Greatest Treats You May Have Never Tried - Mars Delight

There are many different treats to be found, all over the world.  Each corner has their own idea of what's good, and it can vary a great deal.  The thing is, many of these treats aren't available everywhere.  In fact, some treats are only available in a very small area of the world.  Some of these hard to find treats are treats you really shouldn't miss as well.  So this week, I'm going to highlight a new treat every day, that I've reviewed, and that I think you should really try... that is if you can find it.

The first time I ever tried a Mars Delight was when Allison brought back a couple from a trip to France.  I've since been to France myself, and when I went, I stocked up on Mars Delights.  I've seen them available in  a few other European countries as well, but not in such abundance.  I'm not sure if that's because France holds the market, or maybe since I first tried them, Mars has cut down production.  Hopefully it's not the latter, because this bar is fantastic. It's one of the few bars that I'll break my rule of never eating the same treat twice.  In fact it's one of the only bars that I'll buy a whole family sized package of them whenever I see them on the store shelves.

Check out my review of the Mars Delight here.

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This Week In Candy

Candy News - It was brought to my attention that I have not tried several classic British treats. I have a trip to London coming soon and I think I'm going to attempt to make up for several of the missing sweets.  While I have a pretty good idea about some of the packaged sweets I'm missing (Walnut Whips, Fry's Turkish Delight and Chocolate Cream), I'm not as sure if there are any bulk British treats that I might be missing.  I think I have to do some investigation on the subject.

What's Happening At Candy Critic - This week we have a special feature.  Every day we're going to tell you about a great candy treat that you may not have tried, but really you should.  All of them were found outside of North America, so it might not be easy to buy one for yourself.  I guess it's a little mean of me to point this out, but I wanted to give you fair warning.

Rant - This past week I got hurt (the photo above), it looks like nothing major, but it was pretty serious.  It actually stopped me from using my thumb for about a day and a half.  How I got this injury is the strangest thing, I got it from opening a pistachio.  People don't really think about how dangerous pistachios can be, but I'm living proof.  It also gave me some insight as to why a bag of shelled pistachios costs so much.

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Monday's Candy Links

Maggie Koerth-Baker from Boing Boing looks at genetics and bananas, it will impact your eating habits.

The problem I have with edible food packaging comes from the cleanliness of the grocery stores where this food sits for a long time.

A rare open house at an Italian candy factory, they're rare because there are many secrets in the candy industry and few companies want to share them.

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Texture Isn't Everything In Today's New Review

When I score a new treat for review I give three simple scores;  taste, texture, and novelty.  Each one of these scores is very important to me.  When I came up with Candy Critic, I gave how I was going to score a great deal of thought.  Each one of these scores is very important to the success of a bar, even texture.  Most people don't think about texture when they're eating something like chocolate, unless they eat a bar with a really bad texture.  Even then, many people can't figure out exactly why their chocolate is bad, they just know it's not right.

Click here to read a review from a treat that got texture very right.

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Friday Candy Video - Most Disturbing M&Ms ad Ever

Very rarely does a commercial aim to be disturbing and funny and then achieve that goal.  This is just such a case.

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Friday's Candy Links

The psychology of the candy you eat, and what it says about you as a person.

Apparently there might be a shortage of vanilla beans... EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

Dylan, from New York's Dylan's Candy Bar, talks about living and working in New York.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising - The Look Of a Child Gone Mad

As an adult a picture of kids in an almost psychotically happy gaze disturbs me.  As I kid I think it influenced me to buy whatever was being promoted.  At what point did my brain make the switch?

I found this at on Vintage Ad Browser.

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It's National Pretzel Day!!!

Pretzels are my favorite salty snack.  I'm not just saying that because of this auspicious holiday either.  I like them for their versatility and for their clean taste.  I like the salt on them, and I like to dip them in mustard.  Strangely, I've never actually done a review for pretzels on Candy Critic.  I think it's because I don't think of pretzels as being a special treat, they're just part of my snacking diet.

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Thursday's Candy Links

23 fun facts about grocery store things, including a few sweet treats and snacks.

