Your Local Candy Guide (With Ratings)

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It’s not Halloween without candy, but how well do you know your local Chinese candies? Let’s skip the international brands and the ever-so-popular White Rabbit candies and dive right into the local stuff that you might not have yet taken a chance on.

If you want to try any of these candies, scan the QR code in Taobao to order.

Xu Fuji Crispy Candy

These usually come in a variety of colors and are usually seen in wedding goodie bags because of their bright colors. They come in different flavors, but to be honest, aside from the black sesame and peanut ones, the rest kind of taste the same. If you get a handful of these in your Halloween bag this year, don’t pass up on them! They’re delicious! They’re crispy and flakey and packed with the delicious flavor of whatever nuts they are made of.

Rating: 10/10

Chun Guang (Coconut Candy)

I usually get these after a friend comes back from a trip to Hainan. These are basically coconut-flavored caramel hard candies. They’re great for the first one (or three), but these are really sweet and end up leaving your mouth feeling a tad dried out after a while.

Rating: 8/10

Xu Fuji Crispy Candy

They might be pretty, but these are essentially the Chinese version of candy corn – cute, but no one actually wants to eat it. They’re so basic that they don’t even have a brand name (just like candy corn). Ying tang means hard candy, and don’t be deceived by their cute fruity colors. They don’t actually taste like fruit. These just taste like sugar with a hint of mint. Put them back…

Rating: 1/10

Bulaolin Nougat

While these don’t have the most kid-friendly-looking wrappers - it’s literally fuchsia with some old guy printed on it - don’t judge this candy by its wrapper. These are tasty almond nougat sweets that have been a local specialty in Shenyang for decades and they’re delicious! Tasty nougat candy with big chunks of nuts wrapped in a thin layer of chocolate. If anything, the outdated wrapper is proof that this candy is so good that the makers never had to update the look or recipe to keep up with the times.

Rating: 10/10

Dongbei Big Shrimp Candy

There’s no shrimp in the candy! They call it shrimp candy because of the thin layer of sugar that makes it look like cooked shrimp. But, like the nougat, this is also one of those candies that haven’t had to change their recipe or packaging for generations. It’s a flakey peanut candy with a thin layer. Why the makers decided to make it look like shrimp is beyond me, but Harbin local specialty candy is delicious and hard to put down.

Rating: 10/10

Mianhua Tang

(Marshmellow Candy)

If you love eating Peeps these are even better! These fluffy marshmallow candies come with fruit-flavored jelly in the middle and they’re perfectly bite-sized, so you don’t end up opening a pack, not finishing it, and having them dry out.

Rating: 8/10

Have you discovered any delicious local candy? Let us know in the comment section below.

Images: Pexels, Taobao

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