Candy Art - Rock and Roll Cake Pops

When candy and art collide, it's a happy day for any Candy Critic.

When candy, art, and rock and roll collide, it's truly and epic experience.

These are just the kind of treats I'd love to have at my birthday party next year.

Click here to check out more of these awesome rock and roll cake pops.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Bubble Gum and Lemonade Peeps  - Just Born - What's next, Peeps flavoured bubble gum? - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Review Is A Little Late

I've had a bit of a busy day, mostly writing and cleaning, so I couldn't get the review up till now.  Today's new review is all about a really big lollipop on the end of a chopstick.  I'm not sure if using a chopstick and a lollipop stick is environmentally friendly, or just cheap.  I guess if it's a recycled chopstick it might be considered environmentally friendly, but in that case I'm sure a few health codes have been broken.

Click here to read about this fancy lollipop on a chopstick.

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This Week In Candy

"Ich bin ein Berliner", many people believed that was JFK saying that he was in fact a donut.  As it turns out the German people knew exactly what he was saying. According to Google translate, if you want a donut in Berlin, you should probably say "Ich möchte eine Fasnacht" instead.  The reason I'm off on this tangent is that I'm heading to Berlin soon, and I can't wait to get my hands on some German donuts, or even some famous German chocolate.

I'm also a little curious about what other treats one should look out for while in Berlin, so any suggestions would be great.  I'll be posting as much as I can from the trip, but I'm not sure what my internet situation is going to be.

Other than that, we're still working on a few projects for the blog, and always interested in taking contributions if you have an idea.

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Candy News

US candy companies are having a little trouble buying sugar because of some new government regulations, it could drive some companies to move, or go out of business.

You know the fun, wholesome game Candy Land?  Well it's still fun, but not so wholesome.

I believe that candy and dessert are two different monsters, most of the time, but occasionally they collide into something amazing.

Did you know that if you shake a can of Coca-Cola up like crazy, and you're way bellow the ocean surface, nothing will happen.

Speaking of Coca-Cola, how do you like yours?  From the tap, from the can, or from a bottle, are they actually different?

A chocolatier in Kalamazoo is offering youth with a criminal record a chance to make something sweet with their lives.

Here are some really tasty sweet and salty treats available at the happiest place on earth.

Here's a really great tip on keeping your hands clean while you eat Pringles.

Carl's Jr's new ice cream sandwich sounds fantastic, particularly the part about the Pop Tarts.

If you're thinking of robbing a bank, my I recommend that you don't use bubble gum?

Could you write a sadder headline? "Cupcakes are Dead."

According to some new studies, chocolate may in fact cause acne, it's a sad day for chocolate loving teenagers.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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Friday Candy Video

Secrets From The Potato Chip Factory from Planet Money on Vimeo.

I love potato chips.  I don't just love them because they're a fun crunchy, salty snack, I also love potatoes as a vegetable.  To me it's one of the most versatile vegetables in the world, and I even think they taste great on their own.  The only reason I didn't like watching this video of potato chips being made is because I didn't have a bag of potato chips to eat while I was watching it.

I found this video here.

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It's National Pretzel Day!!!

I love food related holiday's because you're given a reason to indulge in that food.  National Pretzel Day is no exception, it's the perfect time to crunch on some salty twists.  The thing I love, sometimes food manufacturers help you celebrate these food related holiday's, and they offer free treats for everyone. Snyder’s of Hanover is offering free pretzels today to some very lucky folks.  Click on this link, and find out where they're giving them away, and if you're around pick up some free pretzels to help celebrate this awesome holiday.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Iridescent Jelly Beans  - Jelly Belly - I love my Jelly Belly to shine in just the right way. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

You may be wondering why this kid is so happy.  While I can't say for sure, I can tell you that in a couple of weeks, I'll probably be as happy as he is.

I found this ad here.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Saver Some Fruit

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 comparing the flavours in Lifesavers to the real fruit.

Fruit, some call it nature's candy; I prefer to call it nature's fruit. Candy is candy, fruit is fruit. It's all pretty simple.

