Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

'foreign sweets'

41 replies

Deathraystare · 23/08/2020 07:20

Has anyone tried foreign sweets and been surprised at the taste/thought they were like something in UK until they bit into them?

I have had Indian sweets before (I don't mean the very rich stuff like Barfi - I mean packaged sweets) so I knew they were spicy.

The Pakistani porter just handed me some sweets and said they tasted of cola. The wrapper showed what might have been an apple but it was unclear what it was meant to be but there was deffo an afterbite of spice! It was weird (to me) because the spice was savoury rather than something like cinnamon or I suppose ginger (yes I know that can be savoury) and I am trying to think what it is. No point asking him as his English is not that good!

I once bought a tin of sweets in Egypt. They had bright wrappers so I thought it was their version of quality stret. Nope! Just boiled sweets!

OP posts:

ImaSababa · 23/08/2020 07:30

Yeah... "Beef sweets" in China. Wrapped up like a boiled sweet in a shiny wrapper. Bite into it, and it's a gobbet of reconstituted meat.

Pickles89 · 23/08/2020 07:38

Bought some random sweets in Germany (I can't read German) - one tin turned out to be salty (not like salted caramel or whatever, just salt water!) and the other was pine, as in trees!! Blooming disgusting! I reckon they were deliberately invented to trick tourists as nobody would choose to eat solid seawater or air-freshener!

Gulsink · 23/08/2020 08:10

Salty Swedish liquorice - had to spit it out when I tried it. You can buy it in IKEA.

bookmum08 · 23/08/2020 08:13

American chocolate is terrible especially Hershey's.

Chemenger · 23/08/2020 08:23

@ImaSababa

Yeah... "Beef sweets" in China. Wrapped up like a boiled sweet in a shiny wrapper. Bite into it, and it's a gobbet of reconstituted meat.

I have had a prawn sweet, also from China. Hard sugar on the outside, prawn paste on the inside. Quite possibly the most unpleasant thing I have ever tasted, but presumably if people have been used to them all their lives they seem lovely . I was given them by a Chinese colleague. I tried to give them away to some Chinese students but they said they are only eaten in a particular province and that they are not popular in other parts of the country. I’ve had some really horrible chocolate coated kiwi fruit from Slovakia as well. And I have had Hershey’s Kisses which are also totally disgusting if you haven’t been brought up on cheap American chocolate. Vomit flavoured chocolate, yum.

On the other hand I’m the person that buys the liquorice in Ikea.

Afonavon · 23/08/2020 08:23

Salted liquorice from Tiger was not to my taste at all. It tipped over to savoury rather than the balance of salted caramel (which is amazing).

American chocolate has that hint of vomit due to a chemical in it being the same as the chemical which gives vomit it’s distinctive (and disgusting) smell, butyric acid. Horrible in my opinion!

Lollypop4 · 23/08/2020 08:25

my sis in law lives in Japan.
Bring back sweets and snacks every year for us...., Japanese sweets are not nice at all!! we've tried telling her we arnt to keen to save her money..., but she doesnt listen, the sweets go in the bin everytime.

diplodocusinermine · 23/08/2020 08:27

Yes to American vomit chocolate - I thought it was just me for years but then read something about the chemical as Afonavon said. Evidently it's one of those things that only some people taste? Like some people love coriander and others hate it, down to taste receptors.

Original poster

Deathraystare · 23/08/2020 08:58

Gulsink

I am not new to salty licorice due to my Danish friend! Once you got past the ammonia smell, it was ok but as I have very very high blood pressure that is one treat I had to leave! She used to get packets of Piratos which had a pirate on the front and the liquorice is discs (coins). She used to fill a jar with these and steep it in vodka. If you like a drink somewhere between cough syrup and petrol - ... actually I quite liked it!!

OP posts:

Prokupatuscrakedatus · 23/08/2020 08:59

@Pickles89

Did you taste cough-sweets by mistake?
We have a large variety of cough / throat bonbons "Hustenbonbons" / "Kräuterbonbons" that are not supposed to be sweet?

Original poster

Deathraystare · 23/08/2020 09:00

Only had Hershey once - yeuck!

Thank goodness I did not buy sweets in China as I don't eat meat!

OP posts:

Original poster

Deathraystare · 23/08/2020 09:01

On you tube there are lots of postings about people getting a haul of sweets from abroad and what they think of them.

OP posts:

Mammyloveswine · 23/08/2020 09:04

Not sweets but cakes... had a lovely Chinese family in my school and at the end of term received a big box of what we thought was fresh cream cakes... colleague bit into one... the cake was like a doughnut but the filling had tuna and egg in 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

BobbinThreadbare123 · 23/08/2020 09:19

I love salty licorice! Got DH some on a trip into Scandinavia and he didn't know it was salty - does not like it! His face was a picture.
American chocolate is horrible because of the butyric acid that evolves when they process their milk. That's the vomit smell. It gets released if any fatty acids get broken down.

trappedsincesundaymorn · 23/08/2020 09:26

The first time I had a Penquin bar I expected it to be like a Tim-Tam. It's not..Tim-Tams are soooo much better.

pinkbalconyrailing · 23/08/2020 09:32

hot tamales sweets in the us.
sweet and hot with a strong cinnamon taste. they look like jelly babies.

CherryPavlova · 23/08/2020 09:35

Green tea kit kat brought back from Malaysia by a colleague. Grim green stuff instead of chocolate.

LemonandLimeShark · 23/08/2020 09:35

The first time I had a Penquin bar I expected it to be like a Tim-Tam. It's not..Tim-Tams are soooo much better.

I thought that they were exactly like Penguins. I didn't really get the hype. I do know that they come in quite a variety of flavours though so perhaps I should try those.

trappedsincesundaymorn · 23/08/2020 09:39

I thought that they were exactly like Penguins. I didn't really get the hype. I do know that they come in quite a variety of flavours though so perhaps I should try those

The biscuit is thinner and has a better texture imo. The cherry and dark chocolate flavour is heaven.

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 23/08/2020 09:39

Omg I thought it was just me with the American chocolate!
I used to travel for work a lot and a lady who ran a hotel in NYC would tell me I could stay for free for an endless supply of uk chocolate bars!
OTOH they have some amazing boiled sweets , I wish I could remember what they are called, so fruity and tasty

MidnightCitrus · 23/08/2020 09:41

@Pickles89

Wintergreen - is like pine, or deep heat

thinkofablinkingnamewoman · 23/08/2020 09:43

I love Swedish salted licorice. Worst experience was a German sweet which turned out to be sugar free and gave me the most horrendous trots.

Osquito · 23/08/2020 09:44

In Greece, mastic flavoured sweets (pine?)... love everything else, magiritsa included, but not that!

Anyone for pink fish floss? Quite addictive, really

jerometheturnipking · 23/08/2020 09:45

My sister brought me some saltwater taffy back from the US which was amazing. The taffy is the only sweet I’ve liked from America that I’ve tried over the years, the others have had a weird chemically taste/aftertaste. She also brought biscuits from Trader Joe’s - they were pumpkin spice ones and tasted amazing. Joe joes I think they were called...

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 23/08/2020 09:45

I bought Dd a box of Japanese sweets from amazon for Christmas. Some were lovely, some were vile. It was worth while though as we spent ages trying to guess what they were even if some ended up in the bin.

Flip

1 2