Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Kasugai Fruits Lemonade

Fruits LemonadeSometimes I order stuff on the internet because I like the sound of the name. I saw Kasugai’s Fruits Lemonade (also known as Ramune Iro Iro) on JBox.com and since I was already ordering a gazillion rolls of Pineapple Mentos, so I figured I should get some other stuff too.

From the description it was clear that these were just compressed dextrose candies like Smarties or SweeTarts. But the intriguing part was it looked like they came in pineapple. As I was in a pineapple mood, it was quickly in my cart and on its way to me.

The little package is cute and has a variety of different sizes. Some are large sweets, about the size of four quarters stacked up. Others were little tablets in rolls - some were tiny, others were a little bigger (like the size of American Smarties).

image
(photo by Emanuel Treeson)

Most of the rolls were of all one flavor: Lemon, Strawberry, Pineapple, Kiwi or Orange. They were color coded and had little images of the fruits, so I had no trouble figuring out what I was going to get. (Well, the green one was a bit of a puzzle, but I eventually figured out that it was Kiwi, either that or a honeydew.)

There were a couple of rolls that were combinations of flavors. It was extremely hard to tell as they weren’t really different colors. I kind of liked that it was all about the flavor and there were no colors in there.

image
(photo by Emanuel Treeson)

The texture was softer than Smarties ... in fact, the large ones were downright powdery. There was one larger roll (shown above) that had truly dense ones, but the rest were about the same. While I like a softer style most of the time, because you get right to the flavor, these had an odd chalky taste to them. It was like there was something else in there along with the sugar, maybe some sort of calcium carbonate and I’m actually getting some nutrition or something.

Overall the flavors were more intense than Smarties, but not as flavorful as SweeTarts. They weren’t truly sour through, not like a lot of other ramune products I’ve had. However, the high proportion of Pineapple items in this was what made it truly tasty. Sure it’s called Lemonade Mix, but it was really all about the Pineapple.

As a small side note, I’ve been experimenting with my husband’s Nikon D70 DSLR. He shot the two photos above in a little session we had over the weekend. I’m debating a move away from my point & shoot Sony DSC-V3. While I love my little camera, the control I have on the focus is a little frustrating sometimes. For now I’ll just borrow his for a while. (I think his photos turned out fantastic. It’s very hard to get a crisply focused shot on cellophane items, and the control on the depth of field is also amazing.)

Related Candies

  1. Goodbye Tart n Tinys
  2. Candy Blox
  3. Ramune & Cola Bubble Ball
  4. Smarties Bubble Gum
  5. Bottlecaps
  6. Fragrant Gummies
Name: Ramune Iro Iro (Fruits Lemonade)
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Kasugai
Place Purchased: JBox.com
Price: $1.69
Size: 4.59 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Compressed Dextrose (Chalk), Japan, Sour

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:40 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I absolutely love these candies! They basically melt in your mouth.

    Comment by Judee on 1/09/08 at 8:36 am #
  2. I think you nailed the green flavor perfectly, especially since both the Melon and Kiwi Kitkats taste the same. wink

    I LOVE the new camera’s photos. I can’t wait to see what you do with it next!

    Comment by Sera on 1/09/08 at 10:19 am #
  3. Mmm, I’ve had these. If I’m not mistaken, the green ones are actually canteloupe. :D

    Comment by Tindy on 1/09/08 at 10:22 am #
  4. That Treeson guy takes some great photos, too. Not as tempting as yours, however.

    Comment by Russ on 1/09/08 at 11:58 am #
  5. I really like the new camera-work, and that’s saying something since I was already envious of your photography.

    What kind of macrostudio set-up do you have?  All of my adventures into lightbox photography always look like they’re on posterboard backdrops, and it kills me.

    Comment by Spoodles on 1/09/08 at 12:17 pm #
  6. This is the coolest site ever. I’ll be mentioning it on my site. Thanks for the great reviews—now I just need to find half of these candies!

    Comment by Isabelle on 1/09/08 at 1:10 pm #
  7. I’ve always liked your photos very much.  The first picture in this post is fantastic though.  (the shine!  the colors!  the composition!  It feels like I’m in a bounce-house full of Japanese candy!)

    Comment by lizzy on 1/10/08 at 9:46 am #
  8. For what it’s worth, the English on Japanese packaging often means nothing. The “Fruits Lemonade” doesn’t mean that they are lemon flavored. English is often more decorative than meaningful. The Japanese says “Ramune Iro Iro” which is where the true product information lies. It means “this and that ramune (candy)” so it’s essentially an assortment of ramune candy.

    In this case, I think “lemonade” is being used as a rough translation for “ramune” meaning a beverage which is somewhat sweet and sour and doesn’t mean lemonade as it is prepared in the States.

    Personally, I don’t care for how powdery these things are and find their texture unpleasant, but to each their own.

    Comment by Shari on 1/11/08 at 2:33 am #
  9. Where can I find country time lemonade assorted flavors hard candy?

    Comment by lin on 11/17/08 at 1:24 pm #
  10. The Iro Iro Ramune melt in your mouth better than Smarties and less hassle than a straw powder ... love these candies., Eat ‘em til you blister your mouth! No J-Town in Tucson so its a hard find.

    Comment by elayne on 11/21/08 at 2:26 pm #
  11. Ramune actually started out as a drink in Japan, it’s basically Lemonade. So these candies are meant to have the same kind of fizz. As ramune branched out in flavours, so too did ramune candy. That’s probably why you experienced that chalky sensation, it’s a lower grade candy trying to get the fizz feeling. The green would be melon or muscat, mostly in japan the colour green is signifying either of these two flavours.

    Comment by Kelly on 11/29/08 at 6:15 pm #
  12. Thanks God I found this excellent blog’s of yours.
    I really miss this fruits lemonade, as my hometown already ran out of stock of it.
    (I think, maybe I addicted to it already).
    So please, if anyone can help me, because I’ve searched JBox, and it seems they don’t have it anymore either, Please tell me How to buy this product again.
    Thanks for the helping hands,...
    Have a nice day!

    Comment by Kheng on 4/18/09 at 7:55 am #
  13. I’ve been waiting for so long, whay no1 help me to find this lovely lemonade?

    Comment by Kheng on 6/13/09 at 2:45 am #
  14. Where can I buy this candy in Kuala Lumpur?
    I need it urgently.

    Comment by Stamford on 12/10/13 at 4:01 am #
  15. I too have been looking. This is my kids’ (and my) favorite Japanese candy. Candy Warehouse says the manufacturer discontinued it. They have a place to enter your email to ask the manufacturer to bring it back.
    Oh- It looks like JBox might have it!

    Comment by Sue on 2/23/17 at 10:54 pm #
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