Who among you love chocolate? Please raise your hands. For those who love it, do you enjoy taking it in syrup form, especially with things like ice cream? Another show of hands please. Now for those who also take it in syrup form, do you prefer it to be bitter tasting? A final show of hands please.

Wonderful! It looks like I’m in the right place!

The Old King

For decades, the de facto standard for chocolate syrup here has an imported brand. And no, I won’t name it because after breezing through the three questions earlier, you will most likely know the one I am talking about.

So entrenched in the market, it has done away with competition even, notwithstanding the high price it commands. Such is the power of a good formulation. Sure, other brands have attempted to knock the king off it’s throne but they just cannot seem to get that bitter taste right. Some were cheaper; others came in bigger bottles; even a few had freebies or were packaged with other consumables. Yet the king stayed on top for decades.

I have been one of the king’s patrons for as long as I can remember, which is a pretty long time. When I was a child and didn’t have the means to acquire it, my mother would be the one to purchase it. When I grew up and got a job, it continued to be on my grocery list.

And while I have no complaints about the taste, the premium price it commanded always made a dent in my pocket. I’ll even go as far as to say that I’ve had to get smaller sized containers of ice cream just to be able to buy the imported brand.

The New King

That all ended a few years ago when I spotted Ricoa’s Chocolate Syrup on one of the shelves in my favorite grocery store. So I returned the imported brand to it’s spot and took the smallest bottle, just in case it’s another sweet formulation.

Fortunately for me, it was not sweet at all! In fact, my humble taste buds could not tell the difference between this and the imported brand I returned a few hours earlier!

[The only regret I had was not buying the biggest bottle so I wouldn’t have to wait for the next grocery schedule!]

After being pleasantly surprised with Knorr Mushroom Soup, I decided to load our grocery cart with the rest of Knorr’s soup offerings. And after tasting each one, Knorr Crab and Corn Soup turned out to be another pleasant surprise.

Prior to finding a foil pack on shelves, the only place we enjoyed Crab and Corn Soup is in a restaurant. While it can be prepared from scratch at home, I have always felt that the effort needed far outweighed the pleasure derived from sipping the completed product.

So after discovering Knorr Mushroom Soup in our regular grocery, the company’s version of Crab and Corn Soup offered the promise of convenience. Just by adding an egg and eight hundred milliliters of water, or four cups, one gets to sip a somewhat flavorful concoction after a few minutes of preparation.

For a fraction of the cost charged by a restaurant, not to mention a much shorter time to wait, one can enjoy Crab and Corn Soup in the solace of one’s abode. No need to dress up, no need put on a face mask, and no need to drive through traffic.

Sure, one will have to wash the pan, cup, and teaspoon. Then there is the heavy burden of tossing the spent foil pack in the garbage can. But convenience does come at a price. And if it means I get to watch my favorite show while sipping a cup in the sanctity of my own home, I think it’s worth all that suffering.

Kidding aside, the result of our taste test was a pleasant surprise. I actually expected it to be bland or, worse, taste like medicine. On the contrary, one gets an easy-to-prepare meal that is enough satisfy one’s craving for Crab and Corn Soup.

However, just because it tastes fine does not mean it is perfect. While the flavors are present, some may want more crab and corn bits for a more complete sensation. I myself am alright with it because having to add these items takes away the ease of its preparation.

In addition to this, those who do not want to ingest Monosodium Glutamate and artificial flavors may wish to consider crafting it themselves as they are part of the list of ingredients.

At the end of our evening, Knorr Crab and Corn Soup made it to our grocery list. And since it comes in powder form inside a foil pack, it can be expected to last longer than something already in liquid form, making it perfect whenever the craving comes a-knocking.