Tasty sweets at reasonable price.
Do you know a Japanese sweet shop Chateraise? With 600 branches in Japan and 100 in overseas, including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and U.A.E., we guess many of you do!
It is one of the most successful sweet shops in Japan, because they have wide variety of sweets, from Japanese traditional to western cakes and confectionery, or even ice cream. Their quality is pretty nice but what makes it so special is their reasonable price! You can find any sweet that you want to try at Chatraise.
There is no doubt that the shop is quite popular in Japan, too. But don’t rush to the store and buy their products without checking their labels– because not all of them are Halal or Muslim-friendy!
Aren’t all the products Halal as in Muslim countries?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. These exported items are tested carefully, and no alcohol or animal products are detected. As of July 2023, Chatraise Japan has told us that Chateraise Indonesia is trying to obtain a halal certificate, however, so far, they are not Halal certified by a certification authority.
For the products sold in other countries, you do not have to worry about their Halal status, but this does not apply to the items sold in Japan. Some, or probably so many of them, have included ingredients which are not considered as Halal when we did a research in Japan.
It is extremely risky to assume that they are Muslim-friendly, only because they have branches in the countries where majority of people are Muslims.
What should we buy at Chateraise in Japan?
Still, it is a very attractive shop for everyone. We have visited one of the Chateraise branches and checked what are the products that can be Muslim-friendly. Following is the names and ingredients for your reference.
Information as of April 2023. Please check well before making a purchase.
Ice Cream
There are so many ice creams available at Chateraise. So far, we have found two series that do not contain gelatin, alcohol or emulsifier.
PURETE series have strawberry, salted caramel and vanilla chocolate.
Ingredients
Strawberry flavor
Chocolate, dairy products, sugar, starch syrup, strawberry puree, strawberry juice, plant oil, strawberry, starch, agar, glucomannan, coloring from red beet and yeast, emulsifier from soy, stabilizer from polysaccharide thickener and cellulose, acidulant, flavoring*, pH adjuster
*Flavoring can contain very tiny portion of alcohol.
Fresh milk ice cream is the most basic ice cream at Chateraise, and they do not use any flavoring or stabilizer! If you are health-conscious person and want to avoid food additives, then choose this ice cream. There are plain and strawberry flavors.
Ingredients
Milk, Diary products, Sugar, starch syrup, starch, agar, glutinous rice, glucomannan
Agemochi (揚げ餅)
Agemochi means fried Mochi rice cake. It is a fried version of rice crackers, so it usually has crispier taste. There are some flavors available at Chateraise, however, the only Muslim-friendly product that we found was roasted sweetcorn flavor. All other flavors contained alcoholic seasonings or animal products, which we cannot recommend to Muslims.
Ingredients
Roasted sweetcorn
Glutinous rice, plant oil, roasted sweetcorn seasoning, seasoning like amino acid, calcium phosphate, acidulant, sweetener (sucralose)
As you can see, this product does not contain any restricted ingredient, however, as other flavors which contain haram ingredients are all made in the same factory, there is a higher risk of contamination. If you are in doubt, it should be avoided.
Castilla (カステラ)
Castilla is a cake originally imported from Portugal, which now is a part of Japanese sweets. The product from Chateraise uses only fresh and natural ingredients, and luckily there is no alcohol used! There are plain and Matcha flavors, and both of them are Muslim-friendly.
Ingredients
Ingredients:
Sugar, egg, flour, rice syrup, honey + Matcha for Match flavor.
Eggs they are using for this Castilla is from the contracted farm, whose quality is great. The product is not that sweet, so it also can be your breakfast, too.
Pudding (プリン)
There are some puddings at Chateraise, however, this is the only Muslim-friendly product, as other types of puddings all include alcohol or gelatin. When you buy one, make sure you look for this package.
Ingredients
Milk, Egg, sugar, Caramel syrup
This pudding is made from a very simple recipe, and just like Castilla, they are using eggs from the contracted farm, whose quality is more trustworthy.
What should Muslims know about Chateraise in Japan?
Usually, Japanese traditional sweets can be the Halal products, however, after we have checked their labels, we have found that they are using gelatin and alcoholic seasonings. So far, there was not even one Japanese traditional swett which did not contain any restricted items. At Chateraise, it seems better for Muslims to avoid Japanese sweets.
Of course, there could be some exceptions, or changes can be made as time goes by. We hope you find this article helpful!
Information as of April 2023. The products are not made as Halal or Muslim-friendly, so there is a small risk of contamination, which we cannot be responsible of. We are here to help you with translating the labels and not judging if the product is Halal or not, please consume at your own discretion.