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.

UHA Puccho Budo & Ichigo Candy

This whimsical candy comes to us from UHA, makers of the elegant CuCu candies reviewed here. It comes in two flavors, strawberry (ichigo) and grape (budo).

As seen in the photo, out of the package it looks like a piece of cut taffy with jam in the middle. Or a very pale jam-filled cruller. Or a pig in a blanket where the pig is jam and the blanket is taffy.

Initial taste tests failed. This is a soft candy, and there's not much going on until it's chewed. Once chewed, it released flavor notes of sour, artificial grape/strawberry, bologna. and candle wax. And at the end, a piece of harder jelly filling.

Further inspection being needed. Candybowl took a fresh piece and nibbled away the white wrapper to reveal the jam center. Clearly, the wrapper is the source of the wax and bologna flavors. What Candybowl could not have predicted, however, was that the hard jelly filling is not like a sausage at all -- it's a series of small pellets. Those jelly pellets have the texture of a Rowntree Fruit Gum, and account for the burst of fruit flavor at the end.

In sum, an odd candy with some clever engineering, but far too flawed to receive high marks from Candybowl.

Iwasa Amazake Sweet Wine Candy

Although this is not the first time Candybowl has encountered an alcohol-flavored candy (for example, cabernet sauvignon candy), it still comes as a surprise every time a new one shows up. Candy and childhood seem so closely intertwined that adult candy seems wong.

There is very little wrong with this candy. It comes packaged in a relatively stark black and white wrapper -- no snorkeling dogs here. And its appearance is smooth and striated, like the delightful nama ume ame plum candies. It has the slightest point at the end, as though it was twisted off at the end like a sausage. On the tongue, it seems not so much rough (it is not smooth) as coated or frosted. All good, so far.

The initial flavor notes are as follows: sake. No surprise: zake = sake. That's it, like sipping a cold, sweet glass of sake. Maybe cheap sake (e.g., Ozeki), but this is a candy, after all. After a while the sake flavor recedes a bit, so on to the crunch test.

This is one tough candy to get a molar into. After a concerted effort, Candybowl managed to break it into several pieces. And those pieces, once crushed, re-formed into a hard and sticky lump. Loyal readers know how much Candybowl hates crud on his molars.

Elegant packaging, beautiful candy, a refined flavor, and a failed crunch test. So what's the final take? Try it yourself and see.

Senjaku White Soda Candy

With Japanese candies, form and flavor are not exactly life partners. Sometimes a very clever package holds a so-so candy, and vice-versa. Not so here -- this confection is wonderful inside and out.

The outer package and candy wrappers are alluring, adorned with shimmering blue and gold foil. The label boasts "three kinds of white soda flavors," white soda, grape and apple. (Although Candybowl denies that "white soda" can be a "kind of white soda flavor" this is not the place for such pedantry.)

The beauty carries through to the candy itself, which has a nice, smooth outer surface with a bit of powder coating. Unlike recent offerings, it is smooth on the tongue.

Candybowl doesn't like artificial apple, so naturally tried the apple flavor. Initial flavor notes include bubblegum, celery soda, urinal cookie and apple. Not artificial apple, but real red delicious apple. Unfortunately, the other flavor notes mask the apple flavor.

The crunch is as good as any candy reviewed here. Although this candy, like the Kasugai fruit sweets, contains baking soda, that is not apparent in the crunch. Nevertheless, this candy fractures wonderfully and leaves very little residue.

A fine effort from Senjaku Candy.

Chikuho Fruits Candy

This bag of mixed fruit boiled sweets has four flavors -- apple, lemon, strawberry, and ume (plum). Candybowl tried the strawberry and the ume.

The strawberry flavor gives off initial flavor notes of strawberry. Not real strawberry, but not totally artificial and actually quite pleasant. The outer surface is not perfectly smooth, but is pleasant on the tongue. So far so good.

Ume tastes inscrutable and mysterious. Not like a plum. Not like salted plum. Not plum. What is it? Try and see.

The crunch is acceptable, with the candy fracturing into small pieces that quickly deteriorate into a grainy mess that leaves too much gum on the molar. The flavors remain the same, a bit more intense, but notthing much to blog about.

A conventional effort from Candybowl debutante Chikuho.

Kasugai Kajitsu No Sukasshu Fruit Sweets

There are few things that say great candy like a cartoon of a snorkeling dog. And this dog has quite a lot to say about this candy from Kasugai.

There are four flavors of this unusual boiled sweet: grape, lemon, pineapple, and strawberry. Candybowl had the strawberry.

The initial taste impression is artificial, slightly cloying strawberry flavor. It has a pleasant sourness on the tongue that intensifies as the candy is sucked. The shell is rough, beckoning you, dear eater, to the sugary rocks.

The crunch is the game changer. Out pours a sour, fizzy center, bathing the mouth in candy delight. Bicarbonate is among the ingredients, and Candybowl surmises it combines with the sour shell to create fizz.

Candybowl recalls that when he was a child there were candies that might have been called Zingers. They came in a long chain of individually wrapped candies. Candybowl was not allowed to have them. But did have a chance to taste one or two, and recalls that the inside kind of sizzled. Not pop rock explosions, just a shimmery sizzly happening in your mouth.

Like that.

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.