ZOMG, Candy!

Another Asian treat sent as a free review sample by Asian Food Grocer. I was given free reign to pick what I wanted. In addition to pineapple Hi-Chew, I asked for Flower’s Kiss Candy because I was intrigued by the name. Would the Flower’s Kiss Candy taste like flowers? Thankfully, nope.

The Flower’s Kiss Candy turned out to be a sweet, fruity hard candy. Though it comes in a large assortment of prettily decorated wrappers, they’re all the same - a bumpy pink/red hard candy. It dissolved smoothly but also crunched up nicely and cleaved cleanly, a plus for me since I’m impatient and chomp on my hard candies.

Flavorwise, the Flower’s Kiss Candies reminded me of the Asian Juice candy I’ve previously reviewed. It’s lightly sweet and fruit-punchy, with an almost floral peach high note to its flavor. If it makes any sense, this particular candy’s peach flavor makes me think of fat pink Asian calligraphy peaches rather than the usual yellow/red peaches. An OM from me. I’m glad I asked for these from Asian Food Grocer; I’d seen it on the shelves of Asian grocery stores before but had never dared buy it in case it tasted like flowers. Yay for free samples!

Nestle Choco Milo

A tiny cube of chocolate cookie - the densest, crunchiest tiny cube of chocolate cookie I’ve ever had. It was super hard, and it only got away with being so nearly impossible to crunch because it was about 1 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm. Though tiny, the Choco Milo is delicious. Its chocolate flavor is reminiscent of that of hot cocoa, and it strikes a perfect bittersweet balance. OMG. Unfortunately, I grabbed this one out of a dish at a party of an acquaintance and have no idea where to find more.

Kasugai hard candy

Kusugai (BUY!) makes a lot of great Asian candies; their gummies are especially popular and deliciously faithful to their fruits’ taste. From my first quick glance at the wrapper of these Kasugai hard candies, I expected these to be a mix of individually wrapped candies of different flavors. A pineapple here, an apple there, a… bell pepper? Wait. There are vegetables on the wrapper too! My Chinese reading skills are nearly nonexistent, but I do recognize the second character as one that usually means “vegetable”.

These pleasantly light and sweet candies were all the same color - orange - and all the same difficult to pin down flavor. I definitely tasted pineapple; the bell pepper, not so much. I’d describe these as V8 Splash (BUY!) flavored candy. Again, they were pleasant enough, but not something I’d want to eat again and again. Just an O, but a positive one.

Mikakuto Tokuno Japanese Milk Candy

I didn’t know what these were called but managed to stumble across them on Amazon (BUY!). The cow and barn motif (which I find adorable, by the way) match up, so I think it’s safe to assume they’re the same candy.

I think I’ve yet to meet an Asian milk candy (BUY!) I didn’t like. To me, they’re all pretty much the same. They’ve all been a milky, creamy vanilla, but such a delicious vanilla, with that extra bit of vanilla essence oomph that elevates it to the next level. That oomph is difficult to describe. It’s like the difference between generic vanilla ice cream and the best homemade vanilla ice cream (oh Blue Bell, why haven’t you made it to New England yet?) you’ve ever had. Which makes this way better than a vanilla Tootsie Roll. In this particular brand of milk candy, the vanilla flavor is more that of vanilla extract than vanilla bean, but it still works! An OM.