Ferrero will no longer have any slave labor in the collection of its chocolate by the year 2020.

New York, Paris or London, which city should be the chocolate capital of the world... Or is there another city with better chocolate, how about Brussels?

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Which bean is better?

I've decided to take down several old articles from the candycritic.org and re-post them here on the Candy Critic blog.  This week I'm posting an article I wrote when I was trying to decide which Jelly Belly I should review in Candy Critic.
It's not often I avoid doing a candy review for any other reason than I'm afraid to eat it. You'd know what I meant if you'd ever eaten a salted plum covered in tamarind candy. There is one treat that I have been avoiding for another reason, the Jelly Belly. I get lots of e-mails from people telling me that I should review them, and I agree, my problem is which flavor to review? There are so many varieties of Jelly Belly that if I reviewed them all it could be a web page to itself.  For now I've decided I'm going  to pick just one.

So how do I go about it? Well here's my plan, the first thing I've done is pick out 6 flavors I (or others) find intriguing or to be a favorite. I'll taste each one and pick out my choice. Sure maybe your favorite isn't in this selection, but I ask you, where were you when I was in the candy store at 9 pm sweating over the bulk bins (I mean sweating in a figurative way).

So here goes, and maybe some day I will attempt to try them all, particularly if someone from Jelly Belly is reading this and is willing to send me samples of every flavor.

Caramel Corn

I picked this flavour because the buttered popcorn flavor has always intrigued me, and I figured these where a new and improved version.

Although they do taste kind of cool, the coolest part of the flavor is the popcorn. I couldn't really say that I taste any caramel, although they do seem a little sweeter than the regular popcorn.

Chocolate Pudding

I picked this flavor for no other reason than I really enjoy chocolate pudding. Sure it's not the most sensible reason, but this is a candy web site, and sensibility generally takes a back seat.

Having just had a bowl of chocolate pudding I can easily say that this is no chocolate pudding. I think it could use a bit of a stronger flavor, something a little more chocolaty. It just taste weak.

Juicy Pear

This particular flavor is one I would have never picked myself. First of all I'm against the idea of candy being called juicy, unless it has some kind of juice in it. Secondly pears just don't seem that exciting to me. The reason I got these was I asked the folks that worked at the candy store where I bought them, which flavor was the best, and they recommended them to me.

It's strange, it does taste like pear, and I like pears, but it also taste really strange. This is a great example of a strange but not horrible flavour.

Peanut Butter

So why did I pick peanut butter? Well that's simple, because Ronald Reagan apparently loved these things, and if there's one man I want to be associated with it's him... Well maybe not.

I don't get why some treats say they taste like peanuts and some say peanut butter, don't they taste the same. It's not like their full of peanut butter, and in the case of these treats, many don't really taste like peanuts at all.

Buttered Popcorn

To say that this is my favorite flavor right off the bat wouldn't be true, but to say that this flavor really intrigues me, is absolutely true. For years I've loved the idea of popcorn flavored Jelly Bellies and to this day I can't figure out why.

To be honest I don't think they're going to win for best flavor, but as a guy who eats a lot of fake flavors every day, this one really interest me. The thing is, it's kind of accurate. For the life of me I can't say why I'm so crazy over a fake butter flavor, but I am.

Tutty Fruity

"A womp babalomba a womp bamboo". Tutty Fruity is pretty good. I can't really complain that it doesn't taste like a “Tutty Fruit” because only Little Richard, knows how they taste, and I'm way too afraid to ask.

Basically these taste a little like Bubble Gum, and I don't mind at all. They also win on coolest looking Jelly Belly.

So what choice have I made?

Well the best flavor, taste wise, was the Tutty Fruity. It was fun, simple and looks cool too. The problem right now is a conflict I have with Buttered Popcorn, I just find that flavor to be so interesting and strange. I can't really make up my mind. Looks like a coin toss is in order, here goes. Heads Tutty Fruity, tales Buttered Popcorn. The winner is Buttered Popcorn.

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Wednesday's Candy Links

For her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen has already had a Cadbury chocolate bar made in her honor, and now she has this.

Are you a "sugarholic"?  If you're reading this blog, you probably are.

