Yukiguni Aguri - 蒟蒻ゼリー

Hello, everyone! Today I have for you something special - mango jellies made with very unfamiliar (for European people of course) plant. So if you want to know what the hell is that sticky thing on the photo... keep reading. =(^_^)=

The hero of this note will be konjac - strange-looking plant with as provokative greek name as possible: "amorphophallus". It means in direct translation... penis without form. Yeah, it's such a good name for food, isn't it?

Whole packaging is full of alerts about evil and dangerous konjac! Keep out from children, be careful when eating, never swallow without chewing, be careful with the sachet and so on. My god, is it a poison? Why is it available in shop if it's so dangerous?! Of course, Japanese people can't live without picture instructions and exaggerated alert, so... just be careful and don't choke. ;)

Oh, okay, we dramatized a little bit, but... what is "konjac"? Eatable tubers ("bulbs"? well I don't know ^^) are used widely over Japan to make splendid, unique dishes. After long cooking they transform into glutinous, jelly-like thing. But well... it's so soft and untypical in taste, not all of us will like it.

We can write konjac in two kanji signs: 蒟蒻. Well, I can't find them in any dictionary, so just believe me it's true. Or you can check on chinese wikipedia, photos of packaging, website of Yukiguni Aguri company or anywhere else. 

 Packaging 

We can finally talk about exactly this product. Packaging isn't as unique as contents, just colorful (this time rather "orangefull") foil with typically cut mango fruit. I can see mango in this form everywhere, it's boring. Hey, Japanese crazy sweet makers, think about something new!
And of course single-packing. I love these small, handy portions. They make the design complete and everything looks really good. And if you'll google a little bit, you'll find out the other tastes have similar composed packagings which is very well-thought for me.

(o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)
4 / 5

Novelty/Appeal 

Do I have to write something more? It's as unique as it can be. One of my favourite tastes (okay, it's not as unique as for example matcha one, but it's still not trite for me. I googled about konjac and found matcha and adzuki flavours, so it's only reason I won't give it more than 5. But still...

5 / 5

 Taste 

The most important criterion is the best one in this case. It's extremely tasteful! You can find pure mango taste (something like soft mango juice), but not as strong as in fresh fruits. Texture is perfect, different from jelly texture we know. Konjac jellies are soft and gelatinous, they break without resisting when you bite them, but you can't crush them using only tongue. Incredible experience and perfect soft mango taste. I'm impressed.

10 / 10

 Final score 

5 / 5 

- - -

Wait! It's not over yet!!!

Hello, I'm Veti and I also want to share my opinion about this sweets :)

Strange name, this  kojac one, but you cannot named this fruit diferently if you saw their picture xD. If you don't believe me, check in  google. It's really looks like... it's named. But if we are talking about Yukiguni Aguri's product I have a little diffrent feels about.

Packaging

For me this packaging style is common. Part transparent, part with logos, pictures of food and all this text. It looks exacly like on hundreds others. Of course it's nice quality and photo of mango looks...mrrr...tasty. But just usual.

2,5 / 5

Novelity

Differt kind of jelly? New flavor? Strangenamed something I've never tasted? Yea it's for sure orginal and quaint. Especially for jelly lover like me.

5 / 5

Taste

Last but not the least. The most important in fact. Aaaand .... it's awesome!!! It was like fruit juice in jelly but not that watery like in polish ones. And extraordinary feeling when you bite it. Weird but still cool. Really soft. I wonder I could grab this product in other flavors...

9 / 10

Total
4,5 / 5