Strange Mexican candy

Last week, I picked up a 10-pack of Baby Lucas sour powder (aka polvo acidulce) on the candy shelf of the Hispanic section of a St. Paul, Minn. supermarket. It's packaged in what look like little salt shakers, and the main ingredients are sugar, salt, citric acid, and chili powder, so you're hitting a few flavor highlights together. Anyone familiar with this? Do you eat it in powder form, like pixie sticks? Do you sprinkle it on something? (I'm imagining a really odd sort of cinnamon toast.)

[filth]

I remember hearing that some Mexican candy contains lead so please beware.

EDIT: From 2004 http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/20... I don't know if the problem has been rectified.

[luckyfatima]

Oh my god, the childhood memories of Lucas! Yes you can just eat it straight. Be forewarned, it can burn off your taste buds.

You could also sprinkle it on fruit as mentioned above. Like if your orange is not so sweet, add it to bring out the flavor.

[wannabefoodie]

My high school had a very large hispanic population and I remember eating this all the time! We would just put some in our palm, and then do the little lick-your-finger-to-pick-it up move. I never even thought of putting it on anything. Just eat is straight!

[GoalieJeff]

My understanding is that it is sprinkled on fruit . I kinda like it on popcorn .

[XavierCollegePrepGirl]

Im a Teen and me and my friends call it "Lucas"
We just eat it out of the container.
It gets pretty addicting after a while and my parents have said it has
lead in it since its a unfiltered product from mexico

I would definitely try this on roasted corn on the cob and on slices of honeydew, cantaloupe, and jicama. And how about on home fried tortilla chips?

[XavierCollegePrepGirl]

Your not supposed to try it on anything else but apples or mangos

Without knowing it first-hand, I'm thinking I would try it (if I ever find it here in NYC) in lieu of brown sugar to roll a ripe plantain and fry it or, like my weight watching Costa Rican cousins do, wrap it in aluminum foil and bake it in the toaster oven. Maybe with the chili powder, I'd try this with a not-quite so rip plantain.

[fromagina]

I'd worry about the citric acid and the aluminum foil together.. you might get a nasty metallic flavor!

I've seen the salty/sugary/lime powder with the duck logo in Chicago liquor stores -- when I inquired about it, I was told that you use it in conjunction with tequila in a two-step process: 1) Pour powder on tongue, and 2) pour tequila down throat.

[XavierCollegePrepGirl]

Thats Wrong. Your Just supposed to eat it like a pixie stick.
Nothing more or it will make an undesirable taste.

Your description reminds me, in a way, of a Thai way of eating unripe mango.... peeled and sliced and sold with a small packet of sugar, salt & chili pepper.... it is really delicios.... aroy mahk mahk!!

Here in Chicago, we sprinkle it on peeled/chopped cucumber, chopped mango, pineapple, etc.
There are other "flavours," like, Limon, Chili, etc.

Regards,
Erik M.

p.s. I have seen NaCl-deprived children swiggin' straight from the container...

I remember something like this when I was a kid, and everyone I witnessed were consuming these in the same manner as pixie sticks.

The "cinammon toast" idea sounds oddly appealing. The sweet, salty, sour, and spicy stuff on buttered toast doesn't sound particularly bad at all.