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.

UHA 100% Fruit Juice Gummy

Here is a fruit gummy candy from UHA, a company no doubt well known to followers of the Candybowl (the blog, not the bowl or the blogger).

Make no mistake: this is not a super-soft Kasugai gummy.  Instead, it has a firmer bite closer to a Rowntree fruit gum.  Adding to the textural delight, each candy is shaped like the fruit whose flavor it bears.

Candybowl tried the grape, orange, and peach.  Grape had a very realistic concord grape flavor reminiscent of the Kanro Grape candy.   Peach, too, was fairly realistic.  Orange, on the other hand, had a slightly medicinal flavor without real orange juice or zest notes.

The 100% juice claim, while impressive and borne out by the flavor of at least some of the candies, is a bit of an optical illusion.  According to the package, each candy contains 20% of a 5x fruit juice concentrate.  The remaining ingredients is a mystery, as the printing on the package is clear on white and quite illegible.

Another delightful candy from UHA.

Ribon Noko Nama Ichigo Fresh Strawberry and Yogurt Candy

This filled sweet comes to us from Candybowl debutante, Ribon.  It comes in two flavors -- strawberry and yogurt.  If Candybowl reads the outer package correctly (a big if), this candy contains 50% fruit juice.  It also contains cream from Hokkaido.

Candybowl tried the strawberry first.  On sucking, the morsel released mild strawberry flavor and hints of honeysuckle.  The mouth feel was excellent, and Candybowl could have sucked it for a long time.  But the candy demanded to be bitten.

On crunch, the delicate candy shell gave way to a creamy center.  Shell and center melded into a nice facsimile of strawberry milkshake.  It left very little residue, possibly because Candybowl sucked so long.

Moving on to the yogurt candy, it released a refreshing yogurt notes and slight citrus flavor, almost like a lemon square.  On chewing, the strawberry center overwhelmed the yogurt flavor.  This time, the residue was a bit excessive but still pleasant because of the strong fruit flavor.

A respectable and very likable candy from Ribon,

Sakuma Lemon Koritto

This lemon candy is understated, with its unassuming cellophane twist package. However, it ranks among the finest confections Candybowl has encountered.

It has an attractive triangular form, and is adorned with an "S," presumably for Sakuma. According to the diagram on the package, the outside is lemon flavor and the inside is "saku saku milk." (Before the mind starts racing, Candybowl would like to point out that online translation of sakusaku is "crispy.") It is mottled yellow because of its white filling.

This sweet is smooth on the tongue, releasing a pleasant, mild lemon flavor that reminds Candybowl of lemon italian ice. There are no odd notes, just natural lemon. Which is unsurprising, considering that one of the ingredients is lemon juice.

The candy crunches beautifully, releasing a burst of milky flavor. Although crispy milk usually is a sign of problems, in this case it completes a very nice candy. The added flavor note is not fresh milk; perhaps powdered or condensed would be a better analogy. A tiny but very stubborn lump on Candybowl's molar is the only thing keeping this candy from perfection.

An excellent debut from candymaker Sakuma.

Kanro Sugar Free Fruit-flavored Candy

Kanro has made a strong move into sugar free candies with this bag of mixed sweets in four fruit flavors -- green apple, lemon, strawberry, and grape. Candybowl tried the apple candy.

The confection started with a pleasant and realistic green apple flavor. After some sucking, the green apple flavor receded, and odd notes began to develop. Candybowl has been admonished about the frequency with which he describes candies as tasting like cleaning products, and will not do so here. At least it doesn't taste like menthol.

The outer package boasts "Does not contain menthol." This, no doubt, is a response to Candybowl's comments about Kanro's candies tasting like menthol or like Halls Cough Drops. The Kanro flavor meter describes this as below-average sweetness, and above-average sourness. In the words of a great poet, "well, I guess."

The crunch is very nice, similar to sugar free Life Savers. On chewing, the apple flavor reintensifies, but so does that odd note described above. Perhaps because this is a sugar free candy, it left only a small amount of residue on the tooth and even that dissolved quickly.

A nice try, Kanro, but you I know you can do better.

Rings Vitamin C Fruit Candies

This treat comes to us from a company that is new to Candybowl, the Pine company.

According to the package, each of these candies contains 50mg of vitamin C. While that's not going to rock Linus Pauling's world, it would be a much-needed addition to a hypothetical diet of soda, pretzels, and gummy candy.

The vitamin C seems to be the small colored pellets within each candy. As you suck the candy, the pellets are exposed giving little bursts of sour. When you bite into the candy, the little sour pellets break apart and create a severe risk of pleasure. The crunch is excellent, and leaves little residue.

These candies have proven very popular among those who have tried them. They come in three flavors -- the white ones (pictured) are lychee, the pink ones peach, and the yellows are lemon.