I was in Blockbuster video the other day, where oddly enough, they had this Ling Hing Plum Candy. What intrigued me more than the candy itself was the fact that the packaging had a YICK LUNG label attached to it.

Yick Lung was a household name for crackseed to generations of Hawaii folks, until only recently mostly being absent from local retail shelves.

Well, anything deserving of the Yick Lung brand had to be good, so I decided to buy a bottle ($1.25) and give it a try.

First, a fact to get straight is this product is NOT manuctured by Yick Lung. It’s branded as Valiente’s™, distributed by Star Pacific Trading and manufactured in Malaysia.

The tablets are shaped into what appears to be an extruded silhouette of a plum, measuring 7/16″x1/4″ each.

As for the taste, at first it may hit you as weird. Especially if you’re used to eating conventional Li Hing Mui plum seeds. As you suck on the tablet, you’re hit with a sweet-salty-tangy flavor that dissolves rather quickly into a powdery confection.

I’d say the manufacturer did a good job balancing the Li Hing Mui flavor level. Not overpowering. Just right. At first I thought is was sort of “starchy”, but after a few tablets, you become acclimated and just taste the Li Hing Mui.

There’s no question this will never replace real Li Hing Mui plum seeds, but it does a good job for what it’s worth. Enough that there’s probably kids out there who already love this stuff.

If you see it in the store, at least give it a try.

Ingredients: Plum Powder, Citric Acid, Glucose, Saccharin, Salt, Ascorbic Acid, FD&C Red 40.