Hokkaido Yubari Melon Chocolate 北海道夕張メロンチョコレート

I received this bag of Yubari Melon Chocolates from a friend in Tokyo. They are made by Sapporo Gourmet Foods. Actually on the pack gourmet is spelled "gurmet" and I know why they made such a mistake because in Japanese gourmet is "gurume", so it's easy to get confused but still you would think they would use a translator at least to get the right spelling.

Anyway, these chocolates are half melons, made to look exactly like the real thing. Each half melon is individually wrapped and there are 12 in the packet. Each melon is green on the outside and textured to look like the outside of a Yubari melon. The inside is bright orange just like the real thing.

The melons really smell like melon and the green textured shell has a kind of sour melon soda effect which is really nice, and gives it a nice kick. The chocolate is soft, and biting in I got a hit of the soda effect, followed by the sweet chocolate that tastes *exactly* like a real Yubari melon. Yum!

The soda flavour is present in the background right until the end and really intensifies the flavour. I am so in love with these! Not only are they extremely cute, but they also taste great, like the real thing. So addictive!

If you love Melon like I do, and you see these, I definitely recommend that you get some :)

Brand: Sapporo Gourmet Foods Calories per pack: 570

Asahi Mitsuya Cider Melon Candy 三ツ矢サイダーキャンディー・メロン味

Whenever I go to Japan, one of the first drink brands I check out is Mitsuya Cider. They always seem to have really interesting and great tasting soda's. The most memorable one I have tried was condensed milk soda which was really nice!

Yubari Melon is a fruit and flavour that is dear to my heart. Hokkaido is my husband's home and is also home to the wonderful Yubari Melon which is used in cakes and desserts, candies, soda's, snacks and so much more in Japan.

So it's no wonder I was excited when napaJapan gave me this bag of Yubari Melon Mitsuya Cider candies.

The bag is small, and (71g) and holds about 20 individually wrapped candies. The candy is small, round and green, a colour that reminds me more of green apple.

From the minute the candy hit my tongue I started to get the fizz sensation that is reminscent of a soda. The Yubari melon flavour is prominent and sweet, but not too sweet. This really tastes like melon soda and there are no harsh chemical flavours that some candies have when trying to recreate a fruit flavour.

I really loved these and handed them out a party to Japanese and Aussie friends who all gave them the thumbs up too!

These are one of the best candies I have tried and I recommend them! You can buy these now at napaJapan as well as other flavours in the range - Grape soda and Regular Cider.

Brand: Asahi Calories per bag: 264 Website: http://www.asahi-fh.com Buy it now at napaJapan

Shigekix Super Melon Soda シゲキックススーパーメロンソーダ味

Shigekix is a product I've seen around ever since I started learning Japanese, oh, about 20 years ago now. (Yeah, I'm really showing my age now aren't I?)

I've always given them a miss though because, well, I've just never been into Japanese gummi. By never trying them from the beginning, I've never given them a go, because I'm scared of the unknown and all that. The eyes on the package give me the creeps to be exact.

This gummi make me think that when I put it in my mouth my head will explode or something to that effect. Plus it has "kix", in it's name. What kind of kix I wonder?

Fate had a hand in dropping this packet of Shigekix into my life, so now I must take up the challenge and sample it for you, dear readers. Oh god, what did I get myself into?

Shigekix are essentially super sour gummi. They have a sour powder coating followed by a rather hard gummi, in this case flavoured with melon soda. They're also enriched with Grape extract and Vitamin C.

I knew that the gates of hell awaited me when I opened the packet and the sourness wafted up to my nose. I can only describe the sourness as sucking on four lemons at the same time. Oh...it's bad! So sour!!


Luckily, if you suck fast the sour powder dissolves quickly and you get to the sweet melon goodness underneath sooner. It's quite an accurate melon soda flavour including fizz. The gummi is quite hard and you have to chew it quite well, or suck it for a looong time.

I have to say I'm not a fan of the hard gummi texture. Only because it got stuck in my teeth. I don't like the sucking-on-lemons sourness either, it's just too sour for me!! But I do like the melon soda flavour. So, one out of three isn't so bad, I guess?

I wouldn't buy this of my own volition, let's just say that. But, I'm sure some people would. It was an interesting experience though, and I'm glad after 20 years I finally found out what Shigekix is all about. I'm pretty sure if I tried this when I was in primary school, I would have loved it, as super sour candies, and burn-your-tongue-off candies were all the rage with us back then. :)

Yasu's Rating: I like this. I like the sour flavour and the hard gummi. These are a favourite from childhood. I like sucking the powder off.


