We picked up these Hope Life Mixed Jelly during the half-day we spent in Yufuin in Ōita Prefecture, Japan after being offered samples by the shop keeper. There are five flavours in total: yuzu jelly, mango pudding, apple jelly, peach jelly and blueberry pudding.

These jellies can be eaten at room temperature, where they are barely set and do not hold their own shape, or enjoyed frozen for more of a sorbet experience.

The mango pudding uses mango purée and milk powder. The mango purée gave the jelly a thick, slightly rough texture that delivered an unctuous mango flavour that captured the sweet tropical flavour of the fruit at peak ripeness very well and lingered long on the palate.

The apple jelly is an opaque orange colour and uses apple purée and apple juice. The texture of the jelly is just like thickened apple purée with a slightly rough texture, while the flavour recalled an apple juice made from concentrate. This is the most ordinary of the five flavours.

The blueberry pudding is an opaque purple-brown colour and uses concentrated blueberry apple juice and milk powder. This one is the only one of the jellies that hold its own shape as one would expect of a pudding. The texture is smooth and melts in the mouth to deliver a strong blueberry flavour with the only hint of the milk powder being a gentle creaminess in the finish.

The yuzu jelly is a semi-transparent yellow and uses yuzu juice, natsumikan juice, yuzu peel and honey. This jelly is delicious with a bright yuzu flavour that’s sweet and refreshing without any hint of bitterness. It’s easy to just keep eating these jellies one after another, so we’re glad we purchased an additional bag of this flavour!

The peach jelly is an opaque orange-brown colour and uses white peach pulp. The jelly captured the sweetness of cooked peaches, which lack the balancing acidity of the fresh fruit. The peach pulp adds some roughness to the texture with some bits being just big enough to bite through.

This Hope Life Mixed Jelly contained 20 pieces. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Yufuin, Ōita, Japan in 2019.