This is the Nippon Yell Dried Fruit Iwate Esashi Apple, featuring bite-sized dried and candied pieces of Sun Fuji apples from Esashi, Iwate Prefecture. Known for their high sugar content and balanced sweetness with acidity, these apples are grown without protective bags, allowing them to fully benefit from sunlight exposure.
Each piece had an orange-yellow hue, reflecting the honeyed centre characteristic of this variety, along with a sweet apple aroma. The pieces varied in size, averaging around 2 cm at their widest. The exterior was firm with a thin layer of crystallised sugar, offering a slight crunch when bitten into, but yielding effortlessly to a gentle bite. The initial sweetness from the candied surface quickly gave way to a vibrant apple flavour, almost honey-like in its depth. Mid-bite, the fragrant apple flavour became more pronounced, with the texture of the apple providing a soft ‘crunch.’ As the pieces rehydrated, they released a rich, juicy sweetness, balanced by a hint of acidity. Compared to the Ōrin, this variety had a brighter apple flavour and a richer, more honeyed sweetness than the Fuji.
This Nippon Yell Dried Fruit Iwate Esashi Apple contained 23 g. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2024.