New candy store opens in Las Vegas, claims to be the biggest one in town, in Vegas that's saying a lot.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Marshmallow Squeeze Candy  - Koko’s Confectionery & Novelty - I don't really understand what this is, so I really want to try it. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Candy Art - Cadbury Makes Mascot Out Of Chocolate

I can't deny that most Olympic Mascots confuse and frighten me a little.  While I love the craftsmanship of this piece, I really want to break it and eat it so it stops starring at me.

This is where I found this photo.

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Tuesday's Candy Links

People always complain when a candy company changes the flavour of a classic treat.  So how do you feel about a candy company changing the texture?

Scan your brain, know if you're going to get fat?  Does this make sense?

I think I've mentioned this before on this blog, but just in case you missed it, here's where the "M"s on M&M's come from.

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This Week In Candy

Candy News -  The one type of article that always seems to flood the news streams, after a candy filled holiday, is how unhealthy all that candy you have is to your body.  I can't disagree that over consumption of candy is unhealthy, but a sweet treat now and then is fine.  It's pretty amazing how many media outlets went on and on about all of the great treats coming for Easter, and now they go on and on about how you shouldn't eat any of them.

What's Happening At Candy Critic - I'm working on a short article about the emasculating side of eating strawberry treats, which I hope to post on the blog either this week or next.  I'm also going to collect a series of reviews that you probably have never tried but really should.  Outside of Candy Critic, I'm still working on a secret project that's going along very well.  I hope to announce it soon, but that's really out of my control.

Rant - I don't think I'm going to rant this week, I think instead I'm just going to apologies for the lack of entries on the blog. The secret project has its first deadline and I'm going to be swamped with it.  I'll still post all of my regular entries into the blog, but I might not have much more to ad.  Also, I'm thinking of opening up to contributing writers again, if you're interested, send me a message through the blog on through the Candy Critic contact form.

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Monday's Candy Links

More proof that candy and crime do not mix.

Mitt Romney (US presidential hopeful) refuses to eat a sweet treat, this latest political scandal is now known as "Cookiegate".

Awesome looking game called Sugar Cube, is well worth checking out.

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Is It A Licorice Review?

I have a hard time defining what is licorice.  Licorice purists would say that licorice is the extract from a root that gives a flavour.  It is often associated in candy form with the colour black, and has a very strong flavour.  Candy purists might go so far as to include certain kinds of red licorice as well, since they are in the spirit of black licorice whips.  They allow for a more subtle fruity flavour, for those that don't enjoy the black licorice.  Others (including the people who make the candy reviewed) consider any kind of chewy candy that is fairly flexible to be licorice.  I fall closer to the candy purists myself, but I'm open minded enough to change my opinion in either direction.

Click here to read this controversial review.

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Our Last In This Weeks Asian Review-A-Thon

I will be posting another review tomorrow (as I usually do), but it won't be an Asian treat.  I know that this won't be my last review from Asia, but I have to play nice and make sure other areas are well represented as well.  I have a few ideas for future review-a-thons, but please let me know if you have a particular type of snack, or a region where snacks come from, that you think would make a good review-a-thon.

Click here to read today's addition to the Asian review-a-thon.

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Got Some Welch's Filled Licorice in the Mail This Week

I love getting mail, even if there isn't any candy I still love getting mail.  Although getting candy in the mail is particularly fun.  The folks at Welch's sent me some of their new filled licorice.  Pretty soon all of this licorice will be in my tummy, and in the tummy of a few friends too.

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Friday Candy Video - Big Rock Candy Mountains

Great song, great video, however I'm not sure about cigarette trees and a lake filled with whiskey and stew.

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I Know So Little About Language - Our Latest In The Asian Review-A-Thon

I do very little research when it comes to language and geography of the candies I review.  That's part of the reason why the geographical categories on the site are continents.  You don't really have to think too much when you split things up by continent, instead of country.  I also often take wild stabs at what a particular treat might be called, most of my ideas come from the package.  Today's review is the perfect example of both of these, I have no idea what these are called, and my best guess is that they're either Korea or Chinese... although I could be wrong.

