October 31, 2001

7:16 PM

Foreign Candy Their Pink Grapefruit Mint is the candy that changed my life. The candy I can't live without. The Best Damn Candy I Ever Had. Really. Too bad it's Japanese. Anybody else hooked on non-native candy? (warning: links to a site awash in an asian character set -- but, you get cute monkeys).
posted by daver (45 comments total)

Ok, ok, here's a site you can read. And, an earlier foreign candy fetish of mine. Mackintosh's Toffee
. We used to hike miles, in the snow, up hill (both ways) and get searched at the border for a bar of Mackintosh's Toffee...
posted by daver at 7:21 PM on October 31, 2001

dude. pocky.

mmmmmmmm.

the coconut and strawberry varieties make me happy.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:22 PM on October 31, 2001

Kinder eggs. It's not so much the extra milky chocolate ("more healthy") as the fun build-it-yourself toy inside!

Although pockys are easier to find... and White Rabbit too (Chinese milk and sugar - wrapped in edible rice paper!) yum.
posted by phoenix enflamed at 7:28 PM on October 31, 2001

When I was in the UK, I got addicted to a candy bar that we don't have here in the States.....I can't remember the name, but it was covered in chocolate, and the inside was hard and crunchy and looked like a honeycomb. Nummy good!
posted by Oriole Adams at 7:30 PM on October 31, 2001

I'm a HUGE fan of their peach flavor -- never tried the grapefruit -- anyone know how to get it in the US?
posted by tperkow at 8:06 PM on October 31, 2001

Kasugai Gummies. Flavorful and moist. Seriously, moist. And they've got the best product descriptions on the package.
posted by jason at 8:16 PM on October 31, 2001

Oriole: It could have been a Violet Crumble or a Crunchie.

I miss Kinder Surprise eggs, Fabulicious, tamarillo chewing gum from the Korean sushi place I used to go to, PK chewing gum, Zeros, Salt & Vinegar Kettle Fries and Salsa Grain Waves, even though the last two are chippies.

Oh, New Zealand food is so great.
posted by animoller at 8:16 PM on October 31, 2001

The cola-flavored (and cola-shaped) Gummis got me through grad school...so damned addictive!!!
posted by davidmsc at 8:43 PM on October 31, 2001

Turkish Delight (UK retail version) - like rose flavored jello dusted in sugar - my wife loves it
posted by thatwhichfalls at 9:05 PM on October 31, 2001

Being a chocolate fiend, I've tried the stuff the world over. I'd place Korean chocolate as some of the best in the world. I was most fond of Pocky. Apparently, it's a Japanese favorite (halfway down) too? Not sure.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 9:10 PM on October 31, 2001

Kinder Surprises... I load up on them whenever we go to Canada. Then there is a little addiction to Hollywood gum, a taste treat toted home from Europe. Somebody needs to start a web candy store that sells all our favorite treats not available in our own backyards.
posted by NastyChel at 9:43 PM on October 31, 2001

In Canada, they have this citrus flavor Trident gum that is totally addictive. Every time someone I know goes there, I make them bring me back a pack or two. I wish they'd sell that flavor in the States!
posted by SisterHavana at 9:57 PM on October 31, 2001

Cadbury Flake bars, and their sister bar, the name of which I can't recall, but it's a Flake bar covered in chocolate which makes it easier to eat, but still full of melty goodness. The supermarket near my house has an "Irish" food section, and once in awhile the Flake bars turn up there.

And Oriole, I've also had that candy bar...I wish I could have another one. It was maybe four years ago and I still think about it. I mean not obsessively, but when I get the candy fever...
posted by kittyloop at 10:12 PM on October 31, 2001

Pinky are cool. Plus the monkeys are not only cute, but star in their own commercials. According to the site, the pink one is "Pinky Monkey" and is a male. He always walks around with Pinky. There is no information about the other one (who I think is called "Fresh Monkey"). I couldn`t find video of the commercials.

Pocky are huge in Japan. There are a grillion kinds, though they keep getting cycled in and out.

The best way to get candy from other countries (i.e., pinky) is to have friends or family that live there.
posted by chiheisen at 11:04 PM on October 31, 2001

Haw Flakes man, it's all about the Haw Flakes...
posted by spunkster at 11:13 PM on October 31, 2001

Milk candy. It's chewy, and milky, and I can devour a bag of it in two days flat.

Unfortunately, the only time I could get to it was in care packages from my ex-bf's Japanese mother.

I miss milk candy.

Also! Swedish chocolate is the BEST (hands-down). Also, their bilar. Little car-shaped candies that, should the world be destroyed today in a hailstorm of nukes, would be the only things to survive outside of the cockroaches.

If you've ever experimented with bilar, you know what I mean.
posted by precocious at 12:10 AM on November 1, 2001

I would like to teach the world to eat Dutch drop (licorice).

It is nothing like the yucky licorice all sorts version. Drop comes in various 'flavours', more or less salty.

It's bad for your blood pressure.

