Hardcore sour people are like hardcore chili people: always looking for the next fix, forever buying products with labels like “X-treme Sour,” only to be disappointed again and again. As someone who craves intensely strong flavors in both food and candy, it’s a pain I know all too well. (You’ve heard of a supertaster? I’m pretty sure I’m the opposite.) Well, my sour-loving friends, today I’m going to share with you the one candy that always satisfies my sour cravings: the Nobel Super Lemon.

“Oh, Candy Addict Staff Writer Laurie,” you’re probably thinking, “how sour can they be? The bag doesn’t even have the word ‘sour’ on it.” It’s true – in contrast with American sour candies, which scream “Crazy Mouth-Blasting Sour!” if they’ve ever been within a three-foot radius of a grain of citric acid, the packaging seems downright sedate, giving little hint of the pummeling your taste buds are about to receive. (Note that these are also imported by a brand called Santa, who sells them in a different-looking bag, but I’m pretty sure it’s the exact same candy inside.)

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Caitlin told you about these goofy election candies a few weeks ago, but here’s a quick report that the Bipartisan and Republican Sets are now available. (Candy Addict stands firm in maintaining that candy knows no political party; candy loves red, blue, and purple states; and candy always seeks common ground.)

Now, supposedly the McCain face was undergoing a makeover (hmmmm), and yes, his lollipop face doesn’t look too bad because the eyebrows are pronounced. But take a look at McCain on the little candies in the lower part of the photo above. I’m not sure you can tell, but I coulda sworn that was Casper the Ghost! I’m not saying McCain’s old, but… seriously, when you see one of these in person you’ll think it’s a comic book character of the spectral variety.

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A recent Saturday afternoon found me cruising the aisles at a large downtown Chinese market that I’d somehow never been to in all my years of living in this town. Naturally, I made a beeline for the candy section. All the usual suspects were there – Kasugai and Lotte gummies, White Rabbits, and a few other things I’d never seen before.

“Ooh, a new flavor of Pocky,” I said to myself. No, not out loud, in my head – what, do you think I wanted all the other shoppers to think I was crazy? “The box is kind of pretty. Wait, what the… Brazilian Pudding? What in the blue blazes is Brazilian Pudding?” The only things I could name that came from Brazil were Brazil nuts, jaguars and Brazilian waxing (and we are so not going to go there on a family website). None of those things had anything to do with pudding or Japanese chocolate-coated pretzel sticks.

My curiosity had to be satisfied, so I picked up a box. After all, there was a toucan on the front, and I’ve never been steered wrong by a product with a toucan on the box. (OK, the only food product I know of with a toucan for a mascot is Froot Loops, but I’ve never had a bad bowl of Sam’s finest.)

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I love me some Japanese candy, and usually the Asian markets in my area have a good supply. But lamentably, I have never been able to locate the Puccho brand of chews. A unique texture combining the soft chew of Starburst with tiny balls of gummi and, sometimes, fizzy candy bits? Sign me up! And the flavors sound great - melon, cola, and especially ramune. (Ramune is a Japanese soft drink that’s a lot like 7-up or Sprite. It has an indescribable flavor that’s almost lemon/lime… only not. The flavor is totally addictive, whether in candy or drink form, and there’s nothing quite like it outside of the Japanese candy market.)

So on a recent trip to my local Asian mega-grocery store, the T&T, I was elated to encounter the elusive chew at last. Sort of. Instead of a paper-wrapped “stick” or an awesome plastic tube thing, they came in a small bag. Very small. They were also expensive – $2.99 for the tiny bag. On sale. The regular price was nearly five bucks. (Oh, T&T – I love you so, but come on, what’s with your prices?) Instead of “Puccho,” these were called “Pucchoco” – that’s right, they’re chocolate-covered. And rather than being fruit or soda-flavored, they were almond-flavored – a new one on me.

It wasn’t ramune… but it would do.

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In our continuing coverage of the ‘08 election (hey, everyone else is covering it, why shouldn’t we?), today we bring you Kai’s Campaign ‘08 Candies. Kai’s makes traditional handmade Japanese rolled candy (kumi ame) in various cute and fun designs. For this election season, they’re offering both Lick Obama and Lick McCain candy sets. I got a chance to try the Obama set, and while I can’t claim the candies set new heights in confectionery deliciousness, I will admit that they’re pretty darn amusing!

The Obama set includes several lollipops with a cartoon Obama face, a bunch of little blue lozenge-shaped hard candies with the Democratic donkey, and similar candies in red, white and blue with the word “Vote.” For now the Obama set also includes a McCain pop, and the website says that they’re redoing the McCain face - in the meantime, only the Obama set is available.

The candies themselves taste fairly typical - the Obama ‘pop is mostly just sweet (the website says it’s lemon-lime flavored), while the lozenges have very slight flavors - lemon-lime for the donkeys and lemon for the vote candies (the lemon-lime of the lozenge tastes different than the lemon-lime of the Obama lollipop). McCain’s ‘pop sports a flavor that seems to be that of burnt sugar, though the website claims it’s strawberry. It’s not totally unpleasant, but I’m not sure I would ever have come up with strawberry if I hadn’t read it.

What’s cool about these is that the images go all the way through the pop, so even after you’ve sucked on them for a while, you can still take it out of your mouth and proudly display it for coworkers or admirers. And while the flavor may not be astounding, they’re certainly good in a general sugary kind of way. But really, we aren’t buying these for their flavors, are we?

