What the Hell is This? Round 3
Nov. 4th, 2002 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynMorning, folks, and welcome to the latest round of What the Hell is This? - the irregular feature where yours truly goes into the nearest available Asian grocery and buys snack food off the shelves on the sole criterion of the package making her exclaim "What the hell is this?". This week we've got a full slate of competitors, so let's have a big hand for our entrants:
Team China: White Rabbit Candy
Team Japan: Hell if I know, the only English name I could find was on the nutrition label and said 'Hard Candy (Lion Ramune Candy)' but I think that's the brand name
And a surprise entrant - Team UK: Ribena Blackcurrant Juice Drink
Team China's effort is a commendable one in that it's the only candy I've encountered so far to boast an actual nutritional reading beyond the peel-them-off-the-ceiling caloric/sugar content. White Rabbit is a good simple candy, made from 'corn starch syrup, cane sugar, butter, milk'. That's it. No colours, no nothin'. This product of Shanghai comes in rolls that look about the same size as Atlantic City salt-water taffy, or maybe a bit smaller, so I was expecting a similar experience. They're individually wrapped like the taffy, too, but when you get the outer wrapper off there's a problem. Either the things are wrapped in a very thin wax paper type substance underneath, or the corn starch syrup forms a flakable coating that FEELS like a paper coating. There are bits projecting off each end that make me think it needs to be peeled further, but attempts to do so merely flake off in my hand, and attempts at getting a fingernail under the seam-line to peel the 'paper' off get no results. Bending the candy back and forth yields wrinkle lines and ruptures that look like the coating is paper, and initial taste tests give a mouthfeel that's roughly the same as a piece of paper, but within seconds of putting it in your mouth you can taste the candy through the 'paper' coating. The candy is billed as 'creamy' but is in fact more 'chewy' than creamy, at least in terms of texture. The taste is distinctly milky, so I guess creamy is an acceptable word to use. This stuff sticks like hell, though. If I had fillings, it would have ripped them out on the first go-round. Don't use this if you're worried about your teeth staying where they belong... I'm afraid White Rabbit makes me work too hard to rot my teeth. Third place.
Team UK's surprise entry was picked up when I was looking for something in the canned drinks aisle. For a product that has nothing but English on its label, making the contest at all is impressive. Blackcurrant flavour alone wouldn't have been enough to get it in, but the labeling made me wonder whether it was supposed to be a drug, a liquid vitamin, or a drink. Here, judge for yourself:
Refrigerate after opening and consume within four days. Remember to look after your teeth and visit your dentist regularly. Follow directions for use carefully: Take drinks at meal times and use within a healthy balanced diet. If given to a toddler (1-3), maximum one 250ml serving (half a bottle) a day. Don't use with a dummy/bottle. Not suitable for babies under one year.
Emphasis theirs. This is a product of SmithKline Beecham, which immediately makes me think drug or vitamin supplement, esp. since the nutrition label indicates that it's got around 200 percent of the British RDA of C per 500 ml bottle. Also you just don't see 'anthocyanins' listed as an ingredient on most drinks, or an admission that the Blackcurrant Juice Drink is 6% juice. It's a disorienting experience that's somewhat like drinking Welch's grape juice, but the taste is subtly different. I don't like it much but it's odder than White Rabbit and it doesn't mess with you trying to get it open, so... second place to Team UK.
Which leaves the Japanese candy as our first-place winner. I bought this because the label was blue and white and silver and showed what looked like a ball full of fizz emerging from a glass full of something carbonated. According to the front label the sound the individual wrappings of the candies makes when you squeeze it open is 'PON'; while I would dispute that, having had several of these, what I cannot dispute is the fizz. My God, the Japanese figured out how to make Pop Rock sourballs. Seriously, these pale blue-greeny things are mostly a little smaller than standard marbles (there were at least two in this package that were twice the size of the rest), and when you put them in your mouth and suck on them, they start fizzing. This would explain the presence of calcium carbonate on the ingredients list. This was actively entertaining, had an attractive package, tasted decent, and filled a niche American candy just doesn't bother with, namely: fizzalicious hard candy. First place to Team Japan.
That's all for now. I bought a tube of some Nestle-made blackcurrant candy, but I'm mailing that to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cadhla rather than eating it; besides, I dunno whether it's Team UK, Team China, or Team Singapore. The point of origin on the label is a little obscure. We'll have more next week!
