Lille Allen/Eater
Surprise trick-or-treaters with Hi-Chews, Swedish gummies, and more
Passing out Halloween candy is one of my favorite annual traditions. When I was a kid, I vowed to be the grown-up who would give out jumbo chocolate bars or really special candies — no peppermints, tiny caramel hard candies, or tragic pennies allowed. This oath is linked to my own obsession with confectionery. I don’t discriminate against gummy, sour, chocolaty, chewy, or even spicy varieties. In fact, every time I travel, I make sure to pick up a pack of local candy to see what flavors are popular in other parts of the world.
It got me thinking: why not pass out global candy on Halloween? On TikTok, there’s already a fixation on Swedish gummies (if you were to hand these out on Halloween, I guarantee you’d be the most popular house in the neighborhood). But it’s not just about giving kids something that will excite them and provide a sugar rush. I see passing out candy from different countries as an opportunity for learning — about geography, cultures, and new flavors. These are the candies I’ll be picking up for my own trick-or-treaters.
Hi-Chew
Hi-Chew is an easy gateway to candies from abroad. These chewy candies, comparable to Starbursts, are incredibly juicy and have grown in popularity over the past decade (especially in Utah, where Mormon missionaries discovered the candy in Japan and introduced it to fellow Mormons). The original flavors — strawberry, grape, and green apple — are approachable, but the fun thing about Hi-Chew is all of the experimental and new flavors that the brand continually introduces. There’s a ramune, or Japanese soda, flavor that is bright and even fizzes; a dragonfruit flavor complete with speckles reminiscent of the seeds found in the fruit; and new Hi-Chew gummies in both a sour and original variety.
Cadbury Chocolates
Between the popular creme eggs, Caramellos (caramel-filled chocolates), and chocolates filled with crunchy honeycomb pieces, it’s hard to pick the ultimate Cadbury chocolate. What’s certain is that the smooth milk chocolate base is a crowd pleaser for kids and adults alike. It’s best to opt for a Cadybury Heroes variety pack, which includes an assortment of five different chocolates, including hazelnut and nougat, so trick-or-treaters can pick their favorite.
Amira Tamarind Candy
I may be slightly biased because I grew up on these Thai tamarind candies, but I don’t think there is another candy as quintessentially Thai as Amira. A hard candy, it strikes the perfect balance between sweet and tart with the faintest whisper of salt. It’snot quite as punchy as actual tamarind, which makes sucking on one after another extremely easy. If you like anything tamarind adjacent, like a plate of pad thai or tamarindo agua frescas, you’ll like Amira, too.
Eiffel Bon Bons
I have fond memories of being introduced to Eiffel Bon Bons in my high school French class. It’s difficult to describe their texture as they morph in your mouth: they start out hard, almost like a gobstopper, before melting into a candy that’s chewy like taffy. Flavors include strawberry, watermelon, caramel, apple, and even blue raspberry, an invention I thought was exclusively American. As a bonus, I also love the mascot on each bag of bon bons, a mustachioed, beret-wearing candy who is adorable, albeit a bit stereotypical.
Vero Mango & Chili Lollipops
Growing up in Los Angeles meant indulging in Mexican candy incessantly. I always begged my mom to go to the Mexican grocery store because I loved that there were candies that could be both sweet and spicy. Vero’s chile-coated mango lollipops are one such candy. These popular suckers have a mango-shaped, mango-flavored hard candy at their center and are covered in a tangy, spicy powder. I personally relished the exterior: licking through the tangy, slightly spicy shell to get to the sweet mango interior reminded me of a Tootsie Pop.
Haitai Plum Hard Candy
This hard candy tastes like a cross between a ripe peach and a sweet plum. It’s impressive how close the flavor gets to actual stone fruits; despite being a sugar candy, Haitai’s plum lozenge feels juicy. It also subscribes to the supposedly Asian adage of “not too sweet.”
Bon Bon Bum
These Colombian lollipops boast a bubble gum center and an assortment of tropical flavors reflective of the country’s diverse array of colorful fruits. There’s mango, passion fruit, and tangerine, as well as lulo (or naranjilla), an orange fruit that looks vaguely like a tomato and tastes like a cross between sour citrus and kiwi.
Bubs Gummy Candy
These Swedish gummy candies have become inescapable on social media. Whether it’s because of their alluring pastel colors or cloud-like texture, it seems like the internet cannot get enough. The problem with them is that they’re sold by weight, so distributing them to a large group of rambunctious kids may be tough unless you want to DIY some goodie bags. Perhaps these gummies are actually intended for the person passing out candy (as in, I’m looking for an excuse to buy them for myself).
