Product information
About
A 180 g pouch of grape jelly you drink through the spout rather than spoon. It tastes like Japanese grape confectionery rather than dark grape juice, two Japanese drinkers reach for the word muscat, the pale green table grape, to describe it, with a faint bitterness in the finish that some drinkers notice and some don't. This is the purple pouch in Morinaga's in Jelly range, and the only one of the five with no vitamins in it.
On the pack: inゼリー マルチミネラル (in zerii maruchi mineraru). Look for the purple and silver one. Morinaga's own staff, answering a parent's question on a Japanese Q&A site, identified one of these by naming its colour rather than its product name, because five of these pouches look almost identical side by side.
What you're getting
- Grape, but a Japanese grape. Two Japanese drinkers independently reached for muscat: the pale green table grape, to describe it, rather than the dark grape juice an Australian pictures. Grape juice is the first ingredient by weight.
- Thin and quick rather than thick. It slides down, and as one drinker puts it, it doesn't leave your stomach sloshing the way a bottle of something does.
- The thing a Japanese shopper knows and you wouldn't: iron drinks in Japan are almost all prune-flavoured. People who can't stand prune buy this one specifically to get away from it, one reviewer says exactly that, and it's the clearest reason this pouch exists in the shape it does.
- Nothing to prepare: twist the cap, drink it, done. A lot of its use in Japan is on days when food is unappealing, and you can finish it lying down.
- The honest caveat: the finish divides people. A bitter note under the fruit is the most common complaint, raised by eight Japanese drinkers, and a consumer magazine's tasting panel marked it down for the same thing. The grape covers it for most people. Not for everyone.
- Allergens: Morinaga declares none of Japan's twenty-eight named allergen categories in this product, gelatine included. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.
Two things worth being straight about. This is a food, not a supplement, and we make no claim about what the minerals in it do. And it is the only pouch in Morinaga's range carrying no vitamins at all: if vitamins were what you were after, the green grapefruit one is the Multivitamin.
Ingredients
The maker's ingredient list, translated from the Japanese pack. Anything after the break is an additive — the Japanese label lists those separately.
Grape juice (juice produced in Chile), sugar, starch syrup
calcium lactate, acidulant, gelling agent (thickening polysaccharides), magnesium sulfate, flavouring, potassium chloride, sweeteners (acesulfame K, sucralose), zinc gluconate, ferric pyrophosphate, emulsifier, copper gluconate.
The printed label on the pack is always the authority on ingredients and allergens, not this page — please read it in full before you rely on our summary. If you are unsure about an ingredient, contact us.
Allergens
The maker declares:
- Allergens
-
None declared — the maker's ingredient list names no allergen.
- Dietary
-
- Gelatine-free
The printed label on the pack is always the authority on ingredients and allergens, not this page — please read it in full before you rely on our summary. If you are unsure about an ingredient, contact us.
Details
- Maker
- Morinaga
- Prefecture
- Tokyo
- Made in
- Japan
- Net contents
- One pouch: 180 g
Our guide
How to eat it
- Chill it before you drink it. Chilled is how this range is drunk in Japan across the board.
- Twist the cap off and drink from the spout. Nothing to prepare, no spoon, and you can finish it lying down, which is why so much of its use in Japan is on days when food is unappealing.
- Some households freeze it into a sorbet, and parents whose children dislike the jelly texture do it on purpose. Morinaga's own position on freezing the range is that the nutrition survives broadly intact and the jelly texture does not, permanently, so freeze it only if sorbet is what you actually want.
- Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from heat. It is built for the cupboard, though the fridge is where it tastes best.
In their own words
What Japanese buyers say
- What they like
Iron drinks are mostly prune-flavoured, which I can't stand — this one isn't, so it goes down easily, and being a jelly it fills you up better than juice. It's a favourite.
鉄分入りのドリンクはプルーン味が多くて苦手ですが、こちらはそうではないので飲みやすく、ゼリー状なのでジュースより腹持ちも良いのでお気に入りです。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
There's no escaping the iron flavour.