Also Dutch, and related to licorice, is 'zwart/wit', a licorice powder which comes in salty sweet or (very) salty flavours. Absolutely addictive.
posted by prolific at 1:14 AM on November 1, 2001

kittyloop, could you be talking about the very rare Luxury Flake? It comes in purple packaging if I remember rightly. How they actually turned Flake Bars, the most luxurious chocolate product known to man, into an even more decadent treat I will never understand. They did it. Sheer Genius.

I too am suffering from Kiwi Food Withdrawl animoller. Luckily we have the web to hook us up with those special treats we miss so much.
posted by oddity at 2:02 AM on November 1, 2001

Ani: it wouldn't have been a Violet Crumble. Antipodes only. Must have been a Crunchie.
posted by rory at 2:44 AM on November 1, 2001

We have Crunchies in Canada. The strangest display of "foreign" candy I ever saw was Mars and Snickers bars in the candy section of a German department store right in the middle of the Ritter bars. Why anybody would pay for cheap american chocolate when the cheap german chocolate is 10 times better and half the price (in Germany) is beyond me.

Ritter bars rule.
posted by djfiander at 4:19 AM on November 1, 2001

Kindersurprise eggs RAWK. It's just a shame that you can't buy them in the States. Of course, we're the nation that has to be warned that coffee is hot, and that the little packet of silica that comes inside the stereo packaging is not a "bonus snack".

Also, Canadian Kit Kat bars are infinitely better than their American counterparts. This has to do with the fact that the Canadian version is made the right way, with the creamier Nestlé chocolate, and not with the coarser Hershey's version. I believe the wafers are lighter, too.

I'm also a sucker for Aero bars. You don't see those in the States anymore. My ex-girlfriend used to send them to me in "Care Packages" from Ontario. If you're not familiar with them, the chocolate inside the bar is aerated, and when you put it in your mouth it crumbles in a way that is almost sexual.

I love experimenting with Asian candy/snacks. There's this Japanese soda beverage that is sold in a market near where I work that has a glass marble at the top as a stopper. In order to drink it, you have to take the special plastic lid off the top and invert it, pushing down on the marble until it drops down into the top section of the bottle where it rolls back and forth while you drink. Totally useless, but way cool.

This Korean company named Nong Shim makes these incredibly addictive sesame-seasoned sweet potato crisps. On the other hand, they also make this disgusting thing that I can only describe as...well, imagine Cheetos, only they're yellow, not orange, and they're banana flavored, not cheesy. And not real banana flavor, but that fake "banana-taffy" flavor. They sort of resemble what I would think styrofoam packing peanuts would taste like if they came in bad fruit flavors.

Botan Rice Candy is an old favorite from my childhood. I guess the only thing I really like about it - and I guess you could call me sick - is how the rice paper that surrounds the candy melts into a gelatinous mess inside your mouth.

Coconut Pocky, man.

I can't speak ill of a confection that's made in my home state...namely, Goo-Goo Clusters. They're yum.
posted by tpoh.org at 4:26 AM on November 1, 2001

I used to have a thing for the Hershey's Cookies and Mint bar. I remember taking a box of them with me when I went to Lithuania to give to friends and people I met. They did not go over well at all.
posted by tpoh.org at 4:32 AM on November 1, 2001

Not necessarily a Twirl, holgate. It could be a Ripple, which is made with Galaxy chocolate, one of the best cheap chocolates in the world IMO. I'm addicted to Snowflakes, which are Flakes but with white chocolate inside. Yum.
posted by Summer at 5:19 AM on November 1, 2001

Swedish chocolate is the BEST (hands-down).

I like Norwegian chocolate better, but i may be biased...

Also, their bilar. Little car-shaped candies that, should the world be destroyed today in a hailstorm of nukes, would be the only things to survive outside of the cockroaches.

So true. Those cars are amazing. My Swedish favorite though is djungelvrål ("jungle scream"), which is one of many types of salty candies popular in Scandinavia. The bag has this insane monkey on it who is screaming because of the salty explosion in his mouth. My girlfriend insists the monkey is masturbating but I believe she's misreading the drawing... I'm from Norway and whenever i go there i bring back tons of salty candy. It's fun to give it to my American friends; 9 out of 10 say it's the most disgusting thing ever, but the few who like it REALLY like it.

They sell some wussy salty candy in the candy store next to the Empire State Building. It's pretty good but not nearly as salty as it should be. I think they're Dutch(?) because whenever I buy them the guy in the store goes "oh you must be Dutch!"
posted by edlundart at 5:33 AM on November 1, 2001

Hey precocious, this placeholder of a site is not much, but it might get you in the mood for those bilar.
posted by edlundart at 5:40 AM on November 1, 2001

They still make Ripples, Summer? I hadn't seen one in ages: again, Galaxy seemed to have diversified into all sorts of odd "adult" varieties, to the detriment of the old stuff.
posted by holgate at 6:12 AM on November 1, 2001

Yikes! No aero bars or Kindersurprise eggs in the states? My brother has suggested I move to New York. He never told me about the U.S. candy situation, however. I may have to reconsider.
posted by Badmichelle at 6:26 AM on November 1, 2001

Crunchie, that was it! Thanks, folks! Now, if any of you left-ponders are Detroit bound, it would be worth your while to hide a few Crunchies in your luggage.....nudge nudge wink wink
posted by Oriole Adams at 6:43 AM on November 1, 2001

Oriole: are you prepared to pay $1.25 per Crunchie? If so, here's a place to order some.

