"Candy"...

Today I had about a 25 minute break in my teaching this afternoon, so I decided to walk just off campus and get a pop. On my way to get a drink I saw a lady selling candy so I decided to stop on my way back to get a piece. Keep in mind that the candy here is, for the most part much different than US candy, it is often homemade, and even if it is not homemade, I have never heard of most of the brands. After I got my pop, I came to the candy lady just in time to see her packing everything up (it looked like it was going to rain) She had one container left out of this powdered football shaped thing. I asked her what it was and in Twi she told me, so I had absolutely no idea. But, I thought, it is candy, how bad can it be. I asked her if it was good and pointed to my mouth and she just smiled and nodded. So I gave her 10 pesewas (cents) and she gave me six pieces! AS a walked away I looked at them and realized that they really had a lot of powdered sugar on them. I took one and bit into it only to realize that the white powder on the outside was the entire thing, and it was not powdered sugar. It was chalk. I then proceeded to spit and spit and spit and rinse out my mouth with the pop I had just bought, but for the rest of the day my mouth has had a bit of a gritty feel. Live and learn, I guess, but, in the future, I may be a bit more discerning as to what kind of “candy” I buy.