In my home city we have a very eclectic group of people. It's legitimately a melting pot of all cultures. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to all sorts of different foods growing up, and one of my favorite things to do was to go to different ethnic grocery stores with my mother. There was one store in particular that always had me very excited, and it wasn't really a store. It was basically a giant warehouse, with tons of different little shops smashed into it. This place was called Mitsuwa. A Japaense Marketplace.

Particulary, my favorite place in the market was the candy aisle. I could not read japanese but the packaging was brilliant. It was a surprise every time I chose something new. My absolute, hands down, favorite candy of all time from Mitsuwa, was a Honeydew Shake Candy called Milkita. It was almost like a Honeydew Taffy, emphasis on the milk. Here is my rendition of it, which I am happy to say has exceeded my expectations in wanting to re-create that nostalgic taste.

Melon Milkita

|Flavor Co.|Flavor|%| |:-|:-|:-| |JF|Honeydew Melon|1| |TFA|Honeydew|0.25| |FA|Coconut|0.25| |FLV|Cantaloupe|0.75| |FLV|Cream|1| |ooo|Cream (Milky Undertone)|1.75| |FA|Meringue|0.5|

Total: 5.5%, steep 7+ days

JF Honeydew Melon - Pretty much the standard when it comes to delicious Honeydew Melon flavors. They knocked it out of the park with this one. It's a sweet and fresh melon flavor that's pretty potent too. It does mellow out over time, so thats why I accented it with the even more potent TFA Honeydew. In conjunction with eachother these two really drive home that sweet, green, melon flavor that so reminds me of those little chewy Milkita candies. I also get a creaminess out of these two, as I do with most melon flavors, which plays nicely with our other ingredients and overall goal for the recipe.

FLV Cantaloupe - This stuff tastes fairly authentic to me. Its a natural, ripe, sweet cantaloupe that plays right into the melon profile and helps accentuate the body of that fruity creaminess.

FA Coconut - This was what I was missing from my earliest versions. Just a touch here helps bring some more milkiness, pumps up the sweetness level, and acts as a bridge between the fruits and creams. I was super excited when I started using this and it worked so well.

FLV Cream - Bring on the creaminess. This has a dairy taste, but not as agressive as FA Fresh Cream or ooo Cream - Milky Undertones. I was originally using TFA Marshmallow to bring some body and sweetness, but it seemed overbearing. FLV Cream brought some great body, mouthfeel, a reasonable amount of dairy, and also helped the richness of the recipe. Its thick. More like a heavy whipping cream than a milk that plays well with the fruits.

ooo Cream - Milky Undertones - This is flavoring has been a godsend. It's milk with a touch of sweetness. No-nonsense here. Its fluffy, which helps emulate the candy aspect of the source material and worked exactly as intended.

FA Meringue - Sugary sprinkled sweetness. Helps in the cream department making things milkier, helps in the sweetness department delivering that accurate candy profile.

That's about it. Add sweetener if that's your thing, it is candy after all.

Today was a wonderful Sunday. I woke up, watched some Rocket League, flavor tested a few batches of things I had steeping, and was pleasantly surprised that this recipe turned out as delicious as it did. Check it out if you want. Hope you all are having great weekends. Ciao Muchachos.

BONUS VIDEO FOR THOSE THAT ARE HAVING A TOUGH WEEK, OR ROUGH DAY.

This is Maximus Thor. He helps me when I'm feeling down. Remember, everyone has things that they should be thankful for. So get happy, motherfucker. (My mom used to tell me that.)