International Flavors: Popular Candies From Around the World
  |   BY DANIEL ROTHSTEIN
Most of us here at Redstone Foods absolutely love to travel. Some of our favorite times of the year are when we get to attend the various candy expos around the world. We have the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago this year, and various other events around the world we have attended in the past.
Since the global pandemic has put-off a lot of our travel plans in recent years, we have found that there’s another fun way to explore the world: through food. Or, even better yet, through some international candy!
Exploring some of our favorite international territories through popular candies from around the world is a fun way to discover some new and exciting products. In fact, when we do travel, one of our favorite things to do is visit some of the candy shops, grocery stores and markets to see what exciting new local flavors we can discover.
In that spirit, we thought we could share with you some of our absolute favorite international candies from around the globe! While many of these products have been offered here in the United States for quite some time, others may have very limited, or only seasonal availability.
So, if anyone is looking for a new flavor adventure, get your taste buds ready! Here are some of our favorite international candy products.
Great Britain:
We couldn’t make a list of imported candies without mentioning the British Chocolatier: Cadbury. While they are perhaps most-known in the US for their Cadbury Crème Eggs, they have an extensive collection of dairy milk chocolate bars that are, well… Bar none!
One of our favorite flavors that captures the essence of the United Kingdom is the Cadbury Fruit & Nut milk chocolate bar. With roasted almonds and raisins, this bar is truly unique to the different tastes of the British Isles.
Switzerland:
In 1868, Gene Tobler opened his own confectionary shop in Bern, Switzerland. 40 years later, his son discovered nougat and invented a distinctively tasty new chocolate bar, Toblerone! This treat combined honey and almond nougat with decadent swiss milk chocolate. The pyramid-shaped bar has become an icon of fancy candies from around the globe and is still very popular to this day.
One of our favorite swiss chocolates is the Toblerone Dark Bittersweet Chocolate Bar. This combines rich dark chocolate with Toblerone’s world-famous honey and almond nougat. Take your tastebuds to the top of the Matterhorn with this decadent bittersweet chocolate bar!
Germany:
When you think of the sweet flavor of gummy bears, you might not instantly think of far-away lands. But the very first gummy candy was actually invented by Haribo, a German candy company in 1922. These “Gummibärchen” were made in the shape of little bears and kids absolutely loved them!
Redstone Foods was the first candy wholesale company to introduce Haribo to the Southwest. Though the Haribo products we distribute are made in Wisconsin these days, we just had to include them on this list!
In recent years, the brand has branched-out to include dozens of different products. These range from gummy watermelon, snakes, sour kicks, cola bottles, berries, dinosaurs, frogs and even gummy Smurfs! While all these flavors and shapes are a lot of fun for kids of all ages, the classic Haribo Goldbears is where it all started in Germany, way back when.
HARIBO GOLD BEARS - STAND UP PEG BAG
The Netherlands:
Napoleon Sweets has been making their hard candies since 1912. These traditionally-made candy balls are built for a deliciously long flavor with a surprising taste sensation in the middle! These have always been made using only the finest quality ingredients. Only natural flavors and colors are used, so you know they are on to something special.
The company boasts that their candies offer “six minutes of enjoyment”! That is, if you don’t get too excited and bite into them to find out what the sweet and sour surprise is in the middle. These hard candies are made to be enjoyed and we promise you’ll have a hard time eating just one! Our favorite sweet flavor is the Napoleon Fruit Mix.
NAPOLEON HARD CANDY PEG BAG - FRUIT MIX
Japan:
Japanese candies are highly-sought after these days. These treats have become so popular that even most internet candy stores have a hard time keeping them in stock. There are so many fun and unique candy items coming out of Japan, that it is impossible for us to just pick one!
One of the most fun and exciting Japanese candies are the extensive line of Kracie Popin Cookin DIY candy sets. These are notoriously fun for kids of all ages, as anyone can easily make them by adding just water to the package contents. These sets come with molds in a variety of fun shapes, such as doughnuts, ramen, waffles, hamburgers and sushi.
While your fun creations look exactly like miniature pieces of sushi, they taste more like a grape gummy. We can’t even begin to explain how much fun these DIY candies are. You simply must try them for yourselves to believe it!
Another classic Japanese candy that will transport your tastebuds to the land of the rising sun is Pocky. These chocolate-covered biscuit sticks are very popular with Japanese teenagers and they are widely-admired here in the United States as well.
With flavors like chocolate banana, cookies and cream, crunchy strawberry and matcha green tea, there’s a variety of different tastes to satisfy nearly everyone. Glico Pocky released their original chocolate cream covered biscuits in 1966. Since then they have released over 50 different flavors across the world.
Perhaps the strangest flavor of all was a corn on the cob varieity! We even heard there was an abalone in oyster sauce flavor. Talk about weird!
Yet, according to a poll by Influenster, the Gilco Almond Crush Pocky is the most popular on social media channels like Instagram and TikTok. We can attest, these are absolutely delectable!
We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of exotic and rare candy flavors from around the globe. At Redstone Foods, we constantly strive to offer a wide variety of popular new and classic candy flavors from all over the world. We also have a huge selection of Mexican candy that is unrivaled in the business!
We take pride in offering the highest-level of customer service in the industry. Our dedicated sales representatives are available to help you in every step of the ordering process.
Find out what we can do for you. Sign up for an account with us online, or give us a call today. We are open on the following business days: Monday through Thursday from 8am to 5pm Central Standard Time. On Fridays we are open from 8am to 4pm CST.