Click here to read the review, and maybe let me know more about this treat if you can read the package.

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Friday's Candy Links

If you live in Los Angeles and you like ice cream, Ben and Jerry's is going to be around town giving the stuff away.

What I can only describe as the worst headline to read out of context "Planters Introduces Men's Health Mixed Nuts".

Check out the most American patriotic cake ever made.

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Candy Themed Ride

The other night I stumbled upon this great mini carousel in a local playground.  It has some kind of crazy candy theme, but I don't fully understand all of the characters attached to it.  There's some kind of candy bug, what appears to be a banana split chicken, and a mouse.  I wanted to take a ride on it, but I didn't have any change.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising - A Look At Where Chocolate Is Made

There is not enough modern advertising out there that celebrates the wonderus places that make candy.  You would think it'd be obvious that showing off a candy factory would make people crave candy.  But for some reason advertisers insist on creating characters that dance around fictional places, while the candy is magically made.  This is wrong, I want to see more "real" factories in advertising.

I found this wonderful example on Vintage Ad Browser.

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Day 4 of The Asian Review-A-Thon

Today's review is pretty much the standard one would expect from a Japanese treat.  It's cookies, it's chocolate, and it doesn't really make any sense.  If you happen to know the story of this treat, and why someone decided to make a box of tree stump cookies, I'd really appreciate the explanation.  For now I'll just sit here in blissful ignorance.

Click here to read the review.

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Thursday's Candy Links

Bowling and fried candy, that's a guaranteed great night out.

Burger King now has bacon ice cream, is the bacon fad over now, or is it picking up steam?

There's an attempt to ban candy flavoured tobacco in Canada, I don't like this because it tells the world that candy is only for kids.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Frozen treats I made myself

I've decided to take down several old articles from the candycritic.org and re-post them here on the Candy Critic blog.  This week I'm posting an article I wrote about freezing some of your favorite liquids, into frozen treats.

Summers coming... Actually this article was written in February with about two feet of snow outside my window, but I'm a little lazy, that and I really don't see any problem eating frozen treats all year round. When I was a kid I used to eat frozen treats before going skating because it would fool my body into thinking it was warmer outside. Sure I could have died of hypothermia but when you want to skate you'll do just about anything.

Rather than deal with the old and slightly melted treats that are left at my local store, I decided to do a bit of experimentation and try and create some frozen treats of my own. Some of these treats worked, others don't, either way I get a nice cool snack before building a great snowman outside.

Pudding Pop

Bill Cosby you're a great man, but unfortunately you weren't great enough to keep the pudding pop on the market. I'm not going to take this lying down though. I'll get myself a package of instant pudding, mix it up and freeze it myself. Guess what, it's exactly the same. Joy of Joys, Mr. Cosby I may not be able to watch you plug my frozen treats, but alas I can enjoy a super smooth pudding pop. I love these things, I could eat them all day long. For my birthday this year I want a brand new freezer so I can eat these and only these every day.

Yogurt, Jam, and Granola

What the heck am I doing, this is some kind of healthy treat! I might actually be improving my health by eating this, and worst of all I'm endorsing it on Candy Critic. Well I'm not really "endorsing" it because it's not the best frozen treat I've ever had. I could do without the granola in particular. It's also a little bit bitter, seeing as my sweet tooth throbs, maybe that's why I don't like it. I do have to say though, for a "good for me" type treat it's pretty tasty, well it beats out celery anyways.

Jell-O and Fruit

I'd never thought of freezing Jell-O until someone, on My Space I think, suggest that I try freezing a little Jell-O with some fruit. Well person I can't remember, you are a genius, this is an awesome snack. It's simple, tasty, and the texture is out of this world. I thought maybe it would have been too jiggly, but it wasn't. It was smooth and fruity, just right. I was also sure to use a canned fruit salad mix so the chucks where nice and small, and didn't dominate one bite. The only problem with the fruit is they all floated at the top so they where kind of stuck together. It may have been nicer to have the fruit dispersed but to be honest the Jell-O on it's own was pretty good.

I think this might be my new favourite homemade frozen treat.

