Pom Juice Hi-Chew

My main exposure to the word "pom" comes from watching the Bruces sketch in Monty Python's flying circus where Terry Jones is introduced as a "pommy bastard" to the Australian yokels. Yes, you may conclude that I am a gigantic geek for this, but what would one expect from someone who writes a blog about Japanese junk food?

Given the meaning of this word in England, I wondered why the Japanese have named an orange juice "Pom". The truth is that the romanization of the Japanese characters (ポンジュス) used to be and can be read as "Pon", but it was changed to "Pom" at some point because the name is based on pomelo, a type of citrus fruit. One thing I learned from my research into this candy is that tangelos, which I used to eat in the U.S., are a hybrid of tangerine and pomelo.


At any rate, Pom juice has been around for about 40 years, but I've rarely seen it or drunk it. It's a 100% fruit juice made by a company named Ehime Inryo. This candy is a collaboration between that company and the better-known food producer, Morinaga. My husband found this at "New Days" convenience store for about 100 yen ($1.10). He couldn't recall if this was one of the many New Days exclusives, but I haven't seen it in any other, convenience stores, markets or snack shops.

There are 12 pieces at 19 calories apiece in the package. They smell a lot like children's orange baby aspirin to me, without the medicinal edge. The taste to me was pure tasty, but sweet, orange juice. My husband thought it tasted more like an orange Creamsicle, but I didn't detect any of the vanilla ice cream flavors that he seemed to taste. This had the same texture as all Hi-Chew, like chewing gum that melts away in your mouth.

I thought this was an excellent Hi-Chew, though I'm not a fanatic about these types of candies no matter how good the variety is. I'd definitely eat this again and my husband really liked it so it gets a happy sumo rating despite the fact that I'm unlikely to purchase it for myself again.

Love Mode Ginger Zero

This soft drink has been around for awhile, but I've been too cheap to pay 147 yen for it. When it finally showed up in the local 99 yen shop, I took the plunge. This is one of those absurdly named and oddly designed items which is almost certainly going to be all potatoes and no meat, all style and no substance, and whatever else you want to add which conveys the idea that it looks exciting on the outside and is going to be boring on the inside.

I figure that any drink that is trying so hard to look exciting has to have little going for it. Beyond the bling-like design of the name on the front of the label, there is a sexually suggestive leather zipper on the side of the bottle which runs along the perforation on the plastic sleeve where you tear it and remove it. Also, pink ginger ale? Pink? For those who don't know, pink is generally seen as a color associated with sex in Japan. I think this is intentional design to try and make this drink look, well, sexier.

I didn't take a shot of the drink in a glass because you can see through the bottle. Suntory promotes this as being "sweet and dry". This is actually truth in promotion. It's a little sweeter than Canada Dry ginger ale and has a dry finish. It's made with a cocktail of artificial sweeteners including acesulfame K, Sucralose, and aspartame. Unlike most of the diet drinks I've tried in Japan, you can't detect the sweeteners so obviously. Note that I am accustomed to diet sodas and may not be able to taste them as clearly as someone who doesn't tend to drink them so often.

My response to this is a bit mixed. I think it's a good sugar-free ginger ale blend, but the ginger part is somewhat subdued. I actually liked it better as a stand-alone drink than Diet Canada Dry ginger ale and if they were both the same price and I had a choice and I didn't want to mix it with something (and I sometimes mix with orange juice), I'd go for this. I wish it weren't pink though. I keep thinking it should be tropical punch when I drank it.

Kuchidoke Cacao KitKat (mini)

"Kuchi" in Japanese means "mouth" and "doke" means melt, so this is a "melt in your mouth chocolate" KitKat. I'm not sure if that is meant to conjure up the idea that you'll have a mouth full of the rich chocolate sauce on the box or if this is part of what seems to be a winter fad in Japan right now for fondue. I noticed when I was shopping around Christmas time that fondue sets (and marshmallows) seemed to be on offer everywhere. In fact, there was a woman melting Ghana bars at the entrance of one of the tonier supermarkets about a week before Christmas and offering up samples.


