Candy of Tuna, Corn, and Durian - Yum!
Posted in Candy, Thailand, Vietnam by Malena on May 28th, 2009 3:47 am

Well, I’ve run across some really delicious candy over the last few months. I’ve also tasted some very strange sweets. I hope you enjoy this little candy sampler!

Thai Candy
Thai Candy
In Bangkok, I used to love walking down the streets just watching the different vendors. You can buy anything - clothes, soap, banana pancakes, fruit juice, or my favorite: sweet vendors! Obviously, I spent lots of money here. Unfortunately, sometimes candy can get a bit… lost in translation. One example of this is shown here. What looked to be a delicious steamed dumpling of some sort (I assumed red bean) was actually a delicious steamed dumpling of sweetened pork and tuna. Not exactly what I was expecting! It actually still tasted good, once I was prepared for it.

Corn Flavored Candy. Yum.
Corn Flavored Candy. Yum.
Vietnam also had lots of interesting candy. Sometimes it worked, like the peanut, sesame seed, and barley bars made of a toffee or Turkish Delight base - called me xung in Vietnamese and unsurprisingly delicious. Other times, I’d see the packaging and just wonder who exactly came up with this idea? For example: the corn flavor chewy candy. Corn as in corn on the cob, this sticky sweet was made of artificially flavored corn syrup (or would that be naturally flavored, with all the corn syrup?) and little else. The interior was a syrupy liquid surrounded by a chewy shell, and the flavor was, literally, corn. A very sweet, cloying, and slightly chemical taste, but strangely addictive.

Dalat Mulberry Candy - Delicious!
Dalat Mulberry Candy - Delicious!
My favorite candy in Vietnam was found in Dalat. Candy stalls there have row after row of sweetened fruit candy - strawberry, apricot, and best of all, mulberry were common everywhere. These mulberry sweets had a nice fruity taste, similar to raspberry but a slightly more bitter, and were coated with big crystals of sugar. Rich, dark, and very chewy with microscopic bits of seeds, I went through two bags in one day and regret not buying more. At 500g for 5000 dong (about 30 cents!) these were one of the best candy bargains of the trick! Make sure to stock up if you visit Dalat!

(On a side note, apparently mulberries are vital to silk production as the silkworm’s sole food source. Also - thank you Wikipedia! - the unripe fruit forms a hallucinogenic sap.)

Dalat Candy Market
Dalat Candy Market
Another candy, seen in the Mekong region of Vietnam, was the most distinctive of these sweets - at least by smell! Coconut candy is a staple of the Ben Tre region, with line after line of stalls set up along the road and many candy making factories crafting sweet, sticky delicacies of coconut, peanut, ginger, banana, and, most stinkily, durian. Durian is a famous fruit in Southeast Asia, with a very distinctive smell (almost of something rotting) and creamy, nutty taste. Anthony Bourdain described the smell of durian as “if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother” which is a lovely image!

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Thai Treats - Yummy! »

01
gabi
posting from United States
May 28th, 2009 4:17 am

Don’t forget the Red Bean Popsicles! Yum! And fruit! Or the noodles! (I know they aren’t candy per se…)

Excited to see you again in August!

02
Aunt Lynn
posting from United States
May 28th, 2009 9:25 am

Is that your bike in the picture? Any chance you’ll be in PA during the August visit or should I plan a trip to LA to hear more about your travels?

You are something!!! You Go GIRL!!!

03
Ramsey
posting from United States
May 29th, 2009 3:43 pm

Libby loves corn, wonder if she would like corn candy. Candy corn is one of my “must haves” at Halloween, doesn’t really remind me of real corn though!

04
k
posting from United States
May 30th, 2009 8:21 am

reply to gabi: the red bean popsicles are the best, aren’t they?! those 7-11 coolers hold some shockingly delicious treats. but the corn popsicles were a little weird…

05
Eva Rees
posting from Portugal
June 6th, 2009 4:33 am

The corn sweets remind me of the sweets in Mexico and South America, I had to check the post title closely to see that you were in the East.

We are pretty open to trying the bright colors and shiny promises of foreign candies but I have to say Durian is hard to get into. There are signs all over Brazil that translate as “no Durian zones” due to the smell. The fruit is huge and spiky, looks like it could knock you out if it fell on you and it is always falling out of the trees in the woods.

We will have to take notes on the sweets you like so we can try them when we get East.

06
abuelita
posting from United States
June 9th, 2009 6:19 pm

Malenita: Just a brief hello to say your candy adventure continues fascinating me. You have all the family’s admiration. How you can wander all over the world alone on a bike while I still get wary walking alone on lonely Old Mill Road a skip and a jump from my house… Love from your abuelita,

07
alexis
posting from United States
June 11th, 2009 5:40 pm

malena!
things are looking great, i realized that it’s been a while since i’ve checked in on my big(gest/oldest) sis. i’m thrilled to see you in august, and the pictures (especially the one on the top of the post, beautiful colors!) are looking really great. keep dietz safe, and keep yourself safe too i guess.
love,
me

08
Malena
posting from Canada
June 24th, 2009 4:30 am

Gabi… those noodles definitely don’t count as candy! For one thing, I never get sick of candy… noodles on the other hand :)

Red bean popsicles though, yum.

Aunt Lynn, current plans maybe involve a stop in PA. Might want to double check with my mom first though!

Eva - Yeah, durian tastes ok (although not my favorite) but the smell… it is just as overpowering as everyone says :)

Abuelita - I think I got it from you! You traveled alone in South America don’t forget :)

alexis - glad to hear from you of course! looking forward to seeing you this summer. lots of pictures up on my flickr page!

09
hostels barcelona
posting from Spain
June 25th, 2009 7:58 am

Is durian not amazing?! Such a stinky fruit with such a lovely sweet taste!!
You’ve got an interesting blog. I’ll keep in mind for my next trips some of your sweet reccommendations. Thanks!

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