Dabble in the dark art of licorice?  Then come along, kids, cause this candy lives on the fringe to be sure.

Imagine my joy when I received yet another care package from Susie-this time, with salty licorice “gummidrops” inside.  Could life GET any better?

They’re tiny.  Little, tiny black pearls, covered in….salt?

Nope.  That’s not salt.  It’s sugar!  Sorta interesting, but my palette was expecting salt, so I was confused at first.  I’m slow, so just picture me sitting on the couch for 2-9 minutes just staring into space, contemplating the disconnect between the bag and my taste buds.  Sad, but fun to watch as a spectator.

As you bite into these, the first thing you notice is the firmness-these are dense.  Also, they’re not terribly salty.  Sure, there’s a note of salt that accents the licorice, but these aren’t that salty compared to other “salmiak” licorice.  That could be good or bad, depending on your tastes.  For me, it’s fine, as any presence of salt is appreciated in licorice.

I was surprised mostly at the flavor.  It’s certainly “licorice” flavor, but also very herbaceous.  Forest notes of pine, eucalyptus, etc, were noticeable.  Normally, I don’t go for that jive, but it was subtle, I actually really enjoyed it in this product.

Just for kicks, I tried to bite one in half for a cross-section shot.  Couldn’t do it.  Tried again.  Had to really harness the power of my canines, but finally i split one.  That should tell you all you need to know about the delightfulness that IS the chew of these.

I really like these.  Oddly, after about a dozen (which still is a minor amount of candy, at least for me), I’m done.  It could be the density, or the flavor, but I get satisfied pretty quickly with these.  I think that’s sort of the point-that they pack a a wallop in a tiny package.

Of course…we can’t buy them.  But I did manage to find a UK store that ships worldwide that stocks Rheila products: so who knows?  Maybe they’ll have these soon.  Click the link below to check them out.