Clever container even has its own self-contained maple syrup serving.

Like most red-blooded American kids, I spent the majority of my childhood with the firm belief that the best pudding flavor, unquestionably, was chocolate. Then I grew up and moved to Japan, where the standard flavor for pudding (or purin, as it’s locally called), an eggy custard, became a strong contender for throne.

Then I tried matcha green tea purin, and it was so delicious I pretty much thought the contest was over. But now Japan is poised to shake up my pudding preferences once again with the creation of pancake pudding!

Morinaga is best known as a confectioner, but it also produces Japan’s most popular pancake mix. To celebrate the company’s 60-year anniversary in the griddlecake business, Morinaga has recently announced that it will be adding Hotcake-Style Purin to its product lineup, and that it will recreate the buttery, starchy goodness of freshly cooked pancakes. As a Japanese pudding, it’ll likely have a thicker consistency than Western varieties, but still be soft enough to eat with a spoon.

But while the pancake pudding will allow you to ditch the knife and fork you’d ordinarily need to plow through a short stack, maple syrup remains a must. If you take another look at the package, you might notice that while the lid is circular, the base is divided into two sections. The larger one contains the pudding, and inside the smaller is an extra-sweet maple syrup. Once you peel off the lid, you fold the smaller section of the cup upward, sending the syrup cascading down onto the pudding while keeping your fingertips clean.

Morinaga’s Hotcake-Style Pudding goes on sale October 3 in convenience stores and supermarkets, priced at just 140 yen (US$1.30), making it an extremely affordable way to get your flapjack fix. And who knows, maybe if it really takes off, someday we’ll see matcha green tea pancake pudding too.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun via Otakomu, PR Times
Top image: PR Times

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s pretty much constantly looking for an excuse to eat purin.