Play More "Ume"

Ever More

Every so often I sample a candy, that I'm not entirely convinced that it's actually a candy. This is most certainly one of those situations. The reason I think it's a candy is purely based on the fact that the only place I've ever seen this “candy” for sale is in the candy aisle of several grocery stores in Cambodia. Having said that, it could be that this isn't a candy, and it is in fact some kind of medicine or supplement made for children. In many places around the world, putting children's medicine or supplements in the same aisle as candy would get the store owners charged with some kind of crime, but Cambodia is a little looser with these kinds of rules.

The thing that makes me nervous about this “candy” is the fact that it seems (with the little English I can read on the bottle) to be some kind of energy enhancer. I worry because I don't do well with caffeine, and I do need to get some sleep tonight. It could be that this is a candy full of sugar, and the notion is that the sugar will give your kids energy, which is kind of true. If that's the case, then this is most certainly a candy, even if it's marketed as a supplement.

As for the “candy” itself, it's not great. In this bottle you get a bunch of very hard little pill like candies that taste like ume. For those unfamiliar, ume is salted plum, and I'm often not a huge fan of salted plums. Ume generally tastes like it sounds, a really salty, pickled plum. I guess in that way this candy is kind of successful, because it tastes like a plum candy, with extra salt. It's not something I generally look for in a candy, but I do know some people who love the stuff.

I'm not really sure how to score this candy. It tastes like it's supposed to taste, it looks like it's supposed to look like, and in a few minutes I'll find out if it actually gives me a lot of energy. The problem is that I don’t need any more energy, and I don’t like salted plums.