UHA CuCu Watermelon Salt Vanilla Candy

When Candybowl was young, he went to a summer day camp run by hippies.  Not hula-hoop-twirling, dirty-dredlock-wearing hippies, but just good snaggle-toothed, granola-eating folk into whose hands we were placed for a chain of hot summer days.

There was some weirdness, like the belief that powdered milk was healthier than fresh, or the picking up and inspecting of insects, or the grunge at the bottom of the swimming pool.  But most of it we just accepted as normal.  Like cutting the white parts off of the watermelon rinds other kids had sucked clean earlier in the day and tossing them into an aquarium so we could pickle them.

Of course, there was nothing normal about making watermelon pickles in an aquarium.  For good reason.   First, aquariums are nasty places in which fish and reptiles do terrible things.  Second, aquarium glass breaks easily.  So when we were all supposed to be eating yummy pickled watermelon rind, instead we were picking pieces of broken glass out of the broken aquarium and rinsing the rind, and hoping to god that the pieces we were eating wouldn't kill us.

Which is why the new Japanese fad for watermelon salt candies evokes a sense of longing in Candybowl.

This morsel is part of UHA's CuCu line.   Like all of UHA's candies the texture is flawless.  On sucking, one gets mild and very pleasant watermelon notes with just a hint of vanilla.

The crunch is delightful, releasing a burst of saltiness and just a little caramel.  The watermelon flavor intensifies, but only slightly, more like an increase in sourness without additional fruitiness.

And no broken glass.  An odd and pleasant treat from CuCu.  Try them as soon as you possibly can.

Sapporo Hokkaido Butter Caramel

This sublime, western-style butter caramel comes to us from Sapporo "Gourme" Foods. 

The caramel is rough-hewn and textured, giving it the appearance of a handmade candy-store candy.  However, the ingredients are not altogether traditional.  Although it contains real milk and sugar (presumably from Hokkaido) it also has millet jelly, shortening, and flavorings.

The initial flavor note is overwhelmingly sweet toffee.  There is one odd note present, reminiscent of dust from the inside of a wooden box.  Perhaps the wooden box in which they found the caramel recipe.  I don't know.

This is a soft candy, so all the action is in the chewing.  This confection has excellent texture.  Soft, not sticky, but a bit grainy.  It releases sweet.  burnt caramel notes, followed by a burst of buttery toffee flavor.  A bit too sweet, perhaps, but overall a very tasty candy. Only a tiny bit of residue left on the tooth and even this dissipates quickly.

A very nice, if conventional caramel from Sapporo Gourme' Foods.  Pick one up if you can, but don't go out of your way.