Just Juice

Maybe I shouldn't have saved this one for last, because it really doesn't hold up at all. Sure it taste pretty good (lemonade), and sure it's simple, but maybe I'm just craving a little something extra. I guess the lesson learned is that cool treats don't have to be simple, get up and toss something a little different in your Popsicle mold tray thing. Sure it takes a little more work, but it's worth it I assure you. Having said that if you're lazy, a plain Popsicle is better than a kick in the pants.

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Not That Strange A Candy, In Our Asian Candy Review-a-Thon

Normally when I do review-a-thons from other countries I find that many of the treats have something strange about them.  Sometimes it's the treat itself, sometimes it's the package, and sometimes it's how you eat it.  Today's review on the other hand is strange, only because it's really not that strange at all.  It's not that it's bad necessarily, it's just not that strange.

Click here to read our not very strange new review.

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It's National Animal Crackers Day!!!

So go bite the head off an elephant, or crunch a baboon.

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Wednesday's Candy Links

The association between Trayvon Martin and Skittles is a phenomenon.  The question is, is this a phenomenon that Skittles wants?

Would you eat your walls? What if they tasted really good?  What if they tasted like Jaffa Cakes?

Here's more news about the over-consumption of chocolate, and how it's going to affect prices of chocolate in the future.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Sour Jelly Beans  - Gimbal’s - I really want to try a pomegranate flavoured jelly bean. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Post Easter Treats From Friends

Before I start this post, I want to clear a few things up.  First of all, I'm in Greece right now, and Greek Easter just finished this weekend.  Secondly a lot of my friends have other plans this time of year, but we like to get together after this kind of holiday.  I say all of this because after a recent get together celebrating being friends, a few of my friends brought me some Easter treats, after the holiday.  I could hold onto this treats and write about them next year, but frankly they'd go bad and I might forget about them.  So I present, some great post Easter treats that I received this weekend.

My friend Outi from Finland brought me an amazing package of eggs from here home country.  Made by the famous Fazer brand, these eggs look so amazingly real.  They look so real, only because they are real... well sort of.

The white shell of these treats are in fact real chicken eggs.  The eggs are emptied out and filled with chocolate.  You can kind of tell where they're filled from, but it's still an amazing feat.  The chocolate is the regular high quality you'd expect from Fazer and it's solid.

My friend Michal came back from Israel with a couple of bars.  At first I thought that they where a couple of my favorite Israeli chocolate bars Pesek Zman (Time Out), and they are... well sort of.  For Passover each year the folks at Elite, who make these bars, make a special run of these, but Kosher.  So some of the ingredients are changed in order to suit the dietary needs of the community.  This is amazing, and something no one ever thinks of in many countries.  I tried it out and it was pretty good too, the only difference I can sense is a slightly less crunchy wafer.  Easter treats are so great, even after Easter.

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Candy Art - Simplicity Can Be Wonderful

Don't get me wrong, I love those complicated and detailed pictures of famous people made out of Jelly Bellies. The thing is, I also love watching somebody make a funny little picture using only the candy from a single bag of Skittles as well.

Click here to see a few simple pieces.

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Seedy Asian Review is Part 3 of Our Asian Review-A-Thon

I get a lot of grief from people who tell me that treats, like today's review, are in fact not candy.  Seed and nut treats are a bit of a grey area, but when I see one that I'm sure is a candy, I review it.  You may have a difference of opinion, but then it begs the question, what percentage must your treat be made up of nuts or seeds for it not to be candy?

Click here to read the latest in our Asian review-a-thon.

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Tuesday's Candy Links

Have you ever eaten an "upscale" hard candy?  I'm not sure if I have, but if I haven't, I'd like to.

Some don't consider sugar cubes to be candy, I do, in fact I think they're the original candy.

Free chocolates if you use an app, so not only do you get something for your phone, but you also get candy... Is that a good deal?

