[Tyrol Choco]
Everyone is familiar with the small square Tyrol Choco. Matsuo Seika, the creator of Tyrol Choco, was founded in 1903 as a confectionery manufacturer in Ita-mura, Tagawa-gun (now Tagawa City), Fukuoka Prefecture.
The lovely name "Tyrol" comes from the Austrian state of Tyrol, where the second president of Matsuo Seika, Yoshinobu Matsuo, visited to develop the product. It is a region of beautiful and magnificent nature.
Mr. Matsuo once devised the idea of selling caramels in bulk out of his own desire to provide poor children with sweets, and the product became a big hit. This led him to decide to sell chocolate, which at the time was difficult to obtain because of its high quality, at a price that children could afford, and he decided on a unit price of 10 yen even before making the product.
However, due to budget constraints, the cost of raw materials would have exceeded the cost of using all chocolate, so milk nougat (nougat: candy made by boiling down sugar and syrup and hardening it with nuts and other ingredients) was added to the chocolate to cut costs. The first Tyrol Chocos were sold in 1962.
I wonder how many smiles were brought to the faces of those who opened the small wrappers. How did the child feel when he or she put the first 10 yen piece of chocolate in his or her mouth? And how did the family feel when they saw that smile? Of course, things change over time, but I feel that by learning about our roots in this way, we can encounter something that has not changed.
The factory is still located in Tagawa, and there is even a Tyrol Choco outlet store nearby. There is an array of individually unwrapped, bargain-priced chocolates and other items, and there is the possibility of encountering not only standard flavors, but also rare products! Each time I visit, the selection is different, which makes it even more enjoyable. It might be a good idea to go there to make a selection for Valentine's Day.
Iga ware's Katate Cocotte
https://www.shokunin.com/en/iga/
Wakamatsu Showroom
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/wakamatsu.html
Tyrol Choco Outlet Shop
https://goo.gl/maps/NqkuvALqBTKjm3oo8
References
https://www.tirol-choco.com/
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%81%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AB%E3%83%81%E3%83%A7%E3%82%B3
https://food-mania.jp/tirolchocolate-tirol-milknougat/
