Meiji Chelsea Butterscotch (from Candy Japan)

Today's item for review comes to you and me courtesy of snack service "Candy Japan". You can check out their web site here or you can read my service review. Their package this time included both Chelsea candies and Bontan Ame. I reviewed Bontan Ame (quite favorably) in the past here. 

I recently saw a sequence of product redesigns on Foodbeast in which the artist removed most of the design and offered minimalist versions of such venerable logos as Nutella's and Pringle's. It's my opinion that all product design in the modern age is relatively informed. That is, it is purposefully inclusive of certain elements in order to build brand identity and catch the eye of consumers. Nothing is there that doesn't mean something. While the minimalist versions are striking, even beautiful and absolutely less overwhelming, they aren't what would be conducive to sales.

That brings me to the design of the Chelsea hard candies. This brand has been around for what seems like ages. Meiji has offered a variety of flavors over the years including an Earl Grey and chocolate one, but their web site currently only shows this butterscotch, brown sugar, and some yogurt varieties. The package design is based on the Chelsea area of the United Kingdom and it is still a little funky, but it used to be even funkier (see picture above). I'm not sure if those who buy these candies these days think twice about the design, but it is meant to evoke a certain image and it doesn't seem to be hurting sales and it does provide strong recognition and distinguished Chelsea from other hard candies.

There is another way in which Chelsea distinguishes itself from other hard candies and that is its quality. This is the most amazing buttery hard candy I've ever experienced. It's smooth as silk and super rich with a good balance between sweetness and buttery flavor. It's as refined a hard candy as you can experience. 

Often, I will say that something is limited by its presentation. It's "only" a hard candy so it can't be that great, but I honestly think this is that great despite being a hard candy. It's the sort of thing you can keep at the bottom of your purse and be actually happy when you rediscover it after having forgotten it for a month.

This is a great little package from Candy Japan with two thing which I truly enjoy. Though these may not be "exciting" options, they are tasty and unique to Japan.

Bontan Ame

I first learned about bontan ame from Kyoto Foodie's post on it. I had seen it in multiple shops, but the old-fashioned packaging sort of faded into the scenery of treats on display. For the record, I found these in a local market for 98 yen (about a dollar). The point about this which most made me want to try it was the fact that it has edible wrapping.

I've read many times about candies produced in Asia that have wrappers that melt away, but I'd never knowingly sampled one before starting this blog and sampling some jelly candies with them. This is a bit of an old-fashioned concept that many modern snack manufacturer's do not follow.

You can tell by the packaging that this candy is based on a citrus fruit. I've seen it translated as "bontan", "buntan" and "bontang", but that probably matters less than the fact that it's a tangy lemon and orange flavor fruit which grows in Southern Japan. I'm guessing folks can buy the fruit in shops there, but personally I've never seen it in markets in Tokyo and therefore never tasted the real fruit.

This candy was first released in 1926 and the maker, Seika Foods, asserts that this is an original candy and not a copy of another confection. That seems like a pretty reasonable assertion. I don't think I've had anything quite like it in my experiences either in Japan or the United States.

The manufacturer's web site and Japanese Wikipedia pages both describe this as "caramel-like", but I think Kyoto Foodie's description of it as "mochi-like" is more apt. The texture to me seemed like a cross between a gummy or jelly candy and mochi. It's not quite as chewy as mochi. It's like a really thick gummy, but not as tough. The external wrapper, incidentally, is like glue when it melts in your mouth. It doesn't have the taste of glue, mind you, just the stickiness.


The flavor is like a mellow orange, with a hint of lemon. It's mildly sweet and has the barest whisper of citrus sourness. It reminds me a lot of a far, far less sugary and chewier, thicker version of a Sunkist fruit gem. For the record, I love Sunkist fruit gems. As it turns out, I liked this even more than the gems because the subdued sweetness was more to my liking. Each candy is 17 calories and I'm guessing that is a better calorie count than the gems as well.

At first, I thought these were incredibly weird because of the edible wrapper's bizarre glue-like dissolve and because they're so thick and chewy. Once I got used to the texture though, I loved them. In fact, I had to force myself to stop after eating three of them (there are 14 in the box) and I'm certain I'm going to buy them again and again. Without a doubt, they are going to be the biggest threat to my teeth since I gave up sugar sodas over two decades ago.

I recommend that anyone who likes citrus fruit gems, jelly candies, or gummies give these a try. I do put a caveat on that suggestion though about the texture. I can see how the texture (and wrapper) can be a big turn-off for some people. I'm going to try and get my husband to try one, but I think I may tell him to remove the wrapper first since he's pretty fussy about such things.