You can find this flavour plus four others over at napaJapan right now :)

Fujiya Milky Banana and Melon Flavours 不二家ミルキーバナナ味とメロン味

Fujiya is a sweets company that is well known for its female character Peko-chan and the male counterpart Poko-chan.

Unfortunately they have gained notoriety over the past couple of years because they used ingredients past the use-by date, or mislabelled ingredients and expiry dates on products they manufactured. As a result some Fujiya outlets closed their stores temporarily and just this week I've heard another case where the branch in Osaka did not put expiry dates on the products properly.

As a result of this Fujiya lost a lot of long-time customers; but because they did make a recovery onto the scene again seemed to be regaining ground they had lost.

In any case, Yasu and I have always been fans of Fujiya. In my case I have quite a few Peko-chan dolls and rare memorabilia, and one of Yasu's friends has a sister that works for a Fujiya outlet in Tokachi which we like to visit.

We have always been a fan of milky too. So that is why I picked up these two bags in Hokkaido, the Melon flavour especially resonating with me. These were bought at Seria for 105 yen each, around $1 and they both contain 14 individually wrapped candies each.

On the Fujiya website they have a few different flavours; original, salty balls, black sugar, caramel, strawberry milk, and even throat lozenges.

The new website expressly for Milky they have information about all the new snacks, flavours passed, horoscopes, information on how the candy is made, and you can join to get access to special features. It's worth taking a look, it's really pretty!

The candy is the usual size and shape, but each candy is half the normal colour and half the flavoured colour. Banana is white and yellow and Melon is white and green.


Banana


Has a very "banana milkshake" smell to it. The banana flavour is quite light, not overpowering at all. It's also quite sweet, more sweet than banana taste in there though. Very soft and easy to chew, but I'm disappointed in the strength of the banana flavour in there. The bag says there is 2% banana essence, I guess that is why. It would have been better with 10% perhaps. This candy leaves a sweet taste at the back of my mouth that makes me really thirsty.


Melon


The candy doesn't really smell like anything. The melon flavour is really strong on these and it's very similar to the real thing. There is a hard part in the middle of the candy that I didn't experience with the Banana. There is alot of creaminess in here towards the middle, a "milky" flavour really comes out and it's not unlike a less sweet condensed milk flavour. I really liked this but for the hard middle.

The Melon flavour is definitely my favourite. I love that burst of creaminess in the centre. Shame about the hard part, if only the texture of the banana and the flavour of the melon could be combined, it would be a real winner.

I would buy these again because they're cheap, they're abit "natsukashii", and they're good for sharing. They also have lots of different flavours coming out regularly so it's fun to try them every now and then to see what's on offer. I know kids love these too!

Sapporo Melon Cream Soda メロンクリームソーダ

The first night I came to Japan, we went to KFC for dinner. Imagine my surprise when I ordered a set and was offered melon cream soda as a possible drink choice! I accepted, and it was really yum. Other options were Qoo, Pepsi, or Fanta.

I bought this bottle of Sapporo Melon Cream Soda at Jusco supermarket, it was the first time I had seen a bottle of melon soda in Japan not at a restaurant.

The colour of the soda is an amazing melon-green colour and the front of the bottle has a scoop of icecream on top of what is supposed to be melon soda. It's quite cute.

So this bottle has been in the fridge for the last week because I really haven't felt in the mood to drink it, with so many other drink options available. Cue today when I am packing to go to Hokkaido and remember that I have a soda in the fridge.

The first sip is a let-down and I know this is not going to be as good as the one I got in my meal set at KFC. The overall flavour is lime. It tastes like lime cordial or squash (those concentrates you mix with water), and kind of like the aftertaste of eating icecream. It is not overly sweet, but the aftertaste really makes me thirsty.

There is no melon taste at all to this drink, and a mild cream soda flavour. On closer inspection of the ingredients, melon is not listed at all, only grape extract, milk, flavouring and colouring.

I did the right thing in ignoring this drink, and should have kept on ignoring it! It is truly yuck and I wouldn't buy it again. I would love to know what brand of melon soda they sell at KFC, if anyone knows, please enlighten me.

