Kyoto Hanawarabe Candy – 京都のお土産：花わらべ

I’ve seen these colourful treats in various traditional sweet shops in Japan, but never been tempted enough to buy them, as boiled sweets rank fairly low among my candy preferences. However, I was given a little assortment by a friend and was excited to finally try them.

Unfortunately my sub-par photography doesn’t do them justice, but they are like beautiful, lustrous glass beads with the same semi-translucent qualities as some precious stones; it seems a shame to eat them.

In retrospect, maybe it would have been better if I hadn’t. Given the bright, popping colours of the candies, I assumed that they would have intense, tangy, fruity flavours to match – I had especially high hopes for the pineapple and orange. I suppose I should have done my research. These are decorative sweets and it’s all about the appearance: flavour is secondary.

Despite the different colours and designs, I couldn’t detect any variation in the flavour of these sweets. They had that odd quality particular to starch syrup products where sweetness becomes a sensation rather than a taste – an almost tooth-aching sensation with no interesting flavours or aromas to relieve it. While the glassy outer surface melts as smoothly as ice, the inner candy is grainier and finely perforated, so it contains a little air. It is very similar in both texture and flavour to the sticks of rock that you get at British seaside towns – a confection that I never liked even as a child.

Perhaps I would have judged these less harshly if I’d known what to expect. As far as appearance is concerned there’s no denying that they look gorgeous, and presented in a pretty box they would make an excellent gift. Unfortunately, once they’ve been consumed and you can no longer admire them, the lingering memory of taste and texture is what forms your impression, and I was disappointed.  I always feel guilty if I give a very low rating, but it’s purely my opinion, so I’ll be honest and award these:

4/10

Kanro Maison de Confiserie Petit Chocolat Mint – Kanro メゾン・ド・コンフィズリー プティ・ショコラミント

I don’t often eat hard candies because it takes such a long time to get through a whole packet and I get bored of the same flavours, but the lovely vibrant turquoise of this packet caught my eye in the supermarket and I couldn’t resist.

The tagline for Kanro’s Maison de Confiserie brand declares these sweets to be ‘France in a mouthful’, but I’m not convinced that there’s anything particularly French about mint chocolate chip ice cream. I suspect that, as with the meaningless writing on so many hundred yen shop gift bags, French has simply been used to suggest that this a chic and grown-up product.

The candies are individually wrapped in attractive shiny turquoise and chocolate-brown packets that reflect the mint/chocolate flavours, though the actual sweets inside are paler than the images suggest. All the pieces were perfectly star shaped with a nice sheen to them and a light cocoa scent.

I was pleasantly surprised upon first tasting one – it really does taste just like mint chocolate ice cream!…for about ten seconds, after which the refreshing mint fades away and you’re left with a flavour similar to weak hot chocolate of the kind you make using boiling water. It’s a little chocolatey but there is no milkiness or creaminess to make it more substantial.

These were certainly nothing spectacular but the initial minty hit was enough to keep me from abandoning them to the back of the cupboard and I found that they make a nice accompaniment to evening hot chocolate. I don’t think I’ll buy them again but I’ll enjoy the ones I have left.

6/10

Kanro Maison de Confiserie Petit Chocolat Mint  ￥178    12.9kcals per sweet