Meito Strawberry Sarasara Kakigori

"Sarasara is a Japanese onomatopoeia which indicates the sound of water or sand moving smoothly (or it can also mean "squeaky clean"). In this case, I'm guessing it is used to indicate that the little ice granules will move smoothly over each other rather than stick together in icy clumps.

When the heat starts around May until it ceases somewhere in, oh, October, the number of frozen treats starts to swell. While mass market kakigori (shaved ice with syrup) cups are available year-round in select areas, the variety greatly increases during the hotter months. Fortunately for  makers of icy confections, it's hot for quite awhile in Tokyo. For someone like me who is sensitive to heat, no amount of ice cream, ice milk, or frozen anything makes enduring the weather worthwhile.

I decided that I really should review one of these low rent kakigori after having mentioned them in the Tirol polar bear chocolates review. You can see that the packaging for this cup of ice is similar to that of the Tirol candy. Also, these are a part of summer in Japan and one of the things no snack blog should avoid forever... no matter how hard one tries.

I found this particular cup of shaved ice at Inageya supermarket for 98 yen ($1.12). This one is made by Meito, a food manufacturer (established in 1953) that sells milk and milk products in addition to being a distributor for Dole in Japan. There are 200 ml. of ice in it (approximately one cup) and it's only 49 calories. That should tell you something about the substance of it.

As you can see by the cup above, this is pretty much ice with some deep pink syrup squirted into it. From the vantage point above, it looks okay. At first, I tried to scoot the flavored ice and plain ice together to mix it up, but as I got down just a bit deeper, that became rather more difficult.

Yes, apparently 98 yen won't pay for much in the way of syrup; mostly, it's just ice. Where flavor was present, it was a mildly sweet, very odd concoction which bore little resemblance to strawberry. It wasn't bad, but it almost seems like false advertising to call it "strawberry". On the occasions when I've had kakigori during festivals, this is the typical type of syrup that you get so that part is authentic.

If you want to imitate the results of this, go to your local carnival or fair and buy the cheapest, lamest snow cone you can find. Cram it in a cup and stuff it in your freezer until most of the ice bits stick together. Make sure they skimp on the syrup! If there is flavor all the way to the bottom, it's no good. Toss it out and ask for a more sub-par one.

Obviously, this was very lame and I wouldn't buy one again, nor can I recommend anyone else buy this one. To be fair, there are definitely better versions than this one around, but they are all basically the same - plain old frozen water and fake syrup. I can't understand how these things continue to take up space in freezer cases. They really do appear to cater to those with pretty low expectations. For the same price, you can buy a "Super Cup" ice cream that is far tastier.

7-11 Mikan Bar Ice Candy

Sometimes I wonder what inspires a particular business to consistently stock something. For instance, why do Natural Lawson's stock a lot of Fuwa Fuwa marshmallow treats? Why does Family Mart stock a ton of kid's candy? Well, okay, it is called "family" mart, but I'm not sure that anyone takes it literally. I see plenty of people in there who are too scary to have ever married, let alone produced any offspring. This question is on my mind because 7-11 seems to stock sherbet-based frozen confections and no other shop appears to do so (at least not in my area). Previously, I got the yummy yuzu sherbet (that sounds like a brand name, or the name of some cartoon fruit mascot, "Yummy Yuzu") and now they have these mikan "ice candy" bars.

The thing that really draws my attention to these sorts of things, besides the fact that they are sherbet and I can't get it in many places, is the low calorie count per bar. At 62 calories per 60 ml. (2 oz.) bar, they're a very modest treat. The price is also very reasonable at 198 yen ($2.14) per 5 bars. It's the sort of thing that is nice to have around as the temperatures start to do their usual May fluctuations between cold enough for a comforter and so hot you're sweating in the sun.

Orange treats often have a distinctive scent, even when they are fake, but these didn't smell like much of anything other than a generic ice pop (Popsicle) scent. The bars are similar to the "cream bars" that I reviewed previously in that they have a hard ice pop outer shell with a softer interior. At the top of the bar, the shell is very thick, but it is much thinner through most of the center and it's easier to concentrate on the sherbet as the shell easily shatters when you get to the middle. The sherbet center has the sort of texture you'd expect and is sweet and tangy with classic orange sherbet notes. Note that this uses 40% mikan (a Japanese orange that is sweet and flavorful) juice.

This bar is a little sweeter than I'd like, but really quite good. I can say wholeheartedly that I'd buy this again because this review is actually of the second box that I purchased. I hope 7-11 keeps these around for awhile because I'd like to be able to keep buying them throughout the summer.