Review #76: Watermelon Candy 「すいかキャンデイ」

11Nov10

I’m late, again, I know. I’ve been falling behind in blogging. What can I say, school’s been a bitch. But, we get today off, because it’s Veteran’s Day. So random, we go to school Monday-Wednesday. We’re off Thursday. Back to school Friday. And then it’s the weekend…I mean, I don’t want to disrespect the holiday or anything, but it’s just so weird. Anyways, I’ll be playing catch up, today.

Packaging:
I was drawn to this Watermelon candy when I was in Nijiya at Little Tokyo. But I couldn’t purchase it (parent, or actually mom). I didn’t get a really good look at it, but I was drawn to it by the big watermelon, and the cool summer feel(which is what it was when I was in LA)

The watermelon, of course, is pretty attractive. I actually can’t tell if it’s photographed or photoshopped. I think the outside may be photoshopped, but the inside could be real photography. I also love how there’s different parts to it. The boy with the (not so tied on) blindfold, holding the stick. I assume he was trying to smash the watermelon, but now I’m wondering if he may be running away from the dog.

In the left corner, there’s a little girl in a pink bathing suit making sand castles. Very cute. I never could build a real sand castle, not like the ones on TV. Mine were always more like sand mountains, than castles. The “father and son” crabs are very cute as well. Although I’m not entirely sure they’re even really related.

There’s the boy holding the delicious looking drink, getting his tan on. He said “すいかとなにミックス！？” which means “Watermelon and what are mixed?” (referring to the mystery flavor. And then there’s the octopus (たこ) saying “ヒント：？はフルーツだよ” which means “Hint: ?(the mystery flavor) is a fruit.”

Then there’s the lovely sun, and the puffy clouds, blue blue sea and sky and the tiny ship. But that’s not it. There’s also the showing of the actual candy. To me, the red and green looks more like a watermelon. I have no idea why the other one is yellow. I’ve never seen a yellow watermelon, have you?

But wait, that’s still not it (sorry this is so long). On the back, is more blue blue sea, sky and sand. There’s a cute seagull flying through the air. And then we have a boy on a green dotted swimming ring(whatever it’s called) saying “？がなにかわかったかな？” which means something like “Do you know what ? is?” or something like that. (I’m too lazy to look it up). The boy with the scuba diving gear says “こたえは　アメのふくろに　のってるよ” which means “the answer is on the candy’s bag”. And the girl says, “うらを　めくってね” which means “look behind”. So the answer is behind the wrapper, but I think I’ll look after I try it first. 

Rating: A+

Cost:
I bought this at Nijiya for $2.69. Buy this candy at Tsunami.hk for $6.39. I find Tsunami.hk’s prices extremely expensive. But on a positive note, they have a lot of various snacks and sweets in store. Not to mention clothes, toys, accessories, etc.

Taste:

塩入りすいか昧 (Salt Into Watermelon Flavor)
I was, obviously, tentative about this flavor. I mean, salt? Seriously? Well, that’s the way Japanese people are. Always the weirdest food combinations, but some f them are pretty good. So I’m not about to shoot this down before I even try it. It’s really cute, and takes the…okay, not the shape of a watermelon, but at least the colors.

Awesome-sauce. And I think I can see the specks on salt on it too. Well here goes nothing. Vivid watermelon taste, definitely. And I can definitely taste the salt, but it’s not like it’s too strong. In terms of cooking, it would add a sort of balanced effect, but since this is a candy that’s supposed to be sweet, it’s just a little bit weird. I mean, it doesn’t taste bad. It tastes okay, but it’s definitely no favorite of mine. I do like the taste of the watermelon, though. Just not the watermelon and salt put together.

Rating: 3/5

シュワシュワすいか昧 (Fizzy Watermelon Flavor)
This, I wasn’t scared about, but I definitely wasn’t giddy over it. I’ve had しゅわしゅわ flavors before, and they’ve kind of been a disappointment. This one’s color was less of a watermelon, but still cute.

The watermelon taste is pretty much the same, although I want to say it tastes a little bit better, probably because of the lack of salt. The “しゅわしゅわ” flavor is not as disappointing as I thought it’d be. But it still isn’t しゅわしゅわ enough for me. It’s really quite….flat. Still, I like the taste though.

Rating: 3.5/5

すいか＋?昧 (Watermelon+? Flavor)
There were actually two mystery flavors (Well…3 pieces of 1 and 1 piece of the other). Yes, I cheated. But also, no. The very first one I tried, I didn’t cheat, and I did get it correct, it was pineapple.

Oh my god. This is like, to die for! It’s super yummy and tasty. It tastes like a pineapple 100%. I’m leaning a little bit more towards the canned pineapple side, but that’s only because I know fresh pineapples have a bit of a salty taste to them, since you have to soak them in salt water. Still, it is so delicious, I, I’m speechless. No, I’m not. But seriously, this is like…”the bomb”. LOL, for lack of better expression. (Actually, I wanted to say the shit but I wasn’t sure…too late.)

Rating: 7/5

The second, well, there’s only one piece of it. AND of course I already looked at the answer. How else would I have figured out that there was two types? So this one is lemon flavored. It tastes pretty good, definitely lemony. It kind of has a bit of a….sprite taste to it. I know sprite is lemon-lime soda, but what I mean is…it tastes more like the lemon sprite soda than an actual lemon, I guess. Not that I’ve had a real lemon…but yeah.

This one would have definitely been easy to get. But, unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance. Because this is the ONLY one. Now, I kind of mind that, I wish there were at least ONE more. I mean, it’s definitely not as good as the Pineapple, but it’s still good. So I wish there were more.

Rating: 5/5

Nutritional Facts:
Net Wt: 3.38oz (96g)
Serving Size: 1 bag (96g)
Servings: 1
Calories: 370
Total Fat: 0g
Sodium: 269mg
Total Carbo: 93g
Sugars: 93g

Overall:
The presentation is very, very super nice. Super cute and refreshing. The flavors, however, not that great. I can only give it this score. Because the point of the candy was to like the “salt” and “fizzy” ones, not to love the mystery flavors, though it was obviously much more awesome than what was supposed to be. That’s why I can only give it this score. Because the mystery isn’t supposed to be the main attraction.

Overall Rating: B+

Verdict:
I only have a couple left, and now I’m glad I got this review over with so I can finish it off. I would not hypothetically or real-life-ly buy it again. I do recommend giving it a try, but it’s not something that you must have.

Rating Scale:
(A+ = Perfect, or close to it.)
A = Amazing.
(B+ = Pretty good.)
B = Good.
C = Average.
D = Bad.
F = Inedible.

Take a trip to the Kabaya website.

Filed under: Candy, Fruit, Kabaya, MultiCandies, Nijiya   |  1 Comment