la.foodblogging

I’m addicted to candy; I’m comfortable with that. But I’m also trying to broaden my horizons. I’ve completely rationalized this by creating a blog for this obsession so that anytime I buy or consume something it’s “research.” Though it sometimes seems like there is no end to American candy, I felt it was time that I explored the world through sugar. Here’s what I can report: foreign candy is not as scary as it sometimes looks.

Obviously picking up candy from an English-speaking country isn’t that hard. And the new global/corporate marketplace often means that it’s simply candy produced in another country by a company that you’re already familiar with like Nestle. It’s fun to taste how even plain milk chocolate bars differ depending on continent. You can usually find these at Cost Plus, Bristol Farms, Gelson’s and even a well-stocked liquor store depending on the neighborhood. Most recently, I’ve tried Coffee Crisp, Violet Crumble and the Aero Bar..

But the really eye-opening stuff requires a little more detective work and perhaps a visit to an ethnic market. Here are a few of my finds lately:

Little Tokyo

I found two markets in Little Tokyo, the best being the Mitsuwa Marketplace on Alameda Street. This is a full service grocery store. They have a HUGE aisle of candies and snacks from Japan.

Pocky is one of the best known Japanese crossover treats. They are plain biscuit/pretzels covered in chocolate or some other creamy dip. They’re usually priced pretty reasonably and the packaging comes in English. The major brands of candy from Japan that find their way to the states are Morinaga and Meiji. Both make high quality products with wide appeal to both adults with sophisticated tastes and kids. Japanese candy is all-encompassing so you can find their versions of caramels, fruit taffy, hard candy and chocolates. Culturally, I’ve noticed that most candies come “shareable” with packages containing individually wrapped pieces. I’ve not seen that many candy bars in the sense that it’s one single portion.

Another thing that I found uniquely from Japan are the chocolate sticks. These are high-end dark chocolates in little individually wrapped sticks that come in little boxes like European cigarettes. The chocolate is excellent and the prices are rather reasonable for such a treat, about $2. They’re fun to share and easy to carry in your bag or stuff in your desk drawer. Morinaga makes Hi-CROWN Chocolate and Meiji makes Chocolate Mild Bitter. If you can’t make a special trip, there are also web stores that will ship directly from Japan. I just placed an order for some items that I’ve not been able to find in any stores here, but it will take several weeks to arrive. Do not order chocolate this way, at least not in the summer.

Chinatown

A trip to Chinatown yielded some other super finds, after all there’s more to Chinese candy than Botan Rice Candy. One of the best things about Chinese candies is that they’re so dang cheap. For about a buck you can get a half a pound of milk taffy (White Rabbit) or these things that were labeled Fruts Gummy. Roxy Trading is a common importer that you’ll see on the packaging, though they import from all over Asia. Loquat flavored hard candies seem to be very popular as well, and come in some really cool tins at just about every shop on the main strip in Chinatown. Of course ginger and ginseng are big for Chinese candy as well, and you can find huge selections of ginseng gum and ginger chews at each of the grocers on Broadway. I’ve not found any Chinese chocolate as yet.

One trick when picking up imported candy is figuring out what it is. The good news is that all food for sale in the United States is required to have ingredients lists and nutrition information. (It seems evident that no one spellchecks these, but that’s beside the point.) There’s usually some sort of descriptive name to them, like some lollipops I picked up that had coconuts on the wrappers and were called “ball candy.” If you know your basic candy cookery and perhaps there’s a picture, it’s easy to figure out what you’ve got. Gummies usually have sugar and some sort of fruit flavoring as well as a jelling agent like pectin or gelatin. Caramels are often made of corn syrup, sugar and milk/butter/oil. Nougats are pretty much all sugar with a little oil. Hard candies are corn syrup and sugar. Chocolate is pretty easy to spot, and if you’re looking for richer chocolate make sure that sugar isn’t the first ingredient. Also keep an eye out for other fats instead of cocoa butter which means that it won’t be as creamy. Even I can go wrong though: I picked up something called “Plum and Orange Sweets” from Chinatown and found that it was just a prune with some orange essence applied to it, dusted in salted and individually wrapped.

If you know of some good sources in Los Angeles for international candies, leave a note in the comments because I’d love to check it out.

By cybele (see more of her posts). You can find more of cybele's writing all about candy at her own website Candyblog.net