A range of Japanese snacks can easily be found at supermarkets and convenience stores, and as well as the standard flavors, there’s a wide variety of limited-edition seasonal flavors.
Most of these revolve around seasonal fruit and vegetables that tie in with Japan’s four distinctive seasons.
These last few years, though, a new favorite flavor has appeared among Japan’s summer snacks...
That flavor is salt!
The summers in Japan have been really hot these past few years, and lots of people suffer from heatstroke because of perspiring so much.
In order to prevent heatstroke, it’s important to stay hydrated and to intake salt and other minerals, so salt-flavored snacks have become very popular during the summertime.
This is one of the most typical salt-flavored drinks: “Sekai no Kitchen kara Salty Lychee,” from Kirin.
Its distinctive flavor mixes the fruity taste of lychee with a gentle saltiness.
It’s really easy to glug down, which is one reason why it’s so popular.
Salt-flavored candies are now a standard fixture among Japan’s salt-flavored snacks. Candies are great because they’re easy to carry around and quickly pop in your mouth. There are lots of different varieties of salt candies available—the ones in the photo are lemon-flavored.
These also contain xylitol, so they have a nice cool, refreshing taste.
Morinaga, Japan’s most famous caramel company, has also released these salt caramels, which use rock salt from Lorraine, France.
They’re delicious—the addition of salt really brings out the sweetness of the caramel!
There are also extra-salty potato chips available.
Salt potato chips are a simple but classic flavor, after all!
It’s still a little early, so there weren’t that many summer-themed products available, but more and more salt-flavored snacks are sure to appear in stores!
If you’re in Japan during the hot summer months, you should definitely try out some salt-flavored snacks.
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