New Zunda Shake variety perfectly blends chocolate with sweet soybeans.

Nestlé Japan has been building on their core KitKat range by creating a number of premium varieties in recent years, collaborating with sake brewers and plum wine specialists to infuse popular drink flavours into their chocolate-covered wafers.

Now, a non-alcoholic beverage is stepping out as the star ingredient of a new premium KitKat, and it’s in collaboration with Zunda Saryo, an esteemed company from Sendai that specialises in all things zunda.

▼ Zunda is a crushed sweet soybean paste that’s often served atop mochi gelatinous rice balls as “zunda mochi“.

Zunda is a famous specialty of Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, and Zunda Saryo is one of the area’s most popular purveyors of the sweet, delivering “a polished, refined flavour” by using only freshly harvested young edamame soybeans.

▼ One of their best-selling products is their “Zunda Shake“, which has become a cult drink amongst locals and tourists.

This milkshake has been deemed so representative of the region that it’s now been given its very own KitKat, with the exact flavour replicated by infusing edamame powder into the cream inside its wafers, and blending the shake’s vanilla milk into the chocolate coating. 

By incorporating identical ingredients from the beverage into the new chocolates, people will now be able to share the taste of the drink with friends and family around the world.

The KitKats will be sold in boxes of nine individually wrapped mini bars from 1 December for 800 yen (US$7.33) plus tax.

Available exclusively for sale in the Sendai region, the new KitKat can be found at souvenir stores in and around Sendai airport and train station, and also in local Kasho Sanzen stores.

So next time you’re in the area visiting the annual Tanabata festival, or the statue of feudal samurai lord Date Masamune, be sure to keep an eye out for the new Zunda Shake KitKat, and you might want to add the Tohoku region-exclusive Zunda KitKat to your shopping basket while you’re there.

Related: Kasho Sanzen store list
Source, images: PR Times
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!