My friends Nana and Justin have been having great adventures while living the expat life and chronicling it all in their awesome blog. They’ve been kind enough to?send me great candy finds from abroad, including my all-time most popular review: Crunky Nude Balls.
Recently, they mailed me a bunch of Japanese candies, including this pack of Hi-Chew?Lime?Shikwasa. I originally thought these were lime, but Debby and Nana cleared that up in the comments. A Shikwasa is a tart Japanese citrus fruit with a green rind and golden flesh.
Also, there are all kinds of fun stuff going on on that wrapper in addition to the Shikwasas. Nana has a great explanation in the comments.
I’ve reviewed a bunch of Hi-Chew in the past. Like all Hi-Chew, it comes in a pack of individually wrapped rectangles. The chew started off sproingy and then softened and became stickier.
These were a pale pistachio green with a white center. The flavor was amazingly juicy and spot on.
It was incredibly sweetly limey and zesty with the perfect edge of pithy bitterness. As the chew went on, the zestiness intensified and took on just a hint of herbal grassiness.
There was no sourness to it, and the sweetness level was perfect – tasty without being cloying – with just the right tidbit of bitterness to set it off.
I couldn’t stop popping these and would change nothing about them. Well, I would change one thing: bring them to the U.S. please! A ZOMG!
Oooh, a ZOMG! Lime candies are some of my favorites – I’ve gotta get these!
When I went to look for these on an online Japanese snack website, I noticed that the flavor is Shikwasa, a citrus fruit from Okinawa. Still want to buy them, though!
Yay! I’m glad they arrived!
Yes, ebidebby, they are Okinawan. We have an Okinawa specialty store here in Fukuoka, where I picked up several of the things I sent Rosa in an attempt to get her unusual/local things to sample. Rosa, the brown sugar candy is Okinawan, too… the other Hi-Chews are just from the 100 yen store and looked weird. I have had the brown sugar candy and really enjoyed it, but I haven’t tried these Hi-Chew. Maybe I’ll get one for myself next time I’m nearthe store.
I’m off to link back to you from our blog.
Oh, I forgot to mention: the little lion-dog on the wrapper is an Okinawan Shisa. He (or she) is a guardian of good fortune and serves a similar role to Chinese fu dogs. The red roof tiles are also traditional. To a Japanese person, the Shisa and red tiles would shout “Okinawa!” the same way a fleur-de-lis and Mardi Gras mask would shout “New Orleans” to an American.
Thanks for the knowledgeable comments! I’ll have to fix the post.
Hi, I’m from Peru. Where can I buy it? Which website?