Since I'm half-French but born in the United States, I have fond memories of the delicious caramels and caramel-flavored sweets I enjoyed on my trips to France. Now that I live in Japan, however, whenever I want some caramel, my first choice is Morinaga's Milk Caramel.

Not only are they delicious and come in a convenient package, but they're easy to find, sold at convenience stores, supermarkets, and train station kiosks everywhere, and very reasonably priced, at 96 cents US (at current rates) for a box of 12.

Morinaga's Milk Caramel was first sold by Morinaga & Co., Ltd. in 1913. The retro-looking golden-yellow box is one of the oldest designs still used by an existing product today. The words 滋養豊富風味絶佳 "nutritious and delicious" flanking the product name in the center harken back to the Taisho Era (1912-1926) when marketing shifted from a focus on caramels as a luxury product and cigarette-replacement for adults to a treat good for growing children, as it contains Vitamin A, D, B1, B2, and Niacin as well as calcium and iron.

Morinaga was the first company in Japan to sell caramels in paper containers instead of tins, and the pocketable paper package was the key factor to its initial success. The simple but elegant design makes it so easy to access the caramels: just slide out the tray and take one...

Unlike some caramels which stick to their wrappers, these caramels are designed to be easy to unwrap. Morinaga actually developed their own machines in 1928 to individually wrap their caramels and this attention to detail has remained ever since.

So, what does Morinaga's Milk Caramel taste like?

It has a creamy, rich, butterscotch taste, which is incredibly smooth when it melts in your mouth. The caramels have just the right amount of sweetness, and they're not cloyingly sweet, which lets the flavor of milk come out. The taste reminds me of the crème caramel (flan) my grandmother made. You can really tell that it's made with simple but good quality ingredients.

Another thing I appreciate about Morinaga's Milk Caramel is that there's no graininess as you let them dissolve in your mouth as some caramels can have. Of course, that's assuming you can resist long enough to let them melt in your mouth in the first place! They're so addictive the whole box will be gone before you know it!

The most recent version of the packaging features cute illustrations (a total of 6) on the inner tray by Tomoko Shintani which you can enjoy as 3D art when you combine them with the film case. For example, this one says おさんぽのとも osanpo no tomo, meaning "your companion on walks," since Morinaga's Milk Caramel is recommended as a pick-me-up when you're enjoying activities.

Morinaga's Milk Caramel also comes in a pouch, in a big box (with larger caramels), and two additional flavors, Azuki (red bean) and, for a limited time, pistachio. For more information on the lineup, visit their website here.

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Morinaga's Milk Caramel product information

• Name (JP): 森永ミルクキャラメル
• Name (EN): Morinaga's Milk Caramel
• Format: Paper case (standard size)
• Quantity: 12 caramels
• Ingredients: Sweetened condensed milk, sugar, sweetened skimmed condensed milk, vegetable oil and fat, wheat protein hydrolysate, butter, malt extract, kuromitsu (syrup made from kokutō brown sugar), salt / sorbitol, emulsifier (from soybean), flavoring
• Nutritional Information per caramel (4.9 g standard weight): Energy 21 kcal, Protein 0.19 g, Fat 0.51 g, Carbohydrates 3.8 g (sugars 2.9 g), Salt equivalent 0.012 g, Calcium 5.1 mg, Iron: 0.044 mg, Niacin: 0.20 mg, Vitamin A: 18 μg, Vitamin B1: 0.0098 mg, Vitamin B2: 0.010 mg, Vitamin D: 0.37 μg
• Allergen information: Milk, Wheat, Soybeans. Manufactured in a facility that also processes peanuts and almonds.
• Caution: Dental fillings, etc. may become detached when eating caramel.

You can also find out more information on Morinaga's Milk Caramel's history, along with a fascinating collection of advertisement posters dating from the Meiji Era when you visit their website.