(And there are lots of other "British food" specialists online, so just google around for a better deal. I remember talking to a Brit in the immigration queue at JFK telling me about how he always brought over a suitcase of HP Sauce...)
posted by holgate at 8:26 AM on November 1, 2001

You don't have to go that far to get HP sauce. It's in every grocery store in Canada.
posted by djfiander at 8:37 AM on November 1, 2001

Ripple's are still around. The one to try is: bite both ends off a Ripple therefore creating a 'Ripple straw'. Use it to suck up some coffee. Quite unbelievable.

Also, I work for a Danish company and keep getting tricked by these salty sweets. What gives? They are bad news.

My favourite chocolate bar - Topic , from the fridge.
posted by Frasermoo at 9:21 AM on November 1, 2001

Twirls aren't anything like Flakes. The chocolate covered Flakes are called Luxury Flakes and come in gold or silver wrapping.

Also, that Lonely Kiwi website is the best website ever! Whoopee, I'm so pleased.
posted by animoller at 10:39 AM on November 1, 2001

oddity:

Luxury Flake...I don't know of this thingargh...(drools on self)...does it have a chocolate coating over the flake part? My friends get packages of candy from an English friend of theirs once a year...and when I had the "augmented" Flake bar they just handed me a piece and said "try this." Much the way a drug dealer might, I imagine...
posted by kittyloop at 10:53 AM on November 1, 2001

Aero bars are widely available here in Seattle. Along with Violet Crumble and some other international candies. Bartell's Drugs has them, as do some of the sundries stores you find in office buildings (such as Dimples).
posted by kindall at 11:03 AM on November 1, 2001

Holgate - thanks for that link, as it mentions a previously unmentioned Flake, the Snowflake...a white chocolate bar. Oh my.
posted by kittyloop at 11:09 AM on November 1, 2001

White Rabbit. Chinese. Made out of pure lactose. Imagine a heavy-cream-flavor Bit-O'Honey.
posted by basilwhite at 11:43 AM on November 1, 2001

At the top of my list is Melty Kiss, from Japan. It's only available in winter and goes pretty quickly when it's in stock at the local Mitsuwa. Each piece is a cube of chocolate, lightly dusted with cocoa. Yum..
posted by valerie at 11:44 AM on November 1, 2001

Can't think of foreign candy without thinking of the Disgusting English Candy Drill.

Ritter Bars for me - marzipan only.
posted by skyscraper at 11:46 AM on November 1, 2001

I got hooked on all candies Japanese after my roommates and I won a radio contest and got a huge box of it. Some of my favorites:

• Kusagai Gummies (Grape is by far my favorite)


• Every Burger (chocolate frosting between small snack crackers shaped like little hamburgers)


• Melty Kiss (melt in your mouth good)


• Pocky (I like the Almond Crunch kind personally)

It's already been linked but jsnacks is a great place to get good Japanese candy on-line.

posted by turacma at 1:05 PM on November 1, 2001

Oee I just remembered is Cadbury Choclairs. I`ve had two different people bring them to me in Japan, and have never been able to find them in in either Tokyo or Los Angeles.

My theory is that there`s something nasty in them that you can`t sell in the U.S. or Japan but is OK in China. Anybody know more about this? Or want to trade some of these for Pocky or Pinky?

In fact, would anybody be interested in an international candy exchange?
posted by chiheisen at 7:05 PM on November 1, 2001

I don't know why but Swedish chocolate -is- amazingly good. You can get it at IKEA in their 'Swedish store' section. I bought some chocolate oat biscuits they had.. nearly died and went to heaven.
posted by wackybrit at 9:47 PM on November 1, 2001

I've only seen it fleetingly KittyLoop. I saw it, pointed it out with mouth open to my partner, and she swooped on it. It was all metallically purple in the wrapper with golden writing.

It is a Flakebar covered in chocolate.

Not just any chocolate either. That silky milky goodness that only comes with FlakeBar. *dribble* Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

The chocolate coating kinda ties it all together. You don't get the crumbly wastage anymore. The outer shell sort of solidifies it but the essential Flakeyness stays.

I think it might have been a mirage.
posted by oddity at 4:09 AM on November 2, 2001

Oooh, Haribo brand: both the gummi bears and the blackberry raspberry candies (German), Botan rice candy (Japanese), and Toblerone candybars (Swiss) really make my day!
posted by Totally80sGirl at 4:23 AM on November 2, 2001