Kasugai Konpeito is a cool-looking and colorful Japanese candy that is about the size of a marble (do kids still play with marbles?), and there are little nubs all over them making them look like miniature Katamari Damacy thingies. Evidently Konpeito was also featured in the animated movie Spirited Away (which I never saw).
You know what these candies are? Rock candy. Remember rock candy? It came on a thin round wooden stick with a little round wooden ball on the end and was essentially just large crystals of sugar. That’s what Konpeito is - little balls of rock candy! Despite coming in five different colors, they all taste the same - like sugar. I was really hoping the different colors would be different flavors.
Eating these reminds me so much of being a kid and eating rock candy, but now I don’t have to eat a whole HUGE stickful of rock candy - I can just eat one or two of these. Like rock candy, you can immediately bite into them (they aren’t too hard) or you can suck on them for a while til they sort of fall apart in your mouth. I really had to force myself not to chew them after sucking on them for a minute.
Overall, these are good, but they are just too plain for my taste. I guess I’m spoiled by all the weird and wacky candy flavors available nowadays.
Buy Konpeito at JBox
Kasugai website
More candy articles about: candy, review, reviews, japan, japanese, spirited+away, sugar, konpeito, kompeito
Real Konpeito has flavors/etc. - you just got generic manufactured stuff. See: http://www.junkfoodblog.com/2006/02/konpeito.html
February 25th, 2007 at 1:01 amI should read comments on all sites before posting on either
Feel free to purge both, or leave them for shameful posterity.
February 25th, 2007 at 1:02 amKonpeito candy is also in the manga/anime seires, “Bleach” Kusajishi Yachiru, one of the characters, is in love with Konpeito candy and will eat it all if she can find it. I had some generic manufacture stuff from my english teacher, it’s really good. I’d love to get some from japan though, it looks really good and the ones I had were really good too.
April 1st, 2007 at 12:52 pmI recently purchased some konpeito from Mitsuwa, an absolutely amazing Japanese market in New Jersey. It has flavors, but the white still tastes pretty musch like pure sugar. Not like I’m complaining! And that’s a great way to describe it… Stickless miniature rock candy. This stuff has me hopelessly addicted.
May 7th, 2007 at 5:17 pmOMG
July 17th, 2007 at 1:36 amKonpeito candies rule.
They are in the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away, which is a pesonal favoritte of mine.
I buy candt from japan once or twice a year and I always order at leats one bag of them.
They are amazing and everyone should try them.
Do they make them with molds?
A friend is curious on how they’re made, and all I know is that it is something like rock candy, maybe mold formed.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:42 pmKasugai kompeito was fed to the dust creatures by Lin in the boiler room. its when sen is asking for a job. its thoes little star things.
May 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm