Kanro Changing? Candy

Leave it to the candy geniuses at Kanro to come up with such an unconventional boiled sweet. This changing candy offers three flavors -- grape, apple, or soda flavor followed by a plunge into unknown flavor territory.

Starting within the realm of the knowable, the apple candy tasted initially like apple. Not totally realistic apple flavor, but close enough and without some of the chemical notes that can afflict some artificial apple flavorings. Upon sucking, another fruit flavor, slightly more realistic, melted through. Candybowl will not say what it is, for it would then no longer be a surprise.

This morsel has a slightly rough appearance, but is smooth on the tongue. The crunch yielded no surprises, and left an acceptable amount of residue on the tooth. Having waited for the second flavor to come through on the sucking, Candybowl discerned no additional flavors in the center.

A fine offering from Kanro. Try one and see where it leads you.

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.

Kanro Natury Berry

Followers of the Candybowl (the blog, not the person) may be excused for thinking that far too much praise is heaped upon Kanro. Yet denizens of the Candybowl (the bowl, not the blog or the person) realize this is because their candies are so delicious. Hirano may deliver bulk, and Kasugai certainly has the distribution network. But Kanro can-do.

This is a soft candy, and the form factor will be immediately recognizable to those who chew Ice Breakers gum.

The initial taste impression, without chewing, is of light fruit perfume. Like smelling a peach (which, as an aside, would be a great title for a collaboration between the Allman Brothers and Spinal Tap). But this is a soft candy, not a boiled sweet, so pre-mastication flavor is hardly the end-game.

Biting into the candy, the perfume continues, but augmented by sour cranberry and general sweetness. This may be because the candy contains chips of dried cranberry and globs of real honey. And real cream. The finish is clean -- to quote Shelley, "nothing beside remains."

A sublime candy. Try it while they last.

Kanro Yuzu Tea Candy (Hachimitsu Yuzu Cha Ame)

This delightful treat is made from yuzu, a citrus fruit peculiar to Japan. Candybowl has never had real yuzu, but is informed that its peel is often used as a garnish, or steeped in water to make a tea.

Unsurprisingly, the initial flavor notes are of citrus, reminiscent of lemon zest. The candy also has a very slight menthol flavor, which Candybowl found very slightly off-putting. Overall, however, the flavor is pleasant.

The center has a more intense flavor, probably because it is made with genuine yuzu peel. It has some solids in it, but the texture is still quite clean. Like most of Kanro's candies, the candy shell has a good crunch with an acceptable amount of residue on the tooth.

Ever-innovative Kanro printed a sweetness/sourness gauge on the package. This confection ranks neutral on sweetness, but "+1" sourness. Sounds about right.

This morsel made Candybowl feel like the Japanese candy industry will never run out of new and delicious ideas. Maybe it will do the same for you(zu).

Kanro Fruits & Milk, Fruits & Yogurt

Once again, the confectionary wizards at Kanro have delivered candies worth blogging about.

As the name implies, these are fruit candies with milk or yogurt added. The fruit flavor is realistic, although, as is common in mixed fruit candies, some (e.g. Mango) are more realistic than others (e.g., Grape).

Kanro's attention to detail extends to the candy's appearance as well. This boiled sweet has a good shape, and is two-toned, indicating that the milk/yogurt is separate from the fruit.

It releases a lot of flavor without biting, but like the tootsie-pop owl, Candybowl simply can't resist for long. The crunch is refined, fracturing nicely, and leaving just a small amount of residue on the tooth.

These sweet morsels have proven quite popular, and new supplies have been added to the candybowl. Just the thing to get the taste of Korean Red Ginseng Red Bean jelly candy out of your mouth. Try it now!

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.