Akagi Grape Ice Pops

Part of the design on the front of this box depicts a grape that has been partially peeled. I'm not sure what image peeled grapes conjure up in the minds of most people, but, for me, it brings to mind decadent Roman officials. You can see them at their bacchanalia asking slaves to peel their grapes just before doing unsavory things to the backsides of their poor servants.

If the people at Akagi had thought of that, I'm guessing this box design could have been a lot more interesting. Who doesn't want to consume something and feel like they're taking part in a bacchanal? The fact that these are something to be slurped and sucked on only helps with the (okay, rather disturbing) imagery.


In a previous review, I sampled Akagi's similarly constructed mikan pops to great satisfaction. These are similar in construction in that they have bits of fruit embedded in a fruit juice base. You can see shadowy bits of white grape (because they've peeled the skin, you see) in the bar above. Each bar is the same size as the mikan version as well at 63 ml. (2.1 oz.) though the calorie count is slightly higher at 55.

Once freed from its clear plastic prison, you have a nice adult popsicle with good grape flavor and bits of fruit. I found the texture of the grapes less obtrusive than the bits of mikan. I'm guessing that this is because mikan, as a citrus fruit, is a bit stringy whereas grapes are just blobs. Grapes also simply freeze better. These bars are a little sweeter than the mikan ones, but still not over the top sweet.

I'll definitely buy these again, and if you want to keep something on hand for sore throats, these are really good. Of course, they're also really great if you love grape popsicles and just want to have one.

Akagi Mikan Ice Pops

When I was a kid, my mother used to buy enormous boxes of Popsicles with a variety of flavors in them. I recall there being at least 4, possibly 5 flavors - grape, orange, cherry, and lemon or lime. The only thing I know for sure is that the kid-preferred first choice was grape. Once grape was gone, orange was second. Grudgingly, cherry came third and whatever that last flavor was was only consumed in absolute Popsicle desperation.

As an adult, I favor orange over grape, though I hadn't had anything resembling a Popsicle for decades before buying this box of Japanese tangerine (mikan) ice pops. I was drawn to them both because the box was entirely made up of orange flavor and each pop only has 48 calories for a 63 ml. (2.1 oz.) bar.

These bars are made by Akagi, a company which I was unfamiliar with until I did a little research on the web about them. Their web site has an extremely annoying flash-based interface which my Mac was a bit flaky with, but I tunneled through it nonetheless. They also have an extremely obnoxious-looking mascot named "Gari" that dances all over their web interface with his huge maw gaping at you like some deranged pervert. Anyway, Akagi makes a wide variety of frozen confections similar to these mikan pops. The best known is likely their pop version of the chocolate milk beverage, Milo.


There are five ice pops in the box and each is a good size for a frozen treat. They're neither too small nor too big. Really can't smell much from them if you give them a sniff, but you can see pulpy bits of tangerine embedded in the bar as darker orange spots. The fruit flavor is quite subtle and realistic. The first ingredient is tangerine juice and the second is "fruit". This is followed by grape sugar (which is essentially fructose) and sugar. The fact that juice and fruit are listed as greater components than any of the sugars is probably why these aren't sickly sweet and have such a refreshing real fruit flavor.

I really liked these and will definitely buy them again. They are a very adult version of a Popsicle and relatively healthy for a frozen confection. The only reservation I have about them is that the pulpy parts can be a bit distracting if you like to suck on the bars instead of bite into them. Once you run across the fruit pieces, you really have to bite into the bar and that shortens the pleasurable experience. If you like mikan, I wholeheartedly recommend giving these a try.