Pure Grape Gummy

This is another item sent to me by the awesome gang down at OyatsuCafe, this time a gummy from a very well-known gummy line in Japan, Pure.

Pure is known for having very strong, but pretty natural flavors. If you check the site, you'll see that they have quite a few flavors, and they also periodically release limited edition versions. Right now, they have a Mango and Yogurt, and a couple of apparently 'Harajuku' flavors, Honey Grapefruit and Peach Mango. Hm, maybe they're particularly sweet and youthful? Haha.

Well, the flavor I have today is just right - Grape!

Japanese candy makers seem just as enamored with grape as American ones, which is good for me, as I miss grape since moving to the UK. Why does blackcurrant have to be the exact same color? Why must it always get my hopes up? I've been here three years, you'd think I'd have learned by now...Anyway, I'm grateful that this is grape. Grateful Grape. The package itself is nice, and quite tiny. It might not look it in the above picture, but the blurry photo of it in my hands will prove that photo wrong!

See, just about hand-sized. It's empty in this picture, but they were filled up to maybe two inches from the top? So it isn't a skimpy amount of gummies, but it is nice that there isn't much wasteful packaging, and if you are the kind of person who brings gummies with you when you leave the house, these won't take up much room.

The smell was very strong when I opened them up, they smelled a lot like an Aloe Grape Drink you can buy from the Wasabi chain, and probably a lot of Asian grocery stores. Strong, very sweet, with a bit of tang. Definitely a 'purple' grape.

It's cute, isn't it? They're vaguely heart-shaped, and totally coated in granulated sugar. The grape flavor isn't meant to be sour, so this is just plain sugar to add a bit of texture and extra sweetness. Without the sugar, these are pretty tempered in sweetness, about the same level as an actual grape, but of course they taste more 'grape-y'. If you've ever had a Grape Blow Pop, or a grape anything from America, the taste will be familiar. The texture is really the nicest point of these, they've got a soft chew, and don't get stuck in your teeth like so many other kinds of gummy candies.

They're almost like the inside of a jelly bean, that sot of viscous chew - but they don't get stuck anywhere and you don't hurt your jaw in the slightest chewing them. Which is great for me, as I try to avoid foods that encourage too much chewing or stick around on your teeth - I just know that it is terrible for me, as I'm kind of cavity prone.

Not that you'd guess that from my candy blog...

Anyway, these are quite delicious and were a nice sweet, fruity treat over the course of two days. I'm not wild about gummy candy, but that's usually because I hate having them in my teeth and making my jaw click, but these don't do that at all. They're very delicate, with a strong & sweet grape flavor. For my own personal taste, I would've preferred a slightly tangier grape, but beggar's can't be choosers, and grape is so hard to come by in the UK that I'm happy to have grape candy in any form!

I'm looking forward to reviewing all the rest of OyatsuCafe's generous package; I've got some green tea cookies, and a few of those do-it-yourself Kracie kits. I'm thinking I should try and make a video for the Kracie kits - what do you think?

(OyatsuCafe so kindly provided me with some products for review, but all opinions are just my own!)