When I was young, we used to visit relatives in Tijuana all the time. I liked visiting my relatives, but I wasn’t crazy about Tijuana. In the Tijuana of my youth, I could be taking a shower and all of a sudden the water would run out. I’m not talking about the hot water, I mean there just wouldn’t be any water and who knew when it would come back. I’d have to yell for someone to bring me water from a balde (bucket) outside. Silly inconveniences aside, I had a blast on these trips.
I was a kid and my fondest memories of being in Tijuana are of hanging out with cousins, playing, and eating. You know what I loved to injest while in Tijuana? Mexican candy and Mexican soda. Sure you can get Mexican candy and soda here in the good ol’ U.S. of A, but I could just have more of it when my mother was distracted. People, if you have not tried Mexican candy it is the bomb diggity. I love anything that is made of tamarindo/tamarind. I’ve tried to share my love of Mexican candy with those in my life that are not of Mexican descent and it seems to be an acquired taste. That just means more for me.
Mexican soda is another story. Ah, the fizzy elixir of my youth. If you like soda, then you are going to love Mexican soda made with real sugar, not corn syrup. Have you ever tried an ice cold bottle of Jarritos?
They are friggin’ delicious and come in 11 flavors: Mandarin, Fruit Punch, Lime, Jamaica, Mango, Strawberry, Pineapple, Tamarind, Guava, Toronja and Cola. Guess which is my favorite flavor?
That’s right, I love me some Tamarindo!
How happy was I when I was asked if I would be interested in sampling a case of all 11 flavors? I couldn’t say yes fast enough! I might not be a child anymore, but enjoying a bottle of Jarritos makes me feel as giddy as a little girl and mixing one of my favorite flavors of Jarritos with a teeny bit of vodka makes me feel like a giddy grown up.
Salud!
I received a sample case of all 11 flavors of Jarritos in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. In all honesty, I already knew I liked Jarritos because as I mentioned in the above post, I’ve been a fan since childhood.
My kids LOVE Jarritos! Hello, sugar bombs!
I would love to try the lime; I love lime soda, but it’s pretty rare. And obviously, we don’t see Mexican soda much here in Maine.
I don’t know why; it would go great with Maine lobster.
Jarritos is available at Big Lots. And Mexican Coke is now in power aisle at Walmart!
Awesome. What is tamarind exactly??
It’s a hard pod with fleshy fruit inside. Hard to describe unless you’ve seen it. The fleshy (more like paste) fruit gets made into candy, drinks, chutneys, etc.
The food of our youth will always play beautiful music in our mouths! Me, give me a Yoo-hoo and Cracker Jack and I’m over the moon.
It is an acquired taste for sure. One of my students a few years back used to bring it in all the time because his family owned a Mexican candy store in town. I have to admit, I didn’t care for it…but I don’t love candy in general. 🙂
Over the last year down here in LA the trendy restaurants have been touting “Mexican Coke” on the menu. I am a Coca Cola addict but to the corn syrup kind so the flavor is much different.
I love Mexican Coke, but I grew up drinking a whole lot of American Coke. I can definitely tell the difference.
Jarritos is in our grocery store. I’ve always wanted to buy some…..but it’s expensive.
What’s Tamarindo? I’m lazy and thought I would ask the funny expert instead of searching.
Oh, and you thought Google sending me a hat was unusual or great – you send me a case of this soda and I’ll send you the hat.
It’s a pod. I’m a pod person.
that’s scary like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
You know the only time I can ever remember having tamarind as kid, my grandmother came to visit and brought some with her… and it was the unsweetest tangiest thing I had ever tasted. Can that be the same tamarind? Also I wonder if I’d like it more if tamarind were more readily accessible in the US…
I’ve only been to Tijuana one time, but seriously, I had the REAL Mexican soda like that up there? I WAS IN LOVE!
And high as a kite on sugar for a day or two. LOVE. 🙂
Lucky you! I haven’t had the candy or the drink but it sounds pretty good.
I want some!
Growing up in southern CA meant many trips to Tijuana and weekends in Ensenada. I always thought I was a native because I was so brown. It wasn’t until I had two kids and we moved to Virginia where the third child was born. After a couple years there my tan faded and I realized it was just from being in the sun so much and not the natural pigmentation. Of course I like Jarritos. Won’t find anything like that in our little town in Nebraska though.
*Ashamed* I saw them all the time in our local restaurants, and I was always curious but had never had the courage to try them . Now I will! I think my kids will love you for this, and the company needs to give you another case to thank you for real!
Hi Mami, Glad you got to do some taste-testing! I haven’t heard of this brand before but I’ll look out for it.
xo jj
I never have had Jarritos, but it does sound good! LOL about Tijuana; I live about 11 miles from it; when we take drives sometimes we can literally see across the border. My brother has many a horror story of going down there years ago when he was in high school. Unfortunately, these days it is a good thing to stay north of that border indeed!
betty
How did I miss this post? I like you would visit family in Mexico often. I grew up in San Ysidro which is a hop skip and jump to T.J. so many memories. In my neighborhood we had a candy lady who would sell Mexican candy from her house. Besides Obleas con cajeta my fave. thing was Chaca chaca with chamoy on top. I still buy a giant bottle of chamoy to put on EVERYTHING. Oh and nothing beats Jarritos naranja.
When I was a kid, I stayed with a family friend in San Ysidro during the summer and I used to go buy Mexican candy from a lady that sold it out of the window in her house.