Name: Fruits Gummy
Brand: Kotashima
Place Purchased: Chinatown (Los Angeles)
Price: $1.69
Size: 5 oz
Calories per ounce: 100
Type: Gummy

Aside from the name, these were great. Well, and the packaging.

The drab outside package featured rather drab pictures of the fruits flavored within. After opening there were over a dozen little individually wrapped gummies - each in a pretty colored wrapper with a fruit shaped gummy within. You can pretty much improve you enjoyment of these by dumping them from that outside bag. The fruits are pineapple, orange, strawberry, lychee and melon. The orange ones are cute little slices the size of an actual tangerine slice and the pineapples (also pictured) are tiny little pineapples.

Unlike the German-style gummies, these are a little sticky on the outside, which makes the individual packaging necessary. Biting into them, they’re less rubbery than gummies as well, but have that same great chewy-but-not-sticky texture that you find in a firm gelatin. The flavor is really intense, very fragrant. But, while the pineapple smells really good and is sweet, it has not tang to it. There is no sour associated with these gummies at all - they’re all sweet and perfume.

I found it refreshing and really pleasant, while I think I’d prefer them with a bit of a bite to them, the flavor is so dense I can see why they went this way. The package heralds that they’re made with real fruit juices and pretty much nothing else but that and some gelatin/pectin and sugar.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Name: Green Tea Mini Pie
Place Purchased: Chinatown (Los Angeles)
Price: $3.99
Size: 5.2 oz
Type: Nut Brittle

These are one of the oddest things I’ve bought in ages. Made from pumpkin seeds, corn syrup and green tea concentrate they’re little bricks of pumkin seed brittle.

They look a bit strange, very green like they’re made from seaweed or something. And they smell like, well, green tea and pumpkin seeds - which is not exactly an enticing combo. But the simplicity of it and the unique essence of pumpkin and green tea is really nice. They actually look like the picture on the package.

They’re pretty good for snacking and not terribly sweet. They’re mostly pumkin seeds, so it’s very filling. The biggest drawback really is the price. At four bucks for about a third of a pound, they’re pretty pricy for something that I usually throw out when carving a pumpkin.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Name: Milk Chocolate Covered Cherries
Brand: Queen Anne
Place Purchased: Vons? (a gift)
Size: 5 oz
Type: Chocolate (fruit)

First, I’m not fond of cherry anything. Fresh cherries are just about the only cherry thing I will eat. Maraschino cherries are absolutely not something I care for, they’re so artificial. My tastes have matured over the years and while I’m not fond of a lot of foods, I’ve grown accustomed to being able to assess them for what they are and even get some enjoyment out of them.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way ...

These morsels are soft cherries covered in milk chocolate. No clingy syrup, just cherries and chocolate. The cherries are soft and chewy with a strong maraschino. I like that there is not syrup to get in the way, and that the chocolate is thick. However, the sweet cherries have no tangy/tart bite to them and the milk chocolate, though smooth, is entirely too sweet and perhaps a bit waxy.

If mixed in with another bunch of chocolate covered goodies, I could see this being a fair contrast. Put it in a mix of nuts, perhaps brittles and pretzels and some good bitter chocolate and it might work out okay.

Rating: 4 out of 10 (I didn’t finish the package)

Name: Peanut Butter Ginger Chews
Place Purchased: Chinatown
Price: $1.49
Size: 7 oz
Calories per ounce:
Type: Taffy

I happen to love ginger. I love the stuff the Ginger People put out. I think I’ve seen this product offered by them as well.

Imagine a peanut butter taffy chew (with real nuts in it) and add some spicy ginger and you’ll have Peanut Butter Ginger Chews.

They’re soft, but not sticky. Chewy but not hard. Crunchy and smooth.

I was kind of dubious when I took it out of the package, because it looks like a powdery turd. But they’re rather addictive. And unlike the regular ginger chews, these aren’t as sticky and the peanut butter keeps them from giving you a hard sugar rush.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Name: White Rabbit Creamy Candies
Place Purchased: Chinatown, Los Angeles
Price: $1.09
Size: 8 oz
Calories per ounce: 120
Type: Taffy

When buying candy where the package is pretty much all foreign to you, good packaging is a plus. The only thing in English on this bag of what I think is taffy are the required items of weight and the name of the product: White Rabbit. (And the subtitle of Creamy Candies or maybe that’s the name of the candy and White Rabbit is the brand, I’m a little unsure. There’s also a brand mark called Queensway Foods on the front.)

Inside are little white cylindrical candies. I figured taffy from looking at the ingredients which started with Corn Starch Syrup ... which I’m guessing is what we know as corn syrup.

I found I was pretty much correct, but the Asian spin on this is that they are wrapped in that rice paper cellophane that dissolves in your mouth. I love that stuff! I practically buy Botan Rice Candy just for the rice cello! Inside this edible inner wrapper is a bland, sweet and mild vanilla taffy. Unfortunately the batch I got was not particularly fresh and therefore not chewy, so I just sucked on it until it got soft enough to chew. The flavor is quite nice, not as sweet as you’d think for something that’s pretty much all sugar, with a slight creamy/milky flavor to it. Just what the name implied.

Rating: 6 out of 10 (it’d be seven if they were softer)

UPDATE 9/23/2008: Sources in Singapore have tested samples of White Rabbit in conjunction with the melamine contamination of Chinese baby formula made by Sanlu Group. They have said that it does contain traces of melamine and have pulled it from the shelves. More here.

UPDATE 10/2/2008: The tainted milk scandal is spreading to more candies. We’re tracking all the stories in the Candy Forums.

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2. Tootsie Rolls & Fruit Rolls
3. Botan Rice Candy
4. Yan Yan
5. Men’s Pocky