Kakigori Ramune Candy

We've had our fill of popsicle candy in this TokyoTreat, and now it's time for another cooling summer treat in the form of shaved ice! This is always that thing that you find on a super hot festival day and then it becomes the most appealing thing in the world... and it's fairly hot now, so I come to this snack with the same request. It seems that it has a cooling sensation much like the popsicle kit, and I'm certainly ready to be cooled. Hopefully everything will gel with the strawberry and ramune flavors a little better this time.

The candy, as depicted on the package, comes in these tiny tablets, which is good because, while tiny, it ensures I'll think twice before eating them all at once. Or maybe not if they're amazing. Both have a sweet vibrant smell with their respective flavors shining through and have a chalky texture, as some of it rubs off on my paws.

I pop the strawberry one in my mouth and it has a very satisfying pop as I bite through it, and I get the cooling sensation that was promised to me. It's a bit different from a purely strawberry candy, the flavor definitely seems more like the strawberry syrup that comes out of those shaved ice machines, which means it's quite accurate, and the sweetness and cooling sensation skew it away from a purely strawberry flavor. This is not a bad thing, actually it's a pretty refreshing difference, and the cooling sensation is used very well here, not being overbearing or obscuring the flavor. I already feel a little more cooled down, as I start to pant less. The ramune flavor also provides some nice refreshment. It has the rare distinction from other ramune snacks of actually feeling like it quenches my thirst, in part because of the wonderful cooling feeling. This takes everything the popsicle snack tried to do and does it right, managing to capture all the sensations of shaved ice in one convenient candy. I should keep more of these around for the summer!

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!

DIY Popsicle Kit

Summer is rapidly approaching, and though it's still a little chilly outside here, TokyoTreat comes to the rescue for those hot days with this popsicle kit. Oh, you mean there's no actual freezing involved? Well then it's perfect for days like today! It'll be interesting to see if they try to still make this kit have the cooling sensation that popsicles are known so well for.

Much like the candy apple kit, the contents are simple: some pre-made candies and two toppings. I'm not sure what exactly the toppings are, looks like a syrup and... powdered sugar? I taste a bit of the syrup and it seems to be ramune flavored, and the powder... what is this stuff? It has such a cooling sensation to it, I'm really impressed, whatever this is. The ramune candy doesn't have much of a smell, but there's an intoxicating strawberry smell coming from the entire package.

The assembly process is not the cleanest one. The syrup adheres well, but the cooling powder in turn doesn't seem to adhere that well to the syrup. It actually seems to merge with it a bit, which is a little odd. But here we go! It's an odd combination of flavors. The strawberry candy is nice, but I feel like it needs something different than what's presented to it. The ramune syrup and cooling are nice touches, but it still doesn't give me a popsicle sensation. I guess I am crunching it and not licking it after all, but what's a hungry pup to do? The ramune one is even more questionable. It comes off a little strong at first, but has a weird aftertaste? Something about it is not pleasant and I can't put my finger on it, but it crosses the flavor line into a not-so-great place. Overall I can't really recommend this one, the strawberry candy is okay, but every other decision going into these popsicles is questionable.

Rating: 2 - Awrr

Marukawa Kirby Mix 'n Match Gum

Even though I've gone through the anime snack box, this is Japan, so there's always more on the horizon! Or at my local Japanese market. This one is equal parts cute and iconic being Kirby, and what better way to celebrate a character that can copy so many powers by swallowing them with this gum having many different flavors and combinations? Since Kirby swallows so many enemies to do this, it'll maybe make me feel like I'm doing the same, except the powers I'd get from these... wouldn't be all that interesting.

There are a total of five flavors here, which are yogurt, soda (ramune), orange, apple, and the ever-enigmatic prank gum. That last one in particular scares me, what could it be? The combinations add another layer to this, where I can get flavors like... an orange apple hybrid? Intetive. Also lemonade, apple cider, milk tea, ice cream float, and cola. The last type of mix 'n match snack I had actually delivered on its wacky mixing promises, so maybe I'll get just those flavors here too.

Maruta Nericcho Soft Ice Cream DIY, Strawberry and Cider

Japanese candy includes many attempts at imitating ice cream without the meltiness, with varying but usually positive degrees of success. Now we have it in DIY form, with two flavors and these very happy little ice cream cones filling each other. The cider flavor (which likely means ramune) is of particular note, as I haven't had ice cream quite like that before. Maybe it'll work, maybe it'll be a disaster, or somewhere in between.

The contents of this DIY are quite simple, but simplicity can be sweet. A packet representing the ice cream, a spoon, and three cones. Which seems like a bargain considering only two are shown on the package!

