Isle stores stock up on jelly drinks as popularity soars

Back in the 1960s, Julie Andrews, as film nanny Mary Poppins, sang, "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." Today, we might swap the word "sugar" for "jelly."

Throughout Asia, consumers have turned to jelly drinks packed in pouches for a quick, refreshing, easy and sweet way to get their daily dose of mineral and vitamin supplements, from vitamins C and E to collagen and glucosamine, depending what you need.

People seem to love the texture so much, Asian grocers such as Don Quijote now have shelves full of fruit-flavored jelly drinks with no pretense of health benefits. New introductions at the recent Food & New Products Show at the Blaisdell Center included cola flavors sure to be coming to a store near you, at about $1 a pop.

Over at Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa, the Le Jardin snack shop offers acai smoothies and bowls. 

It recently added an acai jelly option, topped with fresh fruit, pictured, as the perfect confection on a humid day, for $5.95.

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