Hot vending machine drinks inspired by hot pot.

Along with the leave changing from green to red, the drink vending machine selection changing from cold to hot is a sure way to know it’s autumn in Japan. While hot canned coffee and bottled tea are the two most common offerings, you can find other tempting, warming things in vending machines, and this year that includes two types of canned rice porridge soups.

We can thank Osaka-based beverage company DyDo for this innovation, which takes the flavors of zosui (Japanese rice porridge) hot pot and puts it into something you can enjoy on the go with one hand. The first variety is called Crab Hot Pot Soup, which also boasts vegetable and kombu (kelp) notes. With Japanese foodies agreeing that crab is at its most delicious during the winter, this canned soup promises a convenient sip of luxury during the months ahead.

If shellfish isn’t your thing, there’s also the Hakata Mizutaki Soup. A specialty of Fukuoka, Hakata Mizutaki is a chicken broth hot pot that also contains mushroom and vegetables. A touch of citrus is customarily added to the broth, and in DyDo’s case they’ve chosen to use yuzu kosho, and mix of chili paste and yuzu citrus fruit extract.

In zosui, the rice isn’t boiled down to a liquid, and in these canned soups there are whole grains as well. DyDo recommends shaking the can well so that you don’t end up with any rice stuck to the bottom.

Both varieties are priced at 140 yen (US$0.93) and are on sale now, though they’re probably going to get even easier to find as the weather gets colder and more and more vending machines switch over to selling hot drinks.

Source, images: DyDo
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