Kasugai Milkland Candy

This milk candy comes from Kasugai, the folks who fill our world with gummies. But comparisons end there. Not only is this candy not soft, it's unbreakable. So don't be misled.

The package is absolutely adorable. Not that silly-cuteness that can sometimes afflict Japanese stuff, but just cute. Happy cows (or perhaps bulls -- no visible udders, and a red ring through the nose) standing in an idealized field of trees near a windmill and a farmhouse.

So it was quite a surprise to find the candy rough-hewn and misshapen. Perhaps as ugly a candy as has graced the pages of this blog since that Jolly Rancher incident. Yet this is no Jolly Rancher, my friends.

The candy, for all its ugliness, is smooth and slippery on the tongue. Milk and cream notes cascade and even seem to intensify as the candy is sucked. None of the play-doh flavor that can afflict milk candies. Mmm....

Candybowl thinks he has jaws so strong they could chew through the spine of a small animal (thankfully, this exigency has not arisen). Yet biting into this milk candy proved impossible. At one point -- or was it just a dream -- a small chip broke off, but then the fracture healed over and it was bulletproof again. Don't eat one unless you have 15 minutes or so.

Putting it all together, the hardness may provide a clue to understanding the ugliness. Perhaps Kasugai lacks tools hard enough to polish this candy once it is formed.

Altogether, a nice effort. Come for the adorable cows, stay for ... well, for as long as it takes to dissolve deliciously in your mouth.