Halloween candy taste test 2018: From eyeball gummies to witches’ fingers, which spooky treats are worth buying in HK?

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Halloween: the only time of year when we actually want our sweets to look disgusting. Here are some of this year’s best, and worst, offerings

Nicole Moraleda |
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Which Halloween candies are worth your money this year?

Halloween is the perfect excuse to spoil your teeth rotten with sweets. Unfortunately, the October 31 holiday isn’t as big in Hong Kong as it is in some other parts of the world, so the selection of treats in stores isn’t as spooktacular. Many brands will try to trick shoppers into buying their regular products by disguising them in Halloween-y packaging.

This year, we searched high and low to find snacks that were specially made for the season. Read on to find out which of them the Young Post team wished they could eat all year round.

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M&S Gruesome Body Parts Gummies

Marks and Spencer Gruesome Body Parts Gummies
Photo: Alejo Rodriguez Lo/SCMP

These gummies were shaped like a range of different body parts. They had less of an artificial fruit flavour than the eyeball gummies, and were much softer in texture. Most of the team preferred the eyeball gummies, but we appreciated how grotesque the body part sweets looked. And, because they come in little plastic packets, they would be excellent to give away to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

Cost: HK$59 from Marks & Spencer

Ajitenka’s Eyeball Gummy

Ajitenka's Eyeball Gummy
Photo: Alejo Rodriguez Lo/SCMP

Eyeballs are a popular gimmick among sweet manufacturers, but you need to be careful, because many sweets, especially gummies and marshmallows, appear to look like eyes at first glance, but turn out to be plain once the packaging is removed. This one from Ajitenka, however, looked very much like a monster’s eyeball.

The black pupil tasted like grape and the bright red iris was strawberry flavoured. Overall, the gummy was very chewy and tasted quite syrupy; some said it was too sweet for them, but we agreed that it would nevertheless make a great spooky treat to give away on Halloween.

Cost: HK$19.9 from Great Food Hall

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M&S Witches Fingers

Marks and Spencer Witches Finger
Photo: Alejo Rodriguez Lo/SCMP

These butter biscuits with fondant nail decoration proved to be a big hit. The biscuits had a nice snap to them, and a distinct buttery flavour. When combined with the vanilla icing, this snack came out on top for us. They would go very nicely with glass of milk or cup of tea.

Cost: HK$29 from Marks & Spencer

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Pumpkin-flavoured Choco Balls

We were excited to try these special Halloween-edition Choco Balls. They usually come coated in regular or strawberry-flavoured milk chocolate, but these were coated in orange pumpkin-flavoured chocolate. Although we all enjoyed them and rated them quite highly, the pumpkin flavour was rather difficult to detect.

Cost: HK$15.5 from 7-Eleven

Look Chocolate – Autumn Three Flavour Mix

Look Chocolate - Autumn Three Flavour Mix
Photo: Alejo Rodriguez Lo/SCMP

This limited-edition release, while not very Halloween-y, promised three autumnal flavours: sweet potato, chestnut, and Hokkaido pumpkin. Sadly, the flavoured chocolate in the centre was masked by the taste of the milk chocolate coating, and you could hardly tell the flavours apart. This one was not a favourite and was probably the most disappointing for everyone.

Cost: HK$25 from 7-Eleven

Edited by Charlotte Ames-Ettridge

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