**A Taste of Okinawa: A Culinary Journey with Michael**

As I sat down to taste the various candies and snacks sent by Michael, I couldn't help but feel excited about the prospect of exploring the flavors of Okinawa. The first item that caught my eye was a packet of Pujos Vitamin C drops in different flavors, including lemony mandarin orange and mentholated versions. The vitamin C drops had a strong citrus flavor profile, with a hint of menthol that gave my tongue a pleasant tingle. I was transported back to my childhood when my dad used to give me Hollows vitamin C drops as a treat.

The Vitamin C drops reminded me of the taste of Hollows, which Michael noted were slightly mentholated and similar in flavor profile to his Pujos Vitamin C drops. I had to try the green version first, which tasted more like grapefruit to me. However, my preference was for the white version, which had a sweeter and more intense flavor. The vitamin C drops also reminded me of Michael's own experience with Hollows vitamins, which he mentioned were slightly mentholated.

Next up was a packet of Hai Chew Pineapple candies, which I had never tried before. The outside layer was creamy like yogurt, while the inside contained chewy gummy bits that exploded in my mouth as I bit into them. The pineapple flavor was intense and reminded me of pineapple crush soda. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Michael also sent me a 5-pack of Hai Chew Pineapple candies in different flavors, including mango, kiwi, and guava. Each one offered a unique twist on the classic pineapple flavor, with the mango version tasting more like peachy guava to me. The golden kiwi flavor was sour and sweet, with a hint of banana that worked surprisingly well.

Another highlight of the package was the Spy Chew candies, which looked like tiny crystals or granules of sour lemon. When I bit into them, I got a burst of sour lemon flavor along with a satisfying crunch from the texture. It was love at first bite!

Last but not least, Michael sent me a few pieces of traditional Okinawan candy called Masasa Pineapple candies. These were old-fashioned and resembled pineapple slices wrapped in candy. The flavor was subtle and sweet, with a hint of brown sugar that reminded me of butter mints.

As I continued to taste through the various candies and snacks, I couldn't help but feel grateful for Michael's generosity and thoughtfulness. He had sent me a delightful selection of Okinawan treats that were both familiar and exotic. As I prepared to announce the winners of my giveaway, I knew that I would have to find a way to share some of these tasty treats with my readers.

**Giveaway Time!**

To celebrate the generous spirit of Michael, who made it all possible, I will be giving away five packages of Pujos or Hai Chew candies to lucky readers. To enter, simply leave a comment below with your favorite flavor or candy preference. I'll choose five winners at random and ship out their prizes in the coming weeks.