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Her Royal Highness's Choice of Soda

Did you know that many royal families officially endorse products.  There's great debate on this subject, because many people assume that the royal family involved actually produces most products they endorse and profit from it.  So that's basically these families using the status that the state gives them as a promotional tool to make them money.  I frankly don't really care that much about that.  What I always wonder is how these particular royals actually feel about the product.  Does the Queen of Finland actually eat the chocolates she endorses, does the princess in Sweden actually eat the cakes named for her?  Most importantly, does the Queen of England actually drink this soda pop?

While shopping at our local grocery store the other day (in Greece strangely enough), Allison and I came across Britvic soda.  According to the can this drink is made "by appointment to H M Queen Elizabeth II".  So if I ever pay a visit to Buckingham Palace (like that's ever going to happen), is this the soda I get to drink?

It's a good thing I sampled a few of these because the flavour is fairly surprising.  The Bitter Lemon, is actually fairly bitter.  I enjoyed this a lot, even though it only offered a small 150 ml taste.  It's nice to occasionally drink something that isn't super sweet and sticky.

The Ginger Ale on the other hand is, as it says, spicy, not hot but spicy.  I'm not a big fan of spicy drinks, so I didn't really care for it as much as the lemon.  I'm not sure if Ginger Ale was originally spicy when it was invented, so I'm not sure if this is more authentic or not.  If any member of the British royal family is reading this, please let me know if you actually drink this stuff.

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This Week In Candy

Candy News - Two things have come up a lot this week.  First of all there seems to be many lists and articles about which candy bar is the most famous.  Some lists talk about the most famous candy in the world, while most just talk about the most famous candy in their particular area.  I'd always heard that the best selling candy bar in the world is a Kit Kat bar, but I could be wrong now.  I've also been reading a lot of news about how candy companies are using social media.  Are you a part of your favorite snacks Facebook group, or do you follow any candies on Twitter?  I might write something about this later on, check out who's doing what, and where.

What's Happening At Candy Critic - I've decided that this week would be the perfect week for a review-a-thon.  I'm going with Asian treats because I have a lot of Asian reviews that the world needs to read.  Asia has, to the western eye, some of the strangest candy ever created.  It's not all tasty, and some require instructions, but they're always an adventure to eat.

Rant - The Easter season is totally over now, if you include Orthodox Easter as well.  I have mixed feelings when a candy heavy holiday is over.  I'm sad because I know that I have to wait a whole year before chocolate bunnies and eggs are available again, but I'm happy because I know that there might be some left over treats on sale right now.

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Day 2 of The Asian Review-A-Thon

Today's review is a little strange.  It's strange because it's not something you'd normally associate with Asian (in this case Japanese) candy.  It's simple, tasty, and I'm fairly certain almost every continent, and maybe every country, in the world has something similar.  So although not original, I think this it's a very important treat to sample no matter where you visit.

Click here to read today's review.

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Monday's Candy Links

Did you know that the OREO cookie and Life Savers are both 100 years old this year?

Here are "12 Fascinating Food Facts", included is an interesting experiment one can do with Altoids and hot peppers.

Would you eat a Mike, or how about an Ike?  It appears you may soon have that option.

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Day 1 Of Our Asian Review-a-Thon!!!

I always love doing review-a-thons.  It's fun to review a whole bunch of treats with a common theme.  With most review-a-thons from countries that don't write with the Roman alphabet, I also love trying to figure out the true names of the treats as well.  If you happen to read a review this week, and you know what the treat is called, feel free to send it my way so I can update it on the site.

So here's the first of many Asian reviews.

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Spooooooooooooonnnn!!! Sweets - Walnuts?

Every day this week I'm going to sample a different spoon sweet and let you know what I think.  For those unfamiliar with spoon sweets, they're pretty much fruit preserved in a syrup.  It's kind of like jam, only it's much juicier and the fruit is most often whole, or only sliced in half.

I was just as surprised as you probably are when I discovered that they make walnuts in a spoon sweet.  I was even more surprised when I bit into it and fell in love with this flavour.  This particular spoon sweet is heavily flavoured with cinnamon as well, but it doesn't stop the nutty flavour at all.  Best of all, this wonderful nutty flavour is accompanied by a beautiful subtle crunch.  Before having tasted this, I thought the idea of having a nut spoon sweet was really strange, now I'm starting to think it's the best way to have them.

