Smith Orange and Melon Jelly

When Candybowl’s mom used to go to the Asian food store, she would sometimes get Botan candies, orange-flavored morsels wrapped in clear rice paper that melted on your tongue.  It was so much fun to take off the rice paper and pretend to eat plastic wrap.  So Candybowl was excited to see these Orange and Hami Melon jellies from Hong Kong's Smith Confectionery listing rice paper as an ingredient.

From first appearances, it appears the rice paper got fused to the outside of the jelly.  It keeps the wrapper from sticking, but definitely not fun.  The other ingredients are pretty uninspiring -- glucose syrup, sugar, agarm and flavoring (probably artificial).

This is not a confection intended to be sucked, although the floating rags of rice paper do tend to confirm Candybowl's fused-to-the-exterior theory.  The bite is nice and stiff, and the jelly breaks down into small lumps in the mouth.  It's all about the texture.

The orange initially releases a bitter zest-like orange flavor.  Deeper down, there is nothing.  The same is true of the melon, where an odd and unfamiliar melony flavor dissipates into the slippery mash of sweet jelly.  Eating both of them together masks the melon flavor.  But why?  Just get the orange.

Overall a fair attempt from Smith Confectionery, which according to this article is one of the last candy companies still manufacturing in Hong Kong and does much of its work by hand.  Try it if you can find it, but don't go out of your way.