Team China: White Rabbit Candy
Team Japan: Hell if I know, the only English name I could find was on the nutrition label and said 'Hard Candy (Lion Ramune Candy)' but I think that's the brand name
And a surprise entrant - Team UK: Ribena Blackcurrant Juice Drink
Team China's effort is a commendable one in that it's the only candy I've encountered so far to boast an actual nutritional reading beyond the peel-them-off-the-ceiling caloric/sugar content. White Rabbit is a good simple candy, made from 'corn starch syrup, cane sugar, butter, milk'. That's it. No colours, no nothin'. This product of Shanghai comes in rolls that look about the same size as Atlantic City salt-water taffy, or maybe a bit smaller, so I was expecting a similar experience. They're individually wrapped like the taffy, too, but when you get the outer wrapper off there's a problem. Either the things are wrapped in a very thin wax paper type substance underneath, or the corn starch syrup forms a flakable coating that FEELS like a paper coating. There are bits projecting off each end that make me think it needs to be peeled further, but attempts to do so merely flake off in my hand, and attempts at getting a fingernail under the seam-line to peel the 'paper' off get no results. Bending the candy back and forth yields wrinkle lines and ruptures that look like the coating is paper, and initial taste tests give a mouthfeel that's roughly the same as a piece of paper, but within seconds of putting it in your mouth you can taste the candy through the 'paper' coating. The candy is billed as 'creamy' but is in fact more 'chewy' than creamy, at least in terms of texture. The taste is distinctly milky, so I guess creamy is an acceptable word to use. This stuff sticks like hell, though. If I had fillings, it would have ripped them out on the first go-round. Don't use this if you're worried about your teeth staying where they belong... I'm afraid White Rabbit makes me work too hard to rot my teeth. Third place.
Team UK's surprise entry was picked up when I was looking for something in the canned drinks aisle. For a product that has nothing but English on its label, making the contest at all is impressive. Blackcurrant flavour alone wouldn't have been enough to get it in, but the labeling made me wonder whether it was supposed to be a drug, a liquid vitamin, or a drink. Here, judge for yourself:
Refrigerate after opening and consume within four days. Remember to look after your teeth and visit your dentist regularly. Follow directions for use carefully: Take drinks at meal times and use within a healthy balanced diet. If given to a toddler (1-3), maximum one 250ml serving (half a bottle) a day. Don't use with a dummy/bottle. Not suitable for babies under one year.
Emphasis theirs. This is a product of SmithKline Beecham, which immediately makes me think drug or vitamin supplement, esp. since the nutrition label indicates that it's got around 200 percent of the British RDA of C per 500 ml bottle. Also you just don't see 'anthocyanins' listed as an ingredient on most drinks, or an admission that the Blackcurrant Juice Drink is 6% juice. It's a disorienting experience that's somewhat like drinking Welch's grape juice, but the taste is subtly different. I don't like it much but it's odder than White Rabbit and it doesn't mess with you trying to get it open, so... second place to Team UK.
Which leaves the Japanese candy as our first-place winner. I bought this because the label was blue and white and silver and showed what looked like a ball full of fizz emerging from a glass full of something carbonated. According to the front label the sound the individual wrappings of the candies makes when you squeeze it open is 'PON'; while I would dispute that, having had several of these, what I cannot dispute is the fizz. My God, the Japanese figured out how to make Pop Rock sourballs. Seriously, these pale blue-greeny things are mostly a little smaller than standard marbles (there were at least two in this package that were twice the size of the rest), and when you put them in your mouth and suck on them, they start fizzing. This would explain the presence of calcium carbonate on the ingredients list. This was actively entertaining, had an attractive package, tasted decent, and filled a niche American candy just doesn't bother with, namely: fizzalicious hard candy. First place to Team Japan.
That's all for now. I bought a tube of some Nestle-made blackcurrant candy, but I'm mailing that to
cadhla rather than eating it; besides, I dunno whether it's Team UK, Team China, or Team Singapore. The point of origin on the label is a little obscure. We'll have more next week!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-11-04 12:02 pm (UTC)Well, I would if I had any.
I am amused because I have had two of the three entries in the current competition. The Blackcurrant Ribena I remember having while in Scotland. The White Rabbit candies I get at work. I did enjoy the former, but I didn't pick up more than the one can. I don't much care for the latter, so I usually pass them off to one of my co-workers.
-M
no subject
Date: 2002-11-04 04:30 pm (UTC)And yeah, I also love the Japanese fizzy candies. I used to get them at a couple of restraunts around here that gave them out like other places give out mints.
no subject
Date: 2002-11-05 11:53 am (UTC)Getting it off is a bitch and a half. If it bothers you, popping the candy in your mouth and sucking on it a few times genrally makes it dissolve away.