And just in case you're wondering, you do in fact eat the whole walnut, shell and all.  Here's a picture after I took my first bite.


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Friday Candy Video - Insane Korean Hand Made Candy

These guys manage to produce a string candy that has over 16000 strings, in less than a few minutes.  Best of all is the enthusiasm they have while they make it.

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Friday's Candy Links

I can't say I've ever tasted Hawaiian cocoa, but I'd love to.

Chocolate printer is now available, what's the first thing you'd print out of chocolate?

First I hear Cadbury is making a special edition bar for the Queens Jubilee, now it appears that Walkers is creating a special edition cookie tins as well.

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4pm Licorice Facts

Next Thursday is National Licorice Day, and the folks at Red Vines have sent me a whole mess of licorice facts to share with you guys.  So I'm going to give you a new fact, every day, till National Licorice Day.

Today is National Licorice Day... That is all.

Thanks gang at Red Vines!

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Spooooooooooooonnnn!!! Sweets - Figs

Every day this week I'm going to sample a different spoon sweet and let you know what I think.  For those unfamiliar with spoon sweets, they're pretty much fruit preserved in a syrup.  It's kind of like jam, only it's much juicier and the fruit is most often whole, or only sliced in half.

This is very, very sweet.  Figs are pretty much one of sweetest fruits that I know.  Put them in a syrup and they get even sweeter.  This variety of fig spoon sweet uses unripened figs instead of the mature figs, so maybe it makes it a little less sweet.  The texture is kind of chewy, but the sweet flavour just overpowers.  In fact because of the subtle flavour of the fig, all you pretty much taste is sweet.  Don't get me wrong, I love the sweet flavour, I just like something else to accompany it.


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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising - I Can't Explain This

I don't really understand what this advertisement is trying to say. I see that it's a play on the RCA dog advertisements, but with a cat.  However I have no idea what this might have to do with cocoa.

Found this on Vintage Ad Browser

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Thursday's Candy Links

Fazer, one of the great European candy companies, is looking to expand to Asia, when will they expand to North America so my friends can try their awesome chocolate?

What's the most popular type of chocolate bar in the United States?

This story has nothing to do with candy really, but I just love the headline "Jerky Segment Growth To Continue"

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4pm Licorice Facts

Next Thursday is National Licorice Day, and the folks at Red Vines have sent me a whole mess of licorice facts to share with you guys.  So I'm going to give you a new fact, every day, till National Licorice Day.

In 1925, silent film star Charlie Chaplin asked the American Licorice Company to make him a shoe made out of black licorice—Chaplin’s character ate the shoe to avoid starvation in the movie the "Gold Rush."

Thanks gang at Red Vines!

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Stuff I Want To Try

Doritos Dinamita  - Frito-Lay - Because they're compared to taquitos, and who doesn't love a good taquito? - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Spooooooooooooonnnn!!! Sweets - Niranzi (Bitter Orange)

Every day this week I'm going to sample a different spoon sweet and let you know what I think.  For those unfamiliar with spoon sweets, they're pretty much fruit preserved in a syrup.  It's kind of like jam, only it's much juicier and the fruit is most often whole, or only sliced in half.

Niranzi (sp?), on its own is the worst tasting fruit I've ever eaten in my entire life.  Imagine the most bitter orange in the whole world, then double it, then triple it.  The first time I ever tried one of these, I touched my tong to it, and it went numb for about 20 minutes. This fruit is so bad your taste buds shut down upon contact. So does it make a good spoon sweet?  Well I can tell you that boiling this fruit in sugar does improve it.  The bitterness is much less, although it's not gone.  It basically tastes like a sweet/bitter orange.  Since I've never tried regular orange spoon sweets, I'm not sure how this would compare. Maybe oranges can't be preserved, and this is the only way to get that orange flavour in a spoon sweet.  It could also be that no one really knows what else to do with these horrid fruits, and this is the only way to make them palatable.

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Wednesday's Candy Links

Luden's is looking for a jingle to sell their cough drops, here are a few words that rhyme with "soar throat" to help you out:  tore moat, chore boat, more gloat...