The concept for this article started when I was walking through a fruit market and saw some bananas. I thought to myself, "They don't really make a fruity treat that tastes like real bananas." The reason I say this is I'm a pretty big fan of bananas, but generally hate banana flavoured candies. This got me thinking about how much or little most fruity treats taste like the real thing. We often accept that a certain flavour is what the wrapper tells us it is, but I don't think it's often even close. Or maybe it is.

I rarely find myself indulging in a treat while simultaneously eating the real fruit equivalent. I can't bear the idea that there's a candy experience I have not tried, so here goes. After much thought, I decided that the treat of choice would be Lifesavers. I figure it's the best bet, because it's been around forever, and I think most people reading this probably know what they taste like. I also happen to like every flavour of both Lifesavers and their fruity counterparts, so this allows me to eat treats that won’t make me want to barf.

Most writers tell you to save the best for last, and they're probably right, but unfortunately I've decided to let the pack of Lifesavers decide where I start. The great candy gods have chosen Cherry. 

The interesting thing about cherries is that every time I bite into one, I expect it to taste like the candy version of it. The thing is, it's rare for cherries to be really sweet. No matter how fresh or ripe a cherry is, it always seems to have a bit of a sour kick. That's not bad by any means, but it is something that you don't really remember unless you think about it, and if you think about it, I'm pretty sure you’re not enjoying the cherry as much as you could be.

The Lifesaver is interesting. As I said, it tastes nothing like real cherries, but it tastes like what I'd like cherries to taste like. I have been brought up in a candy world. Here I am writing about how I wish real fruit tasted like candy. I think I need help.

The next choice, as determined by the Lifesavers roll, is Pineapple. This treat has neither pine tree elements nor apple, so it's a little odd if you ask me.

This might be the only really unfair competition out of all of the comparisons. I'm not sure whether the candy or the fruit gets the advantage, but I'm using canned pineapple so it's not really the same as the fresh stuff. I find for the most part it's a little sweeter out of the can, and that seems to be a big difference between the candy versions of most fruits and their real counterparts. The one thing I can say about real pineapple is it's a lot stringer than its candy companion. I've been known to get a bit of the stringy bits stuck between my teeth.

The pineapple Lifesaver has always been a mystery to me. Why pineapple? Why not something a little more common, like banana? It just seems strange. Having said that, the similarities between the fruit (albeit from a can) and the candy are pretty close. I'm impressed; slightly sour but with that unmistakable pineapple taste. Not bad, Lifesavers people, not bad.

Lime is my next choice, or so says the roll.

You're probably thinking, "What kind of idiot would take a bite out of a lime?" Well, I'm just that kind of idiot. Sour. Man oh man is that ever sour, particularly after eating all the sweet pineapple - both the fruit and the candy. I have to be honest. I really did just take a bite and took in more juice than anything else. Man, that's sour. These things are really great with sweet things but on their own they’re not so much fun.

The Lifesaver tastes more like a sweet sparkling cola with lime in it than just a plain lime. Basically, it tastes like they took the flavour of lime and sugared the heck out of it. Once again, another situation where the candy is just an overly sweet version of the original. Not that I really mind, though. I mean, I don't think I could have managed a long suck on something as sour as a lime.

Orange is next. You've got to love a fruit that shares its name with its colour.

I have a love-hate relationship with oranges. It's not that I love to hate them or anything vindictive like that. It's just that if I eat a bad orange, it's the worst thing I can possibly imagine. However, if I eat a good orange, life doesn't get much better than that. Fortunately, this particular orange was a good one. The bad ones are just bitter and make me want to wretch.

With this candy, the sweetness is very similar to the fruit, much like the pineapple. The candy might even be a little sourer, and I don't really mind it. The flavours are similar but you can tell the difference. The real difference comes into play due to the fact that the Lifesaver lacks that rush of juice you get from an orange. Refreshing qualities are big in my book, and in particular fruits like oranges.

Last but not least, Lemon.

If you're wondering whether I'm going to take a bite out of a lemon, please reference the lime section above. I try not to learn from my mistakes. As far as sour goes, see the lime section above and then double it. Wow, that's a sour fruit. I can't say that I've never bitten into a lemon before, because I'm well known for doing stupid things like that, but maybe I just block out how it feels. I hope that if I get the idea to do it again, I'll just reference this blog.

