Spam's New Limited-Edition Flavor Is Perfect For Musubi (Find It Only At This Grocery Chain)

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You might say that Spam is to ham what Pringles are to potato chips — both food products resemble the original in some respects but carve out their own indefinable categories. While they may be considered knockoffs or not quite the real deal, they share one important thing in common — their respective marketing teams know how to keep things fresh with a steady stream of wacky flavors. While Pringles has introduced non-potato-chippy flavors like white chocolate peppermint, Spam has countered with pumpkin spice and figgy pudding. The latest flavor for this canned meat brand, however, is something that probably has a lot more mass appeal: Japanese barbecue sauce. And you'll only find it exclusively at Walmart.

This new Spam variety is a collab with Bachan's, a brand that some claim produces the very best Japanese-style barbecue sauce. (Two-packs of Bachan's, original and flavored, are available on Amazon if you're unable to find them in the grocery store.) Unfortunately, Japanese barbecue sauce-flavored Spam is a limited-time item and exclusive to Walmart beginning March 7 (unless you snag one on eBay, listed at wildly inflated prices as soon as Walmart discontinues the flavor). 

If you're a fan of Spam musubi, a famous Hawaiian dish consisting of a slice of Spam sitting atop rice and wrapped in seaweed, you might want to stock up on this Japanese barbecue sauce-flavored product while it lasts. It offers the perfect shortcut, since there's no need to flavor the Spam with soy sauce, sugar, or other condiments.

Spam may be seen as a bit of a joke food by many of us here in the United States, but the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. Spam, supplied courtesy of the World War II-era Lend-Lease Act, helped to feed starving Soviet and British soldiers. It also made its way to Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea, where it was adopted into several culinary traditions. One popular Korean dish that contains Spam is budae jjigae, a Korean Army base stew. 

The newest Japanese barbecue Spam would fit right in such a recipe, while its sweet-savory flavor would also complement curries. It could even be combined with scrambled eggs and elbow macaroni to make a Hong Kong-style soup, or substituted for pig's head and chicken livers in the Filipino dish called sisig.

Spam is also super-popular in Hawaii, where it can be found in numerous other recipes besides musubi. Spam fried rice has been around for decades and has been joined by dishes like Spam wontons, Spam burgers, and Spam loco moco (Spam with rice and eggs). Spam loco moco can even be found on the breakfast menu at some Hawaiian McDonald's restaurants, where it is simply listed as the Spam, eggs, and rice platter. You needn't travel to the islands to experience any of these Spammy delights, though. All of them would be easy enough to recreate at home, and they'd taste even better if made with the Japanese barbecue variety of the world's favorite potted pork product.