Did you hear that?  It sounds like the best chocolate bar I've ever tasted.

Soft serve beer foam, keeps your beer cold and looking a little like a Dairy Queen Sundae.

This is the kind of news that really ticks me off, apparently there are reports that some bad bottles of coke (here in Greece) have gotten out to the public.

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4pm Licorice Facts

Next Thursday is National Licorice Day, and the folks at Red Vines have sent me a whole mess of licorice facts to share with you guys.  So I'm going to give you a new fact, every day, till National Licorice Day.

More than 60 million pounds of Red Vines are made each year—or more than 400,000 miles of licorice--enough to wrap around the Earth more than 17 times!

Thanks gang at Red Vines!

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Candy Art - Tooting My Own Horn

 I thought this week I'd toot my own horn a little.

 I'm going to be adding some new candy prints onto bewarethecheese.com soon, and I figured I'd give you a quick sampling.

I'm also looking for inspiration on my next candy shoot, if you're willing to give me a little.

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Spooooooooooooonnnn!!! Sweets - Kumquat

Every day this week I'm going to sample a different spoon sweet and let you know what I think.  For those unfamiliar with spoon sweets, they're pretty much fruit preserved in a syrup.  It's kind of like jam, only it's much juicier and the fruit is most often whole, or only sliced in half.

The kumquat, all I can say about this fruit is that the name is really fun to say.  If you've ever sampled a fresh kumquat before, you probably wondered why in the world people sell them in the first place.  I've heard that kumquats are OK for cooking, and occasionally as a garnish, but frankly I've never seen a good use for them yet (at least as anything an orange couldn't do).  So I guess you're wondering what I thought of them as a spoon sweet.  I think they're a little better as a spoon sweet, but they're not something I'd rush out to buy.  The bitterness of the kumquat is greatly reduced, but not eliminated in this spoon sweet form.  The texture is kind of like a slimy semi-hard candy.  When you bite into it, an explosion of sticky juice fills your mouth and you have a kind of orange like flavour on your palette.  I really think that the only reason people like to use (or eat) this fruit at all, is so they can claim they've tasted a kumquat.

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Tuesday's Candy Links

Queen City Bacon Schnecken, I know what bacon is, but I'm not sure what a Schnecken is, either way it looks tasty.

Does chocolate control your very emotions, here's some science to help you answer that question.

I always prefer my food to be squishy and in the shape of a perfect sphere, here's the science behind it.

Here are some post Easter links:

Looking for a quick way to spruce up some Cadbury Creme Eggs after Easter?

So you're staring at your Easter load that the bunny brought you, here's "Nine Things You Didn’t Know About Your Easter Candy"

Here's some information on how your Easter candy stays fresh... you may or may not want to read this.

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4pm Licorice Facts

Next Thursday is National Licorice Day, and the folks at Red Vines have sent me a whole mess of licorice facts to share with you guys.  So I'm going to give you a new fact, every day, till National Licorice Day.

Licorice is one of the oldest types of candy known. Licorice candy is thought to have originated in Holland at the start of the seventeenth century. It became a standard product for candy producers when the candy industry developed in the mid-1800s.

Thanks gang at Red Vines!

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Spooooooooooooonnnn!!! Sweets - Cherry

Every day this week I'm going to sample a different spoon sweet and let you know what I think.  For those unfamiliar with spoon sweets, they're pretty much fruit preserved in a syrup.  It's kind of like jam, only it's much juicier and the fruit is most often whole, or only sliced in half.

I decided to start this exercise with something fairly simple and straight forward, cherries.  I'm finding that most spoon sweets seem to come in more exotic and strange flavours, such as kumquat or fig. You don't really find apple, or peach spoon sweets as often.  It could be because these fruits are more common and not worth preserving, or it could be the places I happen to buy my spoon sweets.  These cherry spoon sweets are pretty good.  They're not as juicy as cherries, but the flavour is really surprising.  You would expect these to be uber sweet, since they've been soaking in syrup for a while, but they're not.  In fact they have a great tart taste that balances the sweet really well.  The best food to compare these is to a really good Chinese sweet and sour sauce.

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