Kobe Custard Melon Pan 神戸カスタードメロン

Supermarkets in Japan have a an aisle or two dedicated to pan (sweet buns). Usually half of them have been baked fresh, and the other half have been made by various companies and have a long shelf life, sealed in packaging to keep them fresh.

I am a melon pan girl, and I also love custard, so I thought a combination of the two would be great. It also comes from Kobe from a company called Kobeya, who I had never heard of before. A glance at their website tells me they specialise mainly in bread, cake, and pan.

This pan was shaped like a regular melon pan, round and with the criss-cross design on top, though it had some kind of clear glaze on top that made it sticky to touch.

Breaking the pan open revealed a dry bread bun with a yellow custard cream in the middle. The custard had little black dots in it which turned out to be vanilla beans. The custard was really nice, very flavourful, I liked the presence of the vanilla beans for presentation and for flavour.

The pan itself was quite dry, reminded me of bread which is a few days old. A look on the ingredient list reveals no butter, only eggs and shortening and wheat in regards to the batter. I think this is why it was so dry, no good quality butter to give it that soft texture.

I also couldn't find any mention of melon on the ingredients list, and I couldn't taste any either. Quite a letdown in regards to that, as I thought this would be both melon and custard in taste. I guess they think that it's melon pan to look at and custard pan to eat? I don't know. Strikes me as false advertising really.

Despite the fact that the pan was packaged in a really nice way, and the package itself says it is a "long seller", it comes from Kobe, and the custard was really yum, I wouldn't buy this again because I wanted melon pan, and I don't like dry pan. I think next time I will go fresh, and I wouldn't recommend this at all.

Hokkaido Yubari Melon Hi-Chew 北海道夕張メロンハイチュウ

Hokkaido is well known for it's Yubari Melon, in fact it's the most popular melon in all of Japan. They are named after the small town near Sapporo where they come from. Yubari Melons are the most expensive melons, costing anywhere upwards of $40 just for one!

The first time I ever went to Japan I saw this Yubari Melon Hi-chew and was in awe. I never tried it. That was 2004. Now, more than 5 years later I finally got my hands on a packet of it. Why did I wait so long? I don't really know, to be honest, it just panned out that way.

Yubari is dear to my heart. My husband's family are from Hokkaido and still live there, so I have a very personal relationship with melon in general. I've always loved the yellow fleshed melon that we call Rockmelon or Canteloupe.

The colour of the chew is a very pale orangey white colour with an orange strip through the middle. The melon scent is very strong even before the wrapper is entirely off.

The exact flavour of the orange flesh is present in the first bite. It's just like eating a real melon, albeit a rather chewy one. Further chews make the chew softer and more pliable in my mouth but the flavour doesn't increase or decrease but stays the same. Towards the end I get a flavour reminscent of an overripe banana, but it's not bad tasting, it just reminds me of that, but also reminds me so much of the Yubari I eat when I go to Hokkaido. Oh my goodness, it makes me feel so homesick for Hokkaido.

This Hi-chew is full of Yubari flavour and doesn't really deviate from the taste at all. I couldn't stop eating these, and I'm already on my third one. The only thing bad I have to say that would probably be true for all Hi-Chew's is that after eating a few it makes me thirsty, and the taste left in my mouth is like bubblegum more or less.

I think this Hi-Chew is probably more suited only to those who love this type of melon. It's very full-on, and offers nothing different in the way of new taste sensations. If you want a trip down memory lane, like I did, then this is your bet.

Melon 'n Cream Mentos

Interesting to note that Mentos are made by Cadbury Japan in Holland.

This type of Mentos is called n' cream and the flavour is Melon. The latest version seems to be Caramel n' Cream.

I was expecting the colour of the dragees to be green and white, but all of them are a creamy off-white colour.

They have no particular smell. The moment I put it in my mouth I tasted a very matcha-like flavour which was odd, which then became a fake cream flavour like in hard boiled lollies. I don't like it very much. As I sucked the dragee, the melon flavour became apparent, somewhere near the chewy centre. It tastes like a rockmelon. The inside is quite hard at first and hard to chew. Unfortunately, near the end is a very sour chemical taste on the end of the melon flavour which was really horrible.

I couldn't stand to eat any more of these and I'm hoping I can dump them on Yasu, or he can take them to work and dump them on his workers.

I don't recommend these unless you like eating hard chewy chemical flavour dragees.