r/forbiddensnacks/ amusing.
Cute looking sweets
For all your Japanese (and other non USian) treats, thanks for the asides about what flavor is what. If you don’t regularly bump into things like yuzu, you might not have any idea about the citrus; I didn’t!
So pretty! I wonder if you could leave them out (just for display) for a couple of weeks without them getting stale. Y’know, have your candy and eat it too.
I like that you show them in your hand, for scale.
And hi, Geri! (wave)
These look great! It looks like this kind of candy is called kohakutou and there are more places making it in Canada (where I live) than I would have expected. Thanks for the interesting review. I may have to try some!
Also, I noticed that Misaky Tokyo has an “influencer affiliates” program and I also noticed that you don’t appear to have gone that route. I’d be curious to read your thoughts some time about the boundaries between a “writer” and an “influencer” — have you actively thought about those as different career options? It seems like you’re a lot more old-school in how you write online.
I’m a pretty serious mineral collector, dug for crystals from Maine to Wyoming and Colorado. I have literally tons of rocks around the place, largest piece is a 400 lb petrified tree from near Petrified Forest National Park (no, I didn’t steal it from the park, there are ranches in that area with giant deposits of petrified wood)!
Anyway, these candies are beautiful, and very mineralized looking — I’m glad they were also delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Nice pic of the whole box, even if the farther three “rocks” are blurry. You may know this already (and disregard if you’re only shooting with your phone), but:
Depth of field (things in focus both near and far) depends on lens aperture, also called f-stop. The larger the aperture (paradoxically, the smaller the f-stop number), the less depth of field, i.e., near things in focus, far things not (or vice versa). The smaller the aperture (higher f-stop number), the more things both near and far will be in focus.
You sorta need a “real camera”–one on which you can control both aperture and shutter speed–to be able to use depth of field effectively, for example to have someone’s face in focus with the background attractively blurred. I’m sure some photo enthusiast (and, based on what I’ve seen, a really good photographer) would be glad to dadsplain all this to you–and he could probably find a spare fancy camera (perhaps under a pile of guitars) for you to play with.