**Stay Tuned for Part Two!**

In my next video, "Emmy Eats Okinawa," I will be exploring more of the culinary delights that Michael sent me, including the Masasa candies and other traditional Okinawan snacks. Be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell to stay up-to-date on all my latest adventures in food and travel. Until then, thank you for watching and joining me on this culinary journey through Okinawa!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi lovelies it's emmy and i'm back to eat more food from a place this time i'm going to eat japan but more specifically i'm going to be eating okinawa okinawa is part of japan but it's actually quite different it's located way far south south west of japan a little cluster of islands and it has a very unique culture weather climate geography language it's a really unique part of japan which i never got to visit so i'm so excited to receive this package this immense package that sweet michael sent me thank you so much michael for sending me such a huge comprehensive package so because this package is so great and huge and comprehensive i'll be doing this in two parts so this week will be part one for okinawa and next week will be part two so thanks again michael for sending me so many great treats and and for giving me a little bit of okinawa because i never got to visit it while i lived in japan i really wanted to so this is my little vicarious trip to okinawa this is an example of okinawa and this one is a pork flavored broth what makes okinawa soba different is it contains kamaboko which is this little thing right there it's like a fish cake and scallions which are these green sliced green onions and stewed pork belly which is great down there which is called san manicu is ginger like the pink ginger here's the beautiful instructions on top that's what it looks like inside looks great oh it looks like it's lard that's awesome and then i'm gonna cover it and let it sit for about three five minutes while my soba is cooking i'm going to eat some other things these are goya chips and they translated as balsam pear chips um i think also in english it's also translated as bitter melon so that's a close-up of it right there and it's very very bitter i have a dish called i think it's maybe the national just called dish called koyachampuru which is like scrambled eggs mixed with this really bitter melon so it looks like the vegetable was cut on the cross section and dried or fried so let's taste it here we go itadakimasu oh my those are terrific when you first taste them they taste a bit like those ever had them they're fried green beans you can get them in the health food stores quite sweet initially very crisp and nice saltiness but what's different is the bitterness comes through at the very end so after you chew it all up you're like oh that's nice it's like a kind of green beanie taste then it is very bitter at the end but i love it so this is kokuto which is a traditional like it looks like an unrefined kind of sugar it smells like molasses it's beautiful so it's kind of dusted and it looks like a rock wow mmm obviously a suite of sugar it's just solid sugar very sweet and crumbly when you bite it just melts it has a very unique flavor a slight bitterness more of a black strap molasses flavor delicious i love it very unique flavor okay let's check on that soba because i'm hungry look at these noodles they are so beautiful they're nice and thick and wide and as you know if you're eating noodles in japan it's it's totally okay and in fact you should slurp your noodles that shows that you like them please don't mind my slurping here we go itadakimasu oh yeah that is so yummy so the noodles are nice and chewy and there's a little bit of bite to them because they're nice and wide the broth is delicious it's got a nice kind of porkiness to it it has a very authentic fattiness that i associate with with ramen and it's delicious in other parts of japan ocha or kocha which is black or green tea are usually served he says in okinawa they serve this sambincha which is jasmine tea oh yeah and i immediately can smell the jasmine jasmine is a really beautiful fragrant flower it's a little white bloom and i think you can also it's quite popular in china as well it's served hot come by oh that's great it's not sweet at all it has a slight bitterness that you would associate with black tea or even green tea delicious perfume of jasmine it's like a floral it's a floral scent but not not overly distracting it's just a perfect complement of tea i would say similar to something like an earl grey tea or something like that where it's just infused in there but it's not overly strong i'm not a big fan of flavor teas at all but jasmine tea i adore i love these videos they're so much fun this is what it is look at that isn't that lovely and inside are packets of cookies that are individually wrapped and michael says they're plain and sea salt so let's try that let's taste it here we go the flavor is a little bit different than what you might have traditionally in a western shortbread cookie it doesn't taste very strongly of butter at all so maybe they use shortening or something else it tastes more like that brown sugar the kokuto it's delicious quite sweet let's try this one this one looks a little lighter in color than the other one but same really cute granulated edges there hmm i think i like that one better that one's got a punch of salt in it i think i like that one better that one's got a punch of salt in it delicious i really like that really offsets the sweetness so these are senbei crackers which are rice crackers that are fried and have the shape of a turtle shell so that's why they call them kame he sent me three different flavors which is plum just a plain salt and this one which is the shoyu which is the soy sauce flavor look at this packaging isn't it delightful so here's a close-up of oops and don't they look like turtle shells they are adorable they're concave on the back like a little turtle cup there right a really delightful crunch this is what it looks like inside airy very crisp and i believe they fry these but not at all greasy it tastes like a rice snack