Okashina Mizuame

This is the second of two items that I received from Candy Japan (gratis) for review. This candy is designed as much if not more for the entertainment value as for the "candy" itself. In fact, I'm not sure if you can call plastic packets of good "candy", but I guess that it is sweet so that makes it fall within the general category of "candy".

When I was a kid, we didn't have too many elaborately prepared packets of candy that were about the process. The closest we had was an Easy-bake oven. You mix packets of cake mix with water, stir, and cook under a light bulb in a tiny tin cake "pan". The cakes never tasted very good, but it was just cool that you could make them yourself.

Unfortunately, I'm not a child anymore. Actually, that's fortunate because I hated being a kid. You have to go to school and it's more of a pain in the ass than going to work. At least work is over when the day is done. You don't have to go home and study for tests or do homework afterwards. You also get money for working and nobody rewards you for school. You also have to do what you're told and the value of what you're being asked to do is always greater for the person in authority than it is for you. At any rate, since I'm not longer a young one, the delight I take in making my own candy is not particularly great.

Candy Japan kindly provides a video for how to deal with the packets of syrup that are included, though it's actually a pretty straightforward process. Nonetheless, it's pretty good service for them to go to the effort of explaining things. It's only simple when you already know how it is done. Prior to that, it can be a mystery.

The resulting candy is a mixture of three fruit flavors of syrup including ramune (lemon-lime soda), lemon, and strawberry. The result is an extremely sticky mass of fruit-flavored stuff that you scoop up with a spoon. It tastes like a melted fruity lollipop and is not particularly tasty. If you do decide to slurp up the whole tray, it'll set you back 83 calories, and probably give you a cavity.

In terms of the candy, this is definitely one for the short-pants set and not for an oldster like me. The delight is in the making and the gooey nature, not in the taste or texture. My hat goes off though to Candy Japan for their service. They send you an e-mail with a link to the video as well as give a brief explanation. Their explanation is:

"Strange viscous liquid sugar candy. This is one of those DIY items that you mix to make. "As you mix, the taste changes!!""

I think that means that you can taste the syrup at each stage to get three taste experiences out of it. That's not a bad idea, but I didn't do it. I'm sure that the flavors would change, but I don't think that'd improve my enthusiasm for the candy.