This variety has been on offer for quite awhile, and I've been avoiding it because it is a little expensive for a relatively small amount. A box of 5 mini bars costs 189 yen ($2.06) at Seiyu. The total amount of candy is about 1.25 KitKats (about 5 regular fingers) in my rough estimation. Since a regular KitKat costs about 100 yen ($1.09), this makes this 50% more expensive than a regular bar. Of course, it is a special variety, so one has to expect a little increase in price, but I'm a cheapskate. The truth is that my husband picked this up not knowing that I was waiting for it to end up in the bargain bin, and he plunked it on my desk.

The description on the back says that the exterior coating is "melt in your mouth chocolate" and between the wafers is croquant. I hadn't heard of croquant before, but it is a French confection made up of carmelized sugar that does not include butter or cream. It is usually just water and sugar and one of its uses is to make a type of nut brittle (particularly with almonds).


Each mini bar is individually wrapped, has 70 calories, and smells nicely of chocolate. The cocoa scent is definitely stronger than the chocolate on a normal KitKat. The flavor is also richer and deeper. It's a little like a really strong hot chocolate, but with no bitter notes. Despite being called a "melt in your mouth cocoa" bar, it isn't softer than a normal KitKat and doesn't actually melt in your mouth. That's okay though. It's still one tasty version of a KitKat and I wish that regular bars were flavored like this one. I didn't detect the croquant portion, but my husband said that he detected something a bit malt-like when he sampled it. It could be that the flavor is very subtle and I just missed it.

Though this isn't a strongly divergent variation on the regular KitKat, it is a superior quality one in terms of the deep chocolate flavor. I would definitely recommend giving it a try and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.

This was also (very favorably) reviewed at Jen's KitKat blog.

Contest: Win the Japanese KitKat Gokaku Mug!

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I'd like to promote this blog and gain more readers. To that end, I'm going to run a contest offering the KitKat mug package as a prize.

If you'd like to win the mug and KitKat, here is what you need to do:

1. Write up something on your blog, web site or Twitter account about this contest (or my blog, or both).
   
2. E-mail me at orchidsixtyfour@gmail.com with a link to your write-up or tweet so that I can see what you've said.*
   

I will be choosing the winner based solely on my whims. Mainly, I'll be looking for something which demonstrates some wit in a way which I think might compel readers to come and read my blog after reading what you have said. I'm not looking for begging, boot-licking, or gushing, but obviously a post which is positive in nature is going to increase your chances of winning as a negative post isn't likely to drive readers my way.

You could be drinking out of a five-sided cup. You could even give it to two girls to drink out of if you were so inclined.

This contest is open to anyone who e-mails me a link to appropriate content which they have personally composed except those living in South America or Africa. I'm sorry to say that the postal service between Japan and those countries is unreliable and I cannot trust that any package sent from here to those countries will arrive.

The contest will end on January 16 and the winner will be announced on January 18 in the "Variety Friday" post that follows.

Thanks to everyone for reading my blog. If this contest is a success, you can expect to see more of them in the future with a chance at winning more Japanese snack goodies!


*If you don't want to e-mail, you can leave a link in comments, but I won't be publishing any links until the contest is over so your comment will not be seen by anyone but me. Please don't worry if you don't see your comment published. Also, I have lost comments in the moderation process before so e-mail is almost certainly going to be more reliable to enter the contest.

Variety Friday: Gokaku Mug KitKat

On December 21, Nestle released this package deal of a KitKat, packet of instant Nescafe Excella coffee and a 5-sided red mug as part of their "support the students" campaign. Like the Milk Coffee KitKat, this carries the symbols and cherry blossom motif for all items marketed as gifts meant to encourage students to do well on their entrance examinations.


The mug has 5 sides and I believe that the Chinese characters (kanji) are a play on words that represent luck. This is why the mug is five-sided. The mug is the size of an average coffee cup and not some dinky affair. It's definitely built for use rather than novelty if you set aside the unusual shape. It's also quite solid and thick.

The combination of the full-size regular KitKat, single serving packet of instant coffee, and mug is only 200 yen ($2.18). This represents quite excellent value because the KitKat itself sells for 100 yen and most plain coffee cups (of smaller size, but similar quality) are about 100 yen as well. My guess is that Nestle Japan regards these more as promotional tools than as a premium money maker. I guess having a bunch of tired students who have been studying a lot drinking out of a KitKat and Nescafe mug that might inspire them to seek a sugar and caffeine rush seems like a pretty good idea.