If your view of the candy universe is limited to what’s on the shelves at Walgreens, you don’t know what you’re missing.
We recently raided the candy aisles at some of our favorite ethnic stores and emerged with heavy bags full of sweet stash. Back at the office we tasted dozens and dozens, producing a massive bellyache and a chart with some of the most intriguing.
We’ve marked our favorite candy in each category with an *.
For information on the stores, see story on Page 6.
JAPANESE
Mitsuwa Marketplace
100 E. Algonquin Rd., Arlington Heights;
847-956-6699.
MORNIAGA HICHEW YOGURT
Vanilla yogurt flavor chewy candy.
Taste: Starburst-like and a smooth long chew. Yogurt is tangy with a hint of citrus.
LET’S PARTY
Sweet and salty roasted crabs.
Taste: Sugary crisp tiny roasted crustaceans flecked with sesame seeds. The shrimpy, fishy aftertaste repeated on us all day, and the crab eyes creeped us out.
WHISTLE CANDY
Lifesaver-shaped candy that you can use as a whistle.
Taste: Taste and texture would remind you of a SweetTart, with Bazooka gum notes. As a whistle, it’s a disappointment.
BOTSUKI APOLLO CHOCO
Milk chocolate- and strawberry-flavored lollipops.
Taste: Medium sweet, creamy chocolate and strawberry pops that are more playful than flavorful.
HELLO KITTY
Tube of fruity gelatin in Hello Kitty plastic wrapper.
Taste: Slightly perfumed Jell-O in a tube.
*POCKY
Chocolate-covered biscuit sticks.
Taste: A perfect balance of chocolate and cookie. In a stick, no less!
MEXICAN
Dulcelandia
2009 W. Lake St., Melrose Park;
708-681-2946.
POLLITO ASADO
Lollipop shaped like a roasted chicken.
Taste: Hard candy with pleasantly sweet, tangy, tamarind taste, but no traces of fowl flavors.
ROCKALETA
Multilayer fruit lollipop with a mango gum center.
Taste: Salty, sweet, spicy tamarind- flavored pop with several hard, chewy layers covering really hard mango gum.
RICHAMOY
A hard candy with chewy center and the apricot-based flavor of chamoy.
Taste: Sour, spicy and sweet with the flavor of concentrated apricots.
*LAS SEVILLANAS NATILLAS
Goat milk caramel.
Taste: If you can unstick this melty morsel from its wrapper, you’ve got some smooth, rich, lovely caramel.
DUVALIN
A little plastic dish of sugary cream in four flavors (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and caramel).
Taste: Like eating a container of cake frosting.
SUPER ELOTE
Corn-shaped lollipop, dipped in salty, sour chili powder.
Taste: If you survive the dozens of deadly licks to clean off the vile powder, you’ll find an unappetizingly artificial-tasting strawberry pop.
CHINESE
Broadway Supermarket
4879 N. Broadway;
773-334-3838.
COFFEE CRISP CANDY
Chinese peanut crisp.
Taste: Like a Butterfinger without the chocolate. Not even a hint of coffee.
KAM CHO GINGER
Sweetened preserved ginger.
Taste: Supersour, salty, spicy, sticky blob of candied ginger wrapped in a charmingly rustic paper bundle. Zing-o-rama.
*TASTY GINGER CANDY
Candied ginger sticks with the slogan: “Tastes sweet and hot agreeably. The real thing for travel.”
Taste: Sweet, pleasantly chewy and mild. Wrapped in edible rice paper.
LUO FU YING CHE
Preserved plum candy.
Taste: Dried fruit ball that’s pleasantly pruneish at first, then turns salty and bitter by the second bite. Like a novelty shop gag.
PEKING HAW SLICES
Rectangle of processed and dried fruit.
Taste: Sweet, tangy crabapple flavor and low-tech charm grow on you.
WINTERMELON STRIP CANDY
Candied wintermelon slices.
Taste: Rock candy with a crisp, snappy, airy, sugar cane- and coconut-like center. Like vegetables or watermelon rind dipped in caramel with a legumey finish. Good with hot, plain tea.
POLISH
Kurowski’s Sausage Shop
2976 N. Milwaukee Ave.;
773-645-1692
MARCEPAN
Sugared almond paste (marzipan) covered in chocolate.
Taste: Super-rich paste covered with low-grade chocolate. A tiny sliver is plenty.
CHALWA
Ground sesame seeds and sugar with vanilla flavoring.
Taste: No match for the fresh halwa from the bazaars of the Middle East and Mediterranean, but this airy flaky ground sesame seed and sugar chunk is dandy for a halwa fix.
AHA SEZAMOWE MINI
Little sesame candies with rice, corn and wheat.
Taste: Nicely crisp, slightly sweet with a toasty sesame seed flavor and a tiny chew at the end.
*WAFLE TEATRALNE
Chocolate-covered wafers filled with sweet cream.
Taste: Lightly crisp and not too sweet, it’s like a classy Kit Kat. We also dig the translated name: “Theatrical Wafers.”
TARAGONA
Chocolate-covered tarragon-flavored jelly.
Taste: If you love tarragon, you’ll be disappointed.
SLIWKA
Even though the package describes it as “Plum in chocolate,” this is a chocolate-covered prune.
Taste: Nice interplay of cream and fruit in this dense, attractive sweet.
RUSSIAN
Three Sisters Deli
2854 W. Devon Ave.;
773-973-1919.
STOLICHNYE CONFETY
Vodka-flavored chocolate bar with real alcohol.
*Taste: Nice dark chocolate mini-bar with a pleasantly crunchy, creamy, vodka-flavored center.
SEVERNYE MEDVEJONOK (POLAR BEAR CUB)
Mini-chocolate bar filled with wafer and cream.
Taste: Low-quality chocolate over a crisp wafer with medium sweet cream.
KOREAN
Arirang Market
4017 W. Lawrence Ave.;
773-777-2488.
LOTTE GINSENG GUM
Stick gum that’s made with ginseng and popular with Korean seniors.
Taste: Smells like an apartment after a fire and has a sweet, vaguely medicinal aftertaste.
*NURONGJI FLAVORED CANDY
Burnt rice-flavored hard candy ball.
Taste: Despite the unappetizing con-notations of burnt rice, we enjoyed the sweet, roasty flavors with their undertones of butterscotch.
OTHER ASIAN
Broadway Supermarket
4879 N. Broadway;
773-334-3838.
*TING TING JAHE GINGER BON BON
Indonesian candied ginger chew.
Taste: Much chewier and stickier than the Chinese ginger candies with a wonderful lingering sweet heat.
LANGANS CANDY
Taiwan-made hard candy in the flavor of the tropical Asian fruit.
Taste: Sweet hard candy with a mild flavor like a pear soaked in brown sugar.
