I had never heard of Haw Flakes—made with hawthorn berry—until recently, but I learned they are a snack staple of many Chinese-American childhoods. The texture was a surprise to me, both flaky and a bit chewy. I liked that these were fruity and not too sweety.

My impression of this brand of licorice really depends on the flavor.

• “Tropical” was juicy and delicious.

• Green apple flavor was pretty good.

• Raspberry tasted weird and chemical and I ended up throwing the rest of those away.

These maple sandwich-style cookies are solidly alright for me, maybe a touch too sweet; my partner in snacks is a fan. I do find the maple leaf shape of the cookies very pleasing, and love the attention to detail on the veins of the leaves.

I don’t like white chocolate, but these are pretty good—maybe a 3.5 stars, but I’ll round up. The sakura flavor and consistency of Nama chocolates really improves white chocolate.

This was my first time trying ROYCE’ chocolates, and wow these are so nice. They have a squishier, chewier consistency—almost like fudge, definitely in truffle territory at least. The cacao powder does get on your fingers a little bit, but I find I don’t mind.

Chip Star chips have a similar shape and texture to Pringles, if you’re familiar with those. I was curious about this lemon flavor, so decided to try them out. They’re solidly okay. I would say the lemon flavor doesn’t have much zing to it. Perhaps the flavor was modeled after a particularly sweet lemon, since the manufacturers couldn’t use sugar here to balance out the sour.

These are pretty dang good. I had no idea what to expect from the flavor (beef with mayo and chili oil???), but it really and truly tastes like what’s on the bag. It almost freaks me out just a bit. These are best savored, a few chips at a time.

No idea what makes chili oil masculine; likely a wonky translation.

I love a gummy with two different textures. This one has a traditional gummy feel on the outside and a jelly on the inside, which is a nice combination. Interestingly, the shape of the gummy (say, a raspberry) doesn’t always match the flavor of the jelly (e.g. orange flavor). Great little gummies, though with neglible vitamin C content.

Bought these as a train snack. The lime and pink peppercorn flavor is nice and bright, and not too overpowering. The flavor builds on the aftertaste and as you eat, chip to chip.

My partner in snacks: yep, that’s a flavor that delivers on its promise.