Certain candy flavor combinations seem to go well together. Peanut butter and chocolate. Kiwi fruit and strawberry. But the one that caught my attention at my local H.E.B. was a melding of watermelon and tamarind.

For all you Candy Addicts up to date with your regional candy flavor geography, this mixture should only spell out one origin: Mexico. Tamarind, though originally a Middle Eastern fruit, is typically used as a confectionery flavor in Mexican candy.

This particular candy is called Tiliko Mix, manufactured by the Zumba Pica company. Aside from an awesome name, I can’t really tell you much more about the history of the company, as their whole website is in Spanish, and, well… the Spanish words for “one” through “ten” don’t form complete sentences.

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I was feeling adventurous this past week. Sure, there were a bunch of candies on my to-buy list that I had on my mind heading into my local H.E.B., but my spontaneity got the better of me. I craved something different and unexpected.

How does that translate into candy? Well, I decided to peruse the foreign candy aisle. My last experience with this section of the supermarket yielded a review of Vero Mango. It was very unlike any other candy I had tasted recently, and so my urge to sample another Mexican product needed to be placated.

There were many different items tempting me, but in the interest of exploring candy flavors I do not usually consume, I browsed for ingredients not typically common in many mainstream, American products.

What did my eyes finally land on? Rollito de Coco (Coconut Candy Roll) by El Azteca. I was intrigued by this cigar-shaped candy, and coconut, though present in the American confectionery world, is rather sporadic in its appearance, usually relegated to a vast assortment of ingredients. But here was a candy dedicated specifically to the coconut.

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For the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of these Turin liqueur-filled chocolates on store shelves around Christmas time. Unlike other liqueur-filled chocolates, these ones go for brand name recognition – they come in the flavors of Bailey’s, Grand Marnier and Kahlua, complete with the logos of those liqueurs on the packages.

I actually think this is a really good product idea, and given the commonness of liqueur-filled chocolates, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more of this kind of cooperation between beverage and candy companies. Turin seems to be going for maximum market saturation, with their chocolates available at most retailers, in all sizes of containers from little bags of four or five to large boxes and big novelty plastic tubes.

Previously, I’d only ever tried the Bailey’s variety, which I thought was pretty amazing – and apparently everyone else did too, as it’s hard to find them in anything other than a big expensive tin, especially in the post-holiday sale season. So I decided to go with the Kahlua-filled ones for this review.

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After my review of Tropical LifeSavers, loyal Candy Addict reader, KK, left a comment in regards to my dilemma about being unable to find candy with an accurate mango taste. She recommended that I try Lucas Mango lollipops.

My local H.E.B. carries an assortment of Mexican candy, and though they do stock Lucas products, this specific lollipop was not available for purchase. I did, however, spot a similar confection called Vero Mango.

Vero Mango, like the Lucas version, is a mango-flavored lollipop that is dusted in a red sheath of chili. I am not really a big consumer of foreign candy that doesn’t come from European, Israeli, or Antipodean origins, so I thought this recommendation might be a nice step into the waters of the Mexican and Latin American candy world.

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Q: What do you get when you cross one sour-loving Candy Addict with a whole sleeve of sour power gumballs?

A: One very happy customer with a very sore jaw.

I wasn’t all that excited to get these gumballs, since I’ve had a particularly long run of not-really-sour sour candies to eat lately. The package also said “made in Mexico” and we all know how I felt about those Mexican candies. Gum is one of those things which is difficult to get a good sour flavor with, unless of course you fill it with some sort of lethal mix of citric acid and scary chemicals. Even then I find that sour gum products are sour for about 2.35 milliseconds before they just end up being a chewy, grainy, sweet mess. There was a definite audible sigh as I busted open this sleeve.

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