There isn’t much in the way of fashion when it comes to graduation season. Mortarboards, itchy gowns and orchid lei — not much changes in the look of a grad over generations. The inflatable swim-floaties as neckwear had their moment, but this year seemed to mark the emergence of the fancy candy lei.
A lei of candy, often given for graduation or as an awards-ceremony gift for younger kids, used to be a collection of mostly off-brand candies tied together with ribbon and mesh. But now, wow. It’s not just Milk Duds and weird-favor Tootsie Rolls. It’s … anything. Frango mints. Almond Roca. Starburst arranged into a thick, beautiful garland almost too pretty to unwrap and consume.
Old-timers will connect this trend to the vintage Yick Lung lei, which were composed of individually wrapped Chinese-style preserved plums. Those were tasty, for sure, but fairly basic. These new ones are all Pinteresty and aesthetically
amazing.
There are lei made with those disk-shaped red-and-white striped mints that are as beautiful and intricate as flowers woven together for the city’s annual Lei Day contest. Some are so fluffy with ribbons and wrappings that the candies are almost hidden among all the fairy
foliage.
Another recent introduction is the multistrand gummy-worm lei. The candy is one long rope encased in plastic (no need to worry about swatting roaches off your neck) and can be multistrand and twisted or braided. The affect is quite pretty, brightly colored and clear like jelly. Actually eating one of those could be complicated, however.
On the other end of the spectrum, a different type of edible lei has emerged: the easy-kind lei. An example would be a single bag of li hing kaki mochi hanging from a long loop of ribbon. That’s it. That’s all. Who can find fault with the easy way out when there are a big bunch of kids who need to get lei and not enough in the budget for flowers? Candy, in most kids’ estimation, is way better than fake flowers or plastic kukui nuts. Yes, the twisted ti-leaf is an economic alternative, but after a while in the sun, those start to make your collar smell like laulau.
There are other fast-kind, economical lei that aren’t aesthetically pleasing, but can be the graduate’s favorite nonetheless. Those usually start with a tube of netting, and then the largest boxes of candy one can find, like boxes of M&M’s or full-size Snickers bars. It only takes about five full-size candies shoved in the netting and separated by ribbon ties to make a lei long enough to be legitimately lei length. Another version is made with Umaibo corn sticks from Japan, which are like huge individually wrapped bullion-flavored Cheetos. Sure, not as poetic as traditional flowers or maile, but if the aim is to make as many lei as possible and to give kids something they’ll appreciate, it’s a clever option.
Reach Lee Cataluna at
529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
