intellectual education candy

February 8, 2011 10:51 AM

Filed under strangely fascinating: Popin' Cookin', powdered miniature sushi that one makes oneself and eats as a candy. Wait for the salmon roe at the end. There is a type of sweet in Japan that’s sold under the category of "intellectual education candy". These are sweets you must make yourself using the ingredients contained in the box. This way, children can enjoy the process of making candy, which allows them to develop their creativity. The non-edible version, Konapun.

Pizza, spaghetti | soft cream.

No cooking is required, just water.

There is a Popin' Cookin' confection named "bloody murder" (ポッピンクッキン　ねりきゃんランド).

Made by Kracie.

posted by nickyskye (38 comments total)

The Ho-roe! The Ho-roe!
posted by chavenet at 11:00 AM on February 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

Forget the kids, I want to make that myself!
posted by pinky at 11:05 AM on February 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

I am only dimly aware of how or what or why but I love it all the same. Tiny candy versions of larger food that one has to meticulously build with toothpicks- I am pro-this.
posted by cheap paper at 11:07 AM on February 8, 2011

I want that sushi kit. It looks insanely fun.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:10 AM on February 8, 2011

I've never wanted anything so badly in my entire life.
posted by Foam Pants at 11:12 AM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

My daughter insisted on getting the sushi kit last summer (found it at the Mitsuwa store in Torrance), and it was great fun and very easy.
posted by mogget at 11:12 AM on February 8, 2011

Those videos are so simple and serene. It's nice not to be bombarded by loud music, or to have to listen to someone drone on.
posted by rachaelfaith at 11:14 AM on February 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

Isn't it cool the way the salmon and the yellow tail 'sushi' have the striation markings that the IRL fish meat has? And those salmon eggs are a sort of fun molecular gastronomy parody.

Apparently it all tastes mostly of muscat grape, which must add an additional layer of surreal into the mix.
posted by nickyskye at 11:16 AM on February 8, 2011

This way, children can enjoy the process of making candy, which allows them to develop their creativity.

These look like they would be super fun to do with kids, but I always feel like kits with such structured processes are actually the opposite of creative.
posted by rosa at 11:19 AM on February 8, 2011

Lunchables 2.0
posted by painquale at 11:19 AM on February 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

This way, children can enjoy the process of making candy, which allows them to develop their creativity.

Why would we want that? Is there a steady, large paycheck in creativity?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:26 AM on February 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

Creativity isn't just making something out of chaos, no rules, just 'go'. Sometimes, following the rules and then (in this case) watching powder and water combine to make candy fires up the imagination something fierce. If x + y can make awesome, what else could be combined into awesome?
posted by sandraregina at 11:34 AM on February 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

While watching the sushi kit video, I was thinking there would be no way there would be 1 paddle per kit because THINK OF THE CONTAMINATION. I think there are at least 6 stirrers... and a strainer.

I know it's wasteful but I want it so bad.
posted by spec80 at 11:36 AM on February 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is just plain cool.
posted by kinnakeet at 11:39 AM on February 8, 2011

So uhhh...where can we buy this?
posted by reformedjerk at 11:44 AM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is really neat. I'd try to track some down, but I am reluctant to expose my candy-fiend 8-year-old to the concept of "intellectual education candy". (But MOM! It'll make me smarter!)
posted by Daily Alice at 11:45 AM on February 8, 2011

Even though I know the underlying principles, that is so freaking cool.

Does the kit come with the little plates? I want it for the tiny strainer and plates alone. I will hold them and pretend that I am a giant!

I am going to send my Tokyo-local brother out on a QUEST for this as soon as he wakes up today. Important business meetings and networking be damned.
posted by Mizu at 11:52 AM on February 8, 2011

Brother is awake! He said, screw you sister, buy it from amazon.co.jp.
posted by Mizu at 11:58 AM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

The takoyaki version looks awesome - check those tiny octopi out! Eeee!

Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaakoooooooooooooyaaaaaaaaaaaakiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..... said Kero-chan
posted by maryr at 12:04 PM on February 8, 2011

Here's what always happens to me when I'm in Tokyo. I end up in the section of the store that has this kind of thing. I get excited, and drag one of my Japanese friends over to explain what's in every single box. After about 30 seconds, they get tired of this game and go back to adult shopping. Left to my own devices, I always end up buying whatever has the most cartoon characters on it. Then I get home and find that I purchased something disappointing or completely mystifying. One day I will hit the candy sushi lottery. Until then, my greatest score is a boob shaped bar of soap or giant jawbreaker. Not sure which.
posted by billyfleetwood at 12:05 PM on February 8, 2011 [5 favorites]

OMG, there are also taiyaki. God bless you, Meiji Corporation.
posted by maryr at 12:16 PM on February 8, 2011

Just watching the sushi one had me grinning like an idiot, then the roe appeared and that was amazing, but then! Tiny strainer!

I need this.
posted by lucidium at 12:46 PM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

The pizza one was surprisingly convincing, and you can see there's some practice required to get it just right—the crust, placing the toppings, and the final coating.
posted by polymodus at 1:27 PM on February 8, 2011

I shudder (with pleasure) to think of what a Japanese version of Easy-Bake Oven could yield.
posted by jnrussell at 1:53 PM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cheaper and more satisfying than six volumes of Modern Cuisine, surely.
posted by Xere at 3:46 PM on February 8, 2011

There's a scene in William Gibson's Virtual Light where the streetwise little kid (forgot his name) enjoys his candy kit, which mimics the cooking of meth or some other narcotic. It's a Japanese kit that is pretty involved, designed to make little kids feel like grownup drug cookers. The book was published in 1993. How long have these "intellectual education candy" kits been around? Or was Gibson just being prescient again?
posted by Quietgal at 3:54 PM on February 8, 2011

The Ho-roe! The Ho-roe!

Mmmm, Chinese accent? Japanese would be "Za Hoe-rah! Za Hoe-rah!"
posted by zardoz at 5:24 PM on February 8, 2011

I honestly can't see an american company trusting kids to have the patience required for that job.

Which is a real shame.
posted by you're a kitty! at 5:48 PM on February 8, 2011

I was going to say I would have been OBSESSED with this when I was a kid but who am I kidding, part of me wants to take the car and drive to Mitsuwa right this minute and buy every single one.
posted by little light-giver at 7:05 PM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

When I was a mostly unsupervised kid in Tokyo, I used billyfleetwood's method to select a green popsicle in a wrapper printed with several cartoon cats. To this day I'm not sure if it was flavored with green tea or catnip.
posted by Soliloquy at 7:58 PM on February 8, 2011

I am going to be in Japan TOMORROW (really!), and damned if I won't be bringing a few of these back with me!
posted by smoke at 8:28 PM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I hope they come up with a grave for Ferran Adria to roll in.
posted by I love you more when I eat paint chips at 9:01 PM on February 8, 2011

I've eaten these. They're really nasty! Or maybe my daughter doesn't have a future in a creative industry.
posted by donkeymon at 2:57 AM on February 9, 2011

I don't think anyone here is excited about the *taste*, donkeymon.
posted by maryr at 7:13 AM on February 9, 2011

So the roe, is that a heated/cooling thing to form the little drops?
I want one that does octopus tentacles. That would be the best mold ever.
posted by efio at 7:19 AM on February 9, 2011

Nothing heated. What you need are finger tentacles.
posted by nickyskye at 8:02 AM on February 9, 2011

Wait, did none of you have any of the million candy-making toys that were available in North America in my own childhood? We made gummy bear-type things with our Jiggles candymaker set ("When you eat a Jiggle, it might make you giggle!" went the ads) and cotton candy (a/k/a candy floss) with the Cotton Candy Machine that I think had Snoopy on it, and then there was some kind of hot fudge machine...

Who knew that I was forwarding my "intellectual education" in those days? Heck, I should apply for a Ph.D. based on my Easy-Bake Oven exploits.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:24 PM on February 9, 2011

Part artistry, part science!, part sweets, and a generous dose of the ever-popular tiny. Who doesn't love tiny? The darling little shovels that smoosh everything around, oh my!
posted by madamjujujive at 4:29 PM on February 9, 2011 [1 favorite]