When Candy Isn't

CANDY! When a child sees that on a package they figure it MUST be good, b/c it's candy!

Well we tried a couple of "candies" from a Mexican store. The first was tamarind with sugar. We researched tamarind and found out that it is the fruit of a tropical tree and is somewhat like a date. The fruit is tart and can be used in sweet or savory dishes.

These 4 little candies were pretty expensive - $1.30. My dd described the taste as "sweet and sour, tangy" and she said she didn't like it much. Ds said it was "raisny and bitter". I thought it was an interesting combination of flavors - it was kind of like a raisin or a date but with a large pit inside, very sour but made sweet by being rolled in sugar. It was quite sticky.

The next "candy" we tried was called Pica Limon - Lemon and Chili Powder Candy. The individual packages looked so cute - we were excited to try it.

I figured it would be similar to the dip and lick candies where there is a little stick that you lick and then dip it in the candy powder - kind of sweet and sour at the same time.

Maybe we should have read the list of ingredients first. Because - it tasted like SALT. Now this wasn't called lemon and salt powder - which were the two main things we tasted. Actually the prevailing taste was salt. Dd pointed out that salt was the main ingredient. It was cute - but after one or two finger dip tastes we pitched it.

I find it interesting that one man's "sweets"is another man's salt.