I'm alive~! I took a short (unscheduled) break, but I'm back at it again with the Tuesday & Thursday food posts and today's pick is a double feature with two different flavor variations of the same candy.
I picked these up during the great "Hoard everything 'cause Asian Food Market is closing forever," sale. Instead of the usual case of me being suckered in by pretty packaging, this time I was blinded by the fear of missing out. (Also known as FOMO but that sounds stupid.) I bought everything that I had never seen at other Asian markets, these candies included, and the results have been hit or miss. Mostly miss, if I'm being honest, but I regret nothing!
Since I (still) can't read these characters I am going to look at the packaging for some context clues about these flavors.
From what I've deduced, the yellow part of both candies is the same: a bright yellow, lemon-flavored, hard candy with added vitamin C. The only difference between the flavors is the white portion on the bottom. The yellow candy seems to be a creamy, sugary base, while the blue bag adds some yogurt flavoring (which is popular in Asia.)
While both candies sound pretty appealing, I'm not sure if the difference between the two will be that obvious. Yogurt is a pretty light and subtle flavoring after all. Then again, looking at the translated ingredients lists, these are quite different. We only have a eight ingredients listed on the yellow bag and almost twice as many on the blue. Does adding "yogurt flavoring" really change the formula that much? (It's a little unnerving.)
The individually wrapped candies mimic the designs on the larger bags, and they're pretty cute and conveniently sized. Not too big, not too small, it's pretty much a Goldilocks kind of situation here.
Unwrapped....they looks almost exactly the same.
The straight-up lemon candy is a slightly more intense yellow in bright photo lights, but in-hand and normal lighting conditions, they are absolutely identical, BUT they don't smell the same! The yogurt flavoring is less tangy in a citrus sense, but tangy in a slightly sour plain yogurt kind of way. I don't find it all that appealing to be honest, but I'm fairly impressed that it's so bold and distinct. Still, it doesn't make me look forward to eating it...
Starting with the more appealing of the two, the lemon, the hard candy portion is sweet and honey-like with a mild Lemon-head style flavoring, and all the tanginess is contained in the chalky white portion which has the consistency of a Sweet-Tart. The combination of the two is amazingly similar to a LemonHead, but with more longevity and a smoother mouth-feel. As a candy, this is walking a fine line between a sweet treat and some kind of medicinal throat drop, but it's pleasant none-the-less and very enjoyable. I like it!
Then, we have the yogurt version. It smells like plain, unflavored, yogurt with a very mild hint of lemon which isn't exactly my idea of a good time. The lemon portion of this one seems a lot less lemon-y, while the bottom is just as tangy but with an added punch of yogurt-y-ness that I can't quite figure out. Do I like this? Or do I hate it? It's walking a fine line... the hard candy portion is sweet, smooth and very light, but that yogurt-puck on the bottom is the plain yogurt flavored Sweet-Tart no one ever asked for. It honestly borders on sweetened sour cream territory and even though I don't feel the urge to spit it out, I definitely don't look forward to eating another one.
Welp, I guess these two candies are a pretty good representation of my overall Asian Food Market haul. A hit (the lemon) and a miss (the yogurt). If you happen to see these around the yellow bag is definitely worth a try, and makes for a great purse/office desk treat. I'd recommend trying them if you're into lemon, but the yogurt is a more acquired taste and I am not quite there yet.
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