One Piece Bubbly Jelly DIY

 

Been a while since I've had a jelly DIY! These are always pretty fun except for figuring out how to eat them of course, because those tiny straws never cut it. This one also comes in the slightly more unique flavor of melon, which I at first haven't been a fan of but it's certainly growing on me as I try more and more melon snacks. Japan just does the flavor justice. This one also seems to come with a reusable cup, which actually worries a bit because the snacks with reusable cups I've had before haven't been good. Can this one break the mold?

Pretty simple setup this time, but also more involved than the other collectible cup DIY drinks, haing two packets. Likely this means there's a soda and jelly layer, like a DIY drink I had a while back. There's also a spoon instead of a straw, yay! No issues with trying to slurp up thick jelly, which is always a plus. The souvenir cup is nice too, but these are always so tiny that I don't know what to do with them.

Meigum Colorful Seeds Soft Candy

So many flavors in this one little package, how exciting! True to it's name, Colorful Seeds seems to have... a lot of color. Three colors to be exact. It's comprised of orange, ramune, and grape candy. It even encourages you to mix the flavors together, for flavors such as orange soda, grape soda, and... apple? How does that work from combining orange and grape? Meigum is a genius if they can get that one to work.

As expected, purple, orange, and white candies lie within. The ramune candies have both a different shape and texture from the others as it's in tablet form and grittier. Sniffing the bag... is a wild experience. So many fruity flavors colliding with each other. Maybe apple is lurking within there somewhere?

Starting with the orange one, it has a texture to it that I absolutely LOVE. Reminds me of Sprees, the way it puts up a little resistance to my canines as they make their way through and unleash the layers of orange flavor. The flavor is what you'd expect from an orange flavored candy, a little tangy and a little sweet, not the most natural tasting ever but quite pleasant. The grape one I like even more, the flavor really pops out and has this really nice rich taste to it, like I was biting through a slightly chewier grape. Lastly the ramune one. The texture is vastly different, it's that chalky texture where ramune bursts in my mouth with its light airy flavor. It's really nice and refreshing, and no liquid required!

As for the combinations... grape soda combines the refreshment of the ramune and pop of the grape and it is quite amazing! Orange soda actually seems very accurate to its name, as the tangy orange flavor gets a little lightness and coolness to it with the addition to the ramune. And the moment of truth? Somehow the combination of grape and orange actually does remind me of apple. The two seem to neuter each other out in a way that creates a light crisp apple flavor. I'm actually shocked by this. What kind of mad scientist came up with this??? This is so impressive! The three together... it's pretty chaotic and really hard to tell what's going on. You'd think it makes apple soda but then you get the grape and orange soda flavors in there too...

I wasn't expecting to like this that much, but after discovering the apple combination this is truly something special. Meigum managed to make this candy both delicious and fun!

Rating: 10 - AWOOOOO)O!!!

Meigum Puchi Puchi Sherbet

Many of the DIY kits I've gotten outside of the Kracie ones have been very simplistic and nothing groundbreaking (but still very fun and delicious). This one from Meiji looks to buck that trend as there is a lot going on here. It seems to have three molds, all with different textures and colors, and some spherification action going on! Haven't seen that since the sushi kit. I'm not really sure how this is considered sherbet, considering it doesn't resemble the ice cream style dish at all, but no worries. Going to be a lot of fun either way!

About the number of components expected here lies inside. Three bags for the different layers, along with the animal molds and square containers. More animal molds than I thought - there's a snail, cat, pig, panda, owl, and turtle. How exciting! Also the only tool included is a dropper which is good for the spheres but could be trouble for everything else.

Christmas Kuppi Ramune

One last Christmas item comes back to haunt this blog in February, oh no! I found this in the clearance section of my local Japanese market, and of course with a cute cover like that it was worth a try. I'm not too sure what this is other than a ramune tablet, but I guess we'll find out.

Taking the tablet out of the package sure didn't reveal anything new - it's a plain white tablet. And it appears to have no smell at all! The texture is a bit chalky, and that's about all it revealed.

When I put it in my mouth the fun begins. It definitely has a chalky texture all the way throughout, though the taste is not the ramune flavor I've come to expect. It actually tastes... creamy? No, that can't be. It actually dissolved way too fast for me to figure it out so I have to try another one. No, there's no mistaking it, instead of the usual ramune flavor there's more of a buttery milky taste. It's strange, but kinda good? It's not over-the-top sweet but the flavors are more confusing than anything to write home about. And of course, it's gone way too quickly and doesn't leave any sort of lasting satisfaction.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Puchao Ramune Flavor

This is one of the few examples of candy on this blog that was found at a local supermarket! So that means, either it's super mainstream or one of the best out there. Or... a lot of other things. But anyways, this gummy comes in quite a few flavors, but I picked out the ever-popular ramune flavor as my first go, and like the Hi-Chew I tried earlier, it comes with bubbles. It'll be quite interesting to see how these two compare.