I'm not really sure why they put a lemon and a lime Lifesaver in this package; I think they taste virtually the same. I'm sure it has something to do with looking like a rainbow, but then that begs the question of why they have pineapple instead of grape or blueberry. Taste-wise, the difference between the lemon and lime flavoured Lifesavers isn't that big, similarly with the fruit. In fact, many fruit-flavoured treats have "lemon lime" flavours and I can see why - the flavours are not that different. The strange thing is that out of all the flavours, these two are the most different from their fruit counterparts. Maybe that's not strange or even that interesting, but it's worth mentioning.

Any last notes, you might ask? Well, for the record, I do really enjoy fruit, even though you probably imagine me just eating tonnes of candy all the time.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Tapatio Hot Sauce-Flavored Cheetos And Potato Chips  - Frito-Lay - I'm not even sure what "Tapatio" is, but it intrigues me. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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This Week In Candy

Every so often I like to have a brainstorming week.  This is the week where I look at ideas I want to write about and plan out how I want to present them.  Do I want to send these ideas out to a magazine or newspaper, do I want to post it here on the blog, or do I want to tuck it away in my brain because it's really a stupid idea.

We're also planning a quick trip to Berlin for a few days, to see the sites, but also to enjoy some of that world famous German chocolate.  I have no specific plans on places to taste test sweets, so I'm open for any suggestions.

Finally, last week we went to the opening of the art show for our sister site Beware The Cheese, and had a great time.  For the few lucky folks that read last weeks "This Week In Candy" and approached me with the secret words, I hope you enjoyed your chocolaty treat.

Well I'm going to go sit in the corner and write out some ideas.

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New Spice Review

What's the difference between spice and hot?  Why do so many people call hot foods spicy  when often these hot foods only contain one spice, but it's in abundance.  I like spicy foods, but I'm not a big fan of hot foods.  I like a flavour variety, and I like it when the flavour dominates, but not when it burns all the nerves in my mouth.  Today's review is spicy, but in the good way, it won't burn your mouth, but it might tickle your taste buds.

Click here to read this Chai and Masala review.

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It's National Jelly Bean Day!!!

It's also Earth Day as well, so I'm torn.  Do I love the planet earth, or green jelly beans?  I guess I could like both at the same time, and in particular I'd love to have a green jelly bean that was the size of the earth.  So I guess I suggest taking a bag of jelly beans to your local wooded area, sit back, and enjoy watching the natural world go by.  But remember not to throw the empty jelly bean bag on the ground.

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Candy News

Isn't sugar, salt, and fat enough for you people, now you want everything caffeinated too?

Has ice cream changed since you were a kid, I think in some ways it's better.

Aeration seems like a way for candy companies to give you less chocolate for the same price, but some claim it's actually what people want.

So are smaller portions good for you, or are they making you eat more junk food?

However, if you have an urge to eat too many little treats, there's a simple way to stop that urge, and it can take as little as 30 seconds.

Here's a great wrap up on the return of Hostess snacks, and who's making them now.

The idea of horse meat grosses a lot of people out, how about bugs?

So you want to avoid buying the big brands of candy, and just deal with the nice local companies?  Well it's a lot harder than you think.

They want to take the fat out of chocolate and replace it with juice, this just seems like a bad idea.

Mars has already released its list of Valentine's Day treats for next year, and you guessed it, lots of varieties of M&Ms.

Did you know that if you spread all of the Nutella used over the course of a year, you could cover 1000 soccer fields?  Here's a few more Nutella facts you might not know.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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Friday Candy Video

Once again the guys at Epic Meal Time have impressed me.  This ultimate chocolate bar made me want to go spend a couple of hundred dollars on chocolate bars and make myself an atrocity like these guys do.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Roasted Garlic & Sea Salt Lay’s  - Frito-Lay - What better way to celebrate National Garlic Day? (which is today) - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Greek Food Show In Athens

Food shows can really be hit or miss for me.  Sometimes you pay to go into a food show, only to have to pay again and again just to get a bite sized portion of anything.  Other times you pay your entry fee and the food show is full of samples, and nibbles, enough to make you forget about dinner entirely.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm a sample hog.  I'm not the guy who walks up to a pile of sample bread sticks and walks away with 20 of them.  I believe in