Super Juicy Gummy

I have made passing reference to the Kasugai gummies over the past few weeks, and they are collectively the most popular offering of all time, so I suppose this post was inevitable.

The good folks at Kasugai have blessed us with an array of flavors. From memory, the candy bowl has featured peach, apple, orange, pineapple, lychee, grape, muscat grape, melon, and kiwi (pineapple and lychee are pictured at left). Some, like the orange and peach, have been quite popular. Others, like the melon and muscat grape gummies, languished in the bowl.

These little morsels have no crunch at all. Some might say that's what makes them so good. No crunch, that is, except for the kiwi ones. The little brown lumps in the kiwi gummies are kiwi seeds. Seeds. What did you think they were?

To see just how cute a corporate website can be, check out http://www.kasugai.co.jp/

Charcoal Roast Coffee

Those of you who liked Kopiko owe it to yourselves to try this hard coffee candy. The name "sumiyaki" translates to "charcoal roast," a style of coffee I believe is unique to Japan.

It's a black coffee candy (i.e. no milk) but exhibits very little of the bitterness that afflicts some of the other dark roast candies. The flavor has less of the caramel note that makes Kopiko so good, but it has a bit more realism in the coffee flavor.

The bite is good, but not great. It fractures well -- so well, indeed, that on my first bite I just cracked off part of the candy, leaving most of it intact and ready for another attempt. The finish is a little gummy, but unlikely to take out anything but the loosest fillings.

Preserved Plum Candy

Those of you who have tried ume shiso rolls at finer sushi restaurants (including Oysy) will immediately recognize the flavor of this candy as ume boshi, preserved plum.

The striated outer surface of this morsel suggests that this candy is made of spun sugar. I think it's more likely that it is extruded. Either way, the hard candy shell has a pleasant, not-too-sour plum flavor.

Biting into the candy (the now-familiar ame o kamikudaku test) you will find that it is filled with real salted plum paste. Salty, sour, preserved plum. Mmmm. (As an aside, I don't really understand why this is called "nama ume ame," which I amateurishly translate as "raw plum candy." Anyone?) I recommend sucking it for a little while, then biting in while there's still some candy shell, because the plum paste by itself can be a little overwhelming.

You should try this one. Or maybe not -- this could be a gateway to eating whole ume boshi, and who knows where that could lead?

Vitain Yogurt Candy

Vitain seems to be the energy drink of the candy world. It contains Vitamin C and real Yogurt culture. The yogurt flavor dominates, with a hint of peach.



The double-dose of purported health benefits may explain why the morsel has two faces. One side is slightly chalky like a Sweetart, or perhaps a Tums, and the other side is like a boiled sweet.



Another candy you won't want to chew right away, but the crunch is good and the finish is clean.

Kanro Grape Candy

This traditional hard candy, from a package of mixed fruit sweets, was a pleasant surprise.

The initial taste impression is artificial grape, supplanted almost immediately by real, or very realistic, Concord grape flavor. Those of you who have had Kosher sacramental wine will recognize the flavor immediately. The rest of you are, no doubt, more familiar with Wild Irish Rose. Either way, it's good!

So good, in fact, that I didn't want to bite into it. Loyal to my readers, however, bite I did. It fractures well, but with a bit of gumminess on the molar. Points neither won or lost, but if you're like me you'll probably want to savor it until the end.

A tip of the hat to Kanro's Manager of Research Office in Development Main Unit Masuhito Yamamura.

Alphonso Mango

This candy comes to us from Kasugai, who produces the gummies that have charmed so many of you. The comparison ends there.

Its smooth outer appearance suggests a refined boiled sweet, foreshadowing (but not revealing) the outstanding experience that is to follow. This is no boiled sweet; the hard candy coating melts away to reveal a soft middle layer that contains real mango.

The flavor of the hard shell is excellent, not quite like fresh mango, but certainly the equal of the puree that Indian restaurants use in mango drinks. The center has the unmistakable taste of sweetened dried mango. Overall, the flavors are closer to Manila mango than to the big green and red "Tommy Atkins" mangoes that proliferate in U.S. supermarkets. And that's a good thing.

This is the first featured item from the new batch of candy. It's going to be a great week.

Jolly Rancher Mountain Berry

Denizens of the candy bowl know I have tended towards foreign candies. So when I agreed to write about this one, I was hoping it would provide an opportunity to show balance, to find new hope for our nation. Sadly, I found yet another sign that the U.S. continues to trail the developed world in confectionery.

The disappointment starts with the package -- a non-tamper evident wrapper totally unsuited to these dangerous times. Untwisting the ends reveals a rough-hewn lump to which the photo barely does justice. Uneven ends and a wrinkled surface, like someone who just woke up and has pillow marks all over her face.

The flavor is sweet and tart, with notes of wet-ones and poultry seasoning. Where's the berry? Certainly not in the sample I received. Perhaps "mountain berry" is a euphemism, like certain oysters.

And no biting, please. This candy is so hard it will break your teeth. That means that like some brooding 3-hour art house film, once you start, you can't leave until it's over. Except this is more like like a Matthew McConaughey flick -- you liked the looks of it, but when the lights dim you realize you're stuck watching the Wedding Planner. Alone.

Jolly? I think not. Rancher? Hmm....