鉄の風味からは逃れられない。
from monolog
- What they like
The aftertaste is clean and easy, and it takes the edge off hunger nicely — I like it.
後味もスッキリ飲みやすく、空腹感も適度に満たされるので気に入っています。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
Sometimes I do sense a slight bitterness from the minerals, but I'm just grateful the grape flavour makes it this easy to take.
少しミネラル由来の苦味があるように感じられるときもあるけど、グレープフレーバーでこれだけ食べやすい味になっているだけで十分有り難い。
from monolog
- What they like
The grape flavour is tasty and easy to drink. Though it's closer to muscat, really.
グレープ味は美味しく、飲みやすいと思います。マスカットと近いですけどね。
- What they grumble about
The aftertaste is spectacularly awful!!!
後味が最高にまずい！！！
from monolog
- What they like
I prefer savoury things, so I like that it isn't too sweet.
辛党なので、甘すぎないのも良い。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
A taste like something is being covered up.
なにかをごまかしたような味
from monolog
- What they like
It's a solid grape flavour — I don't taste any iron.
しっかりしたぶどう味で鉄分の風味は感じません。
- What they grumble about
Was it just me, or was there an iron-ish something in the aftertaste?
食べ終わった後味に鉄分らしい感じを感じたのはたまたまでしょうか？？
from monolog
- What they like
It's a nice muscat taste, so I can get it down without forcing it.
味もマスカットと美味しいので、無理なく食べられます。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
The slightly medicinal aftertaste wasn't quite for me.
薬品っぽい後味が少し苦手でした。
from mognavi
- What they like
The moderate sweetness is moreish. I like the clean finish.
ほどよい甘さがやみつきになりますね。スッキリした後味が好きです。
from monolog
- What they like
Being a jelly, it doesn't leave your stomach sloshing and uncomfortable — easy to take, it's the best.
ゼリーなのもお腹がタポタポに苦しくならないので、飲みやすく最高です。
from monolog
- What they grumble about
If only it were free of artificial sweeteners. It's sweet enough that I couldn't drink it in one go.
これで人工甘味料不使用ならよかったんですけどね。甘くて一気には飲めませんでした。
- What they like
The jelly itself has no real off-note — it's finished to go down easily.
ゼリーもクセがそんなになくて、飲みやすい仕上がりですよ。
from mognavi
- What they grumble about
Far too many additives that are bad for you — genuinely the worst.
身体に悪い添加物が多過ぎて本当最悪。
from monolog
- What they like
The grape flavour is delicious, and in summer they happily eat it frozen into a sorbet.
ぶどう味はとても美味しく、夏場は凍らせてシャーベット状になったものを喜んで食べています。
- What they grumble about
I've always thought it's a bit pricey.
少し値が張るなぁと昔から思ってます｡
from monolog
- What they like
Energy and vitamin jellies are everywhere, but I don't think there are many mineral ones.
エネルギー、ビタミンゼリーは良くあるけど、ミネラルってない気がする。
from monolog
Real quotes from Japanese review sites, translated by us. We show no star rating from those sites.
The maker
Where it comes from
- Morinaga
- Tokyo
- Founded 1899
Morinaga has been making sweets since 1899: the company was founded on 15 August that year, and its head office is in Tokyo. The first in Jelly pouch shipped on 1 February 1994 under the name Weider in Jelly; the brand dropped that name in March 2018 and became simply in Jelly.
The mineral pouch is a later addition. It launched on 17 March 2015, promoted at the time as the only jelly drink in the range carrying minerals rather than energy or vitamins. Eleven years on it is still the only one, which is why Japanese drinkers who want it know which colour to reach for.
Product facts here are checked against the maker's own page: morinaga.co.jp (opens in a new tab)
Often bought together
-
Morinaga in Jelly Multi Mineral Grape Drink — 180g
$5.94
You are on this one
