That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
I don’t mean to brag, but the area I grew up in had a cookie factory in it. And the main reason this was such a great thing was that right next to this factory was a tiny little shop selling all the broken cookies that came out of the factory at a reduced price. It was great because a cookie doesn’t taste any different if it’s cracked.
Now, major food manufacturer Morinaga is taking this concept to a national level, and from 28 June, they’ll begin selling Imperfect Moonlight (Wakeari Moonlight). Moonlight cookies date back to 1960 and are a very simple concoction of ingredients that bring out a sweet and light eggy flavor. Their name is obviously due to the fact that they look like little Moons.
▼ A typical box of Moonlight cookies
And now they’ll also be available in imperfect Moon shapes too. These are Moonlight cookies that have suffered cracks, chipping, breakage, or have additional flour still stuck to them from the manufacturing process. All of these things have no effect on the taste of the cookies but might turn off someone who paid full price for a box.
Packages of these special Moonlight cookies will be labeled with “Imperfect” (訳あり) and for those who don’t notice or can’t read it, the bags also proudly display pictures of broken biscuits alongside their intact brethren, suggesting that buyers will get a mix of cookie quality. It’s like an adventure in every bag!
Morinaga says that the new line of Moonlight cookies is a part of their goal to reduce food loss by 70 percent. In addition to selling broken cookies, they are trying to use food resources more efficiently and promote recycling.
The company doesn’t specify a suggested retail price for these cookies, leaving it up to individual stores. Regular Moonlight cookies tend to be cheap as they are, so it’s hard to imagine much more of a price reduction. The weight on the package is 336 grams and since a single Moonlight cookie weighs about eight grams, one pack of Imperfect Moonlight could contain in the neighborhood of 40 cookies – considerably more than the 14 cookies a normal box holds.
So, instead of reducing the price, perhaps the value will come in the form of jacking up the amount of cookies. That must be what readers of the news are assuming, because they seemed really jazzed up about these cookies in online comments.
“Still looks good to me.”
“I’m so excited about this.”
“This is great!!! More of this please!!!”
“Whoever thought of this is a genius.”
“I love Moonlight and will definitely get this.”
“Those cookies are the best.”
“It could be totally coated in flour and I’d still eat it.”
“I wonder if they’ll have enough broken cookies to meet the demand.”
“I usually break them anyway. This just saves me the trouble.”
I tend to break most of my cookies too, only I do it by accident just trying to get them out of the wrapper. So if Morinaga wants to save me that step then I’m all for it, especially if it’s a little cheaper. They’ve already released packs of Pote Long potato sticks that didn’t come out long enough to live up to the name but taste just the same.
Both these products can be purchased from Lohaco, and while Morinaga hasn’t specified any other sales outlets, there’s a good chance they might be found in 100-yen shops soon after.
It would be nice to see more snack makers follow suit and make the whole country like a neighborhood cookie factory. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see an Azuki Bar version of this, because those things are indestructible.
Source: PR Times, My Game News Flash
Images: PR Times (Unless otherwise noted)
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