Morinaga Hi-Chew Soda & Cola

While I have not reviewed Hi-Chews here yet, I LOVE them! The flavors are so strong, and satisfying, and have just the right amount of chew to stay in my maw for a while while not overstaying their welcome. So when applying the ever-present soda flavors to this candy, I expect great things, already having a lot of Japanese soda candy. I assume the soda one may actually be ramune? Guess I'll find out.

As predicted, the blue one does seem to have a ramune taste. Actually, it may be the same as the "tutti frutti" flavor I described earlier. Interestingly this one has a more deformed shape than most of the Hi-Chews that come in uniform shapes, and no visible filling. Maybe the flavor is the same throughout the chew?

Kracie Popin Cookin Taiyaki

These look like quite the varied batch of snacks to make! The star of it of course is the taiyaki, a fish shaped pastry kinda like a waffle, with the filling of your choice (in this case chocolate). From there other Japanese desserts seem to be included: strawberry daifuku, a cup of ramune, and mitarashi dango, which appears to be soy sauced glazed mochi. And it uses the microwave, which is different. Not sure if that's because the products are meant to be eaten hot or because the microwave cooks the various powder/water mixtures.

Bottle Sour Candy, Cider

Possibly the weirdest thing I've seen in this Japan Crate, Bottle Sour candy, is simply a bottle... of sour powder. That brings the question of how exactly to eat it, pour it into my mouth? Eat it from my paw? Pour it onto something else? The possibilities are limitless. Of the selection of random flavors, I got the cider flavor, with a blue color. I'm not exactly sure what that flavor may entail, it may just taste like ramune. I would be okay with that!

I open up the bottle (thankfully I can as my paws are little), and pour some on my paw. There's not really a smell here. But the taste is distinctly ramune, and a pleasant ramune flavor at that. The powder is not obnoxiously sour thankfully, but it's definitely there and has a good bit of sweetness to balance it out. The powder is really interesting texture-wise, it dissolves pretty quickly into kind of a chalky texture resembling the fueramune candies that makes you just want to keep grabbing more of the powder. And while the bottle is tiny, there's enough powder in here to be satisfied for a good amount of time. Very pleasant experience! If you can get past the awkward method of delivery into your mouth. It might be easier for you people with actual hands...

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!

Christmas Fueramune

It's another whistle candy! I'm going to take a guess and say that fueramune means whistle ramune or something like that because I think I remember the pineapple one having this name too. This one though, is not any particular flavor so I have no idea what it's going to taste like. Pretty sure I've seen ramune soda but haven't drank much of it, at least it's been to long for me to have a sense of the flavor. But at the very least, we've got some fun Santa packaging and whistling to go along with the candy!

Fue Ramune Whistle Candies: Pineapple

Yep, you read that right. Whistle candies! Seems like Japan likes to have a little more fun with their food, so they created these candies that are basically like Lifesavers, but you can whistle through the little hole in them. Cool right? They probably don't have these in America because American children are annoying and loud as it is, so this would make it even worse. Bleh. Good thing the alpha wolves scare them away every time. As a side note, there are actually 8 in this package, but I've already tried a few out of sheer curiosity. They're fun, I'll tell you that much!

November Japan Crate Odds and Ends

Aruff! Hi everyone, this is my first blog post so thank you all for reading as I begin this journey. I have quite the appetite, especially for new and out there stuff, and like any good boy I want to share all my food adventures with you.

But before we begin I'd be amiss if I didn't talk about the Japan Crate that just arrived a few weeks ago, and that would be my first Japanese candy box, the November Japan Crate. I started off getting a three month subscription and we'll see where things go for there. I'm all for whatever gets me the yummiest snacks at the best value.

Now since I've already scarfed up most of the snacks in here I won't do a full review for everything, but I'll give mini reviews for ones that I ate long ago.

Kagikko Chocolate Key - This one's pretty self explanatory - it's a bunch of chocolates arranged in a key shape. Why? I have no idea. It seems there are a bunch of these out there all in different shapes. The candies themselves tasted exactly like M&Ms, maybe a bit smaller. I ate them almost immediately because nobody eats just one M&M. Cool idea to arrange them in a shape I guess, but I wish the candy itself was more unique?

Rating: 3 - Rrr

Rilakkuma Gum - Okay first of all this packaging is ADORABLE! I love how cute Japanese packaging can be and this one certainly made me whimper in adoration. The gum itself surprisingly had a ridge shape to it, but once in my mouth it behaved like any other gum. It had a nice cola flavor which at first was pretty strong then it lost flavor quickly, which is kind of sad. I suppose I'm used to Extra.

Rating: 4 - Boof!