now let's compare that with this one this is the shoyu one so this is a little bit darker in color which makes sense since soy sauce or shoyu is is dark this has a little bit of a sticky coating on the outside and it's slightly sweet you can definitely taste to show you and it's a little bit sweet too it's delicious so let's try the ume one which is seasoned with um which is a dried salted plum this one is a little bit speckled or dusted with the umebosh powder this one has a really great inside so cute like you could just imagine a little turtle inside there wow really different um bush is a little bit tangy it has a little bit of a tartness of the three i think it probably i'd like the ume lume is a very interesting and unique flavor very subtle though this is made by the company glico and i saw it in the store but i never bought it and it's cologne it has a bit of an unfortunate name as it sounds like part of the digestive system but i'm sure it's delicious this is unique to okinawa because it's pineapple flavored and you can't find this flavor in other parts of japan roll up cookies there's a little edge there and then there's a little tube and it has a yellow filling hmm really good it's got a soft kind of crunch the filling in the middle it's like a cream pineapple flavored cream and the flavor is very reminiscent of those pineapple cakes i don't know if you've ever had those chinese pineapple cakes very much that flavor of pineapple it's delicious so cute look it even has little hearts on the top there's a specific kind of citrus that grows in okinawa called shikwasa but it looks a bit like a lime i guess there's a green and a yellow looks like a lozenge oh it smells divine it's like lemony but more fragrant more flowery here we go let's taste it my mouth is watering already here we go oh so good so it has a lemony kind of mandarin orange flavor but there's a little bit of like menthol to it so it gives your tongue a little bit of a tingle it's so great it's really intensely squasha it's really good i'm gonna bite it to see what's inside nothing you know it kind of reminds me superficially the flavor is different but superficially it reminds me of halls used to make these vitamin c drops my dad would get them from my brother and i as kind of a treat and they were slightly mentholated like this and this is just taking me back here's the green one mmm equally is good same kind of mentholated slightly mentholated sensation definitely different flavor this one to me tastes more like grapefruit um so good think of the two i like the green one better it says vitamin c two thousand milligrams so maybe these are a lot like my hollows vitamins look how stinkin adorable it's chikawaso heads look how cute that is that's white and it's like a yogurt kind of chew and then inside are these little candy bits that are chewy as well it's too hard to light oh ma'am as you can see quite chewy the outside is like the kind of a yogurty creamy outside and then you get the inside are these little chewy bits they're like little gummy bits that are embedded in there and these are really chewy and that's what has the shigwassa flavor kind of tar kind of pineappley almost in this case really good michael also sent me a five pack of hai chew pineapple all right let's try that i've never had a pineapple hair chew before the inside is yellow and the outside is white so good similar to like a starburst but a little bit chewier not as sweet as a starburst and really great pineapple flavor it tastes like pineapple crush soda or something like that it's delicious let's try mango white on the outside and bright orange in the middle um hmm very interesting this almost tastes peachy to me it's delicious it still tastes quite good but it's not what i think of when i think of mango michael didn't stop there he included haichu with golden kiwi i've never seen golden kiwi flavor before oh look at this it's yellow on the outside and there's tiny little flecks in there i think that's supposed to be the kiwi seeds wow sour green apple delicious mixed with a little banana that's what that tastes like it's actually quite good you know i'm not a big fan of artificial banana flavor but i like this so this is another version this is spy chew so this looks like again by morinaga little yellow flecks in there too i don't think it'll show up on camera but there you can kind of see it let's taste it here we go oh my goodness those are excellent so indeed they're little crystals or granules of sour lemon but crunches you get that textural crunch and you get little punches of of lemon sour lemon as you chew it it's so good i love that i think that's my favorite so look at this this is very very traditional looking candy candy hmm it's like a very stubborn butter mint it's like a butter mint that won't melt it has that kind of brown sugar flavor to it and it's quite sweet pineapple candy there are several of these wrapped candies they look like pineapples like pineapple slices it's kind of a big candy this is a more subtle pineapple flavor yeah but it's not tart at all i think it would be nice if it was bound with a little bit more tartness just sweet pineapple candy this is called masasa candy these are all tropical flavors i think found in okinawa including pineapple mango and guava all these individually wrapped kinds and you can pick which one you want i think i'm going to try the guava which is this one almost delicious to me guava has almost kind of a peachy um mangoey flavor to me and that's what that tastes like it's quite good and that's what the mango actually the mango haichu tastes like it tastes more like guava it's good i like it thank you michael so much for sending me this package and don't forget to tune in next week for part two of emmy eats okinawa so i'm gonna do a quick giveaway because michael was so generous i want to give back to you guys too so just leave a comment below i'm going to choose five winners and i'll send you one of these lovely pujos or hi twos that michael sent me in part two of the okinawa video i'll announce who the winners are thanks you guys so much for watching and i'll see you in my next video take care bye how cute is that\n"