Sadly, belatedly, disappointingly, I have just learnt that Iceland (well, perhaps not Iceland, more accurately the Nói Síríus confection company) has gone and discontinued Blár Opal, which I can only describe as BEST. CANDY. EVER. Ironic, but its demise seems to have been caused by its most wonderful feature; namely, that one of the ingredients was phosphorous. That singular, aromatic, impossible to describe flavour and sensation, precisely what made them so wonderful in the first place, is what ultimately got them pulled off the market. Seriously, if it had any ill health effects I would have grown flippers or a second head by now, considering the huge quantities of the things I ate as a child and adolescent.

One might ask why it is that I'm just now discovering the loss of something that I have such affection for, but disappeared from the market some three years ago. All I can say to that is that it's been far too long since I visited Iceland, and not wanting to burden my relatives with regular requests for shipments of foodstuffs that can't be purchased in the States, I've not really had a reason to go poking about after them. Not only that, but I also seem to have viewed them as this permanent institution of Icelandic culture; one of the things that, to me, was inexorably tied up with Icelandic-ness. They were a fixture of my childhood visits there, I grew up associating them with the place, and I find it hard to imagine one without the other.

Apparently I'm not the only one to display dismay, outrage, and betrayal at such a loss; after reading the initial blog entry that referenced their demise in passing, I've found scads of 'net references and conversation bemoaning their loss and demanding their reinstatement (try Googling "blar opal"--blár being Icelandic for 'blue'). All I can do now is fervently hope that the crusade is successful, and despair that I didn't ask my relatives in Grindavík if I could rent out a few square metres of storage space in their house to keep as many cases as could be scavenged at the time of their disappearance.