• Kai’s Candy Company Website

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What’s the best part of traveling to a new place? Seeing the sights? Nope. The food? Getting closer. Trying new candy? Now you’re talking! So on my recent trip to Honolulu, I was on the hunt for candy. Not Hawaiian candy, mind you, but Asian candy. I love Asian candy - if it’s got a name in characters I can’t read and weird Engrish ingredients like “starch syrup” and “acidity,” I’m all over it. And with its large population of Japanese people, I figured Hawaii was the place to find it.

From the racks of candy at the local mall’s Shirokiya department store, your one-stop shop for all things Japanese, I selected a bag of Nama Kokuto Ame brown sugar-flavored hard candies. The bag was certainly striking, with a bold red brush-stroked character on a background of black fading to gold. The bag’s picture of crumbled lumps of brown rock sugar looked promising, as did the short ingredient list: sugar, muscovado, liquid cane sugar, and flavors. Nothing too unusual there, though I couldn’t quite recall what muscovado was.

I popped the first one in my mouth and was rewarded with a smooth, mild caramel/brown sugar flavor. A nice, pleasant flavor, not too bold or intrusive, suitable for keeping your mouth busy while doing other things without being too distracting. But as I sucked on it, the flavor, slowly but surely, began to change.

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When I first saw this box of mini cream puffs, I was a little frightened. On one hand I thought, yum, Ceylon tea-flavored mini cream puffs! On the other hand, I figured these would be crammed so full of preservatives that they’d taste like plastic. After all, what kind of shelf life can be expected of mini cream puffs in a box? Well, I needn’t have been scared, because these are actually a delightful surprise.

Each mini cream puff is about an inch in diameter. The shell is rather crunchy, so I guess you could say it’s more like a cookie than a cream puff (i.e., it’s not doughy). They are also a tad scorched in appearance. The innards are supposed to be like cream puff filling, I guess, but as you can imagine, it’s not like custard or whipped cream at all. It’s more like Oreo sandwich filling with a light tea flavor. The aftertaste is surprisingly reminiscent of the aftertaste of hot black tea, and it lingers for quite some time. The candy that keeps on giving!

I don’t think I’d run to the market to stockpile these Chocolat Poche, but I wouldn’t throw them away, either, and if they had other flavors, I’d be all over them.

• Meiji (in Japanese)

Buy Meiji products online:

• at Jbox

More candy articles about: chocolate, tea, Japan, Japanese

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Leave it to the Japanese to invent candies that enhance your brain power! It may sound too good to be true, but don’t you think it’s worth having a little faith about them? After all, what Candy Addict wouldn’t love candies that make him smarter? These Shigekix hard gummi sour candies contain DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid), which is supposed to give your brain a little kick.

Our pals at Jbox were generous enough to send me a box of the Shigekix Aha! Brain Fruits Lemon to review. I must say I believe I like these Shigekix candies a lot more than Brian liked the three Shigekix flavors he reviewed two years ago.

The gummis are quite small individually, with each gummi not exceeding an inch in height. The outer coating is a crunchy, sugary one that provides a nice, crisp bite. Inside is a rather hard gummi. It won’t break your teeth, but you really have to put your jaw to work and chew with determination to soften it up. There is a definite sour sensation once you bite into candy, but it is not face-scrunchingly sour. The gummis leave a nice, citrusy aftertaste. I can’t say that my brain power felt enhanced in any way, but I do think my life is better now that I have experienced these tasty little candies!

Shigekix come in a number of flavors and incarnations, including grape, ume (Japanese plum), cola, ramune, and seaweed. Here at Candy Addict we’re all dying to know how the seaweed ones measure up… but not enough to risk it ourselves!

• Shigekix website (in Japanese)
• Other Candy Addict reviews of Shigekix

Buy Shigekix online:

• at Jbox.com

More candy articles about: Shigekix, gummi, sour, lemon, Japan, Japanese, ramune

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Okay, so I am hopelessly addicted to anything that is matcha flavored. Matcha is Japanese powdered green tea. It’s not like the green tea they serve you in Japanese restaurants, mind you, but more like restaurant green tea on steroids. Matcha is used in the Japanese tea ceremony and is also what you find in green tea ice cream. Lately there has been a proliferation of green tea-flavored items in the United States (matcha frappuccino, anyone?), but in Japan? Matcha is king, and holy cow, practically every edible item there comes in a matcha flavor! Woohoo!

You can imagine my glee when I opened up this box of Morinaga Matcha Caramels from Jbox. I have long been a fan of Morinaga caramels, but it was like I won the lottery when they started making them in matcha flavor. I love the look of the box - it looks very authentic and kind of retro.

Now, I have tried many a matcha-flavored candy, and not all of them are delicious. Many of them do not taste like true matcha. These Morinaga Matcha Caramels, however, do not disappoint. These little nuggets of yumminess have a strong but smooth matcha flavor, and though they are a bit on the firm side in terms of texture, a couple of good chews will soften them up enough that you won’t dislodge any dental fillings. Real matcha is loaded with caffeine, but I don’t really know how the caffeine affects candies. Perhaps I should eat an entire box and see what happens? Maybe next time…

• Morinaga (in Japanese)

Buy Morinaga Caramels online:

• at JBox

More candy articles about: Morinaga, matcha, green tea, caramel

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Japan has a strong dedication to celebrating the change of seasons. They have special festivals, clothes, activities and (of course) foods depending on what time of year it is. In fact, Japan is now infamous for the number unique flavors they’ve been cranking out seasonally on the candy aisle. One of the stars of this whole front? KitKat.

So I’m really digging into my archives here with this flavor. It was originally released in the spring/summer of ‘06 (and no, I didn’t have one waiting around that long for me to taste). Its flavor is based off a Chinese dessert made of cold almond pudding, hinting that warmer weather is coming.

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