Zen-Noh – Yubari Melon Gummies

Experiences can inform our perspectives, and it’s what makes every single person a unique snowflake, for better or worse. Some experiences make us more cautious and guarded against certain things, and others make us more willing to blindly trust or believe in certain things. This one is a bit of a conflicting one because I have a bit of blind faith with Japanese melon flavours, but also big hesitance when it comes to gel filled anything.

Yubari melons are one of the many premium high end products that Hokkaido is known for, and this gummy supposedly uses the juices of said melons. I can’t claim I’m a savant or expert, but knowing what I know about capitalism and the corporate world, I’m going to claim with the utmost certainty that it’s not likely to be too much actual juice from the expensive fruits. Or maybe it is because they have bad seasons and can’t sell off the slightly marked fruits. Either way, to me it’s mostly marketing but that’s ok. It’s hard to say no to a good, solid melon flavoured candy regardless.

The texture is what I’d consider mid way between a gummy and a fruit jelly. It’s nothing near the level of a Haribo firmness or bounce, but it’s not soft either and still has a bit of that distinct gelatin bounce that most gummies have. These have a softer feel to them, whereas something like Haribo is more like a bouncy ball that resists your chewing to the last moment. In that way these are easier on the jaw and overall not as challenging of an gummy.

The gummy itself has a mild melon flavour, but the real star here is the small gel filled center. Each piece has a small pocket that’s somewhat darker colour and that’s how you know it’s housing some juicy secret. The melon flavour is carried pretty heavily by that small dollop of what I would consider jam or jelly, and is essentially a melon puree as it has a really strong, distinct but natural melon flavour to it. Without it the gummy has just a slight melon flavour, so it really does require that dollop of gel to carry the piece through.

These were quite a unique experience and something I’d recommend to try at least once. The flavour is the real star of the show and if they made a juice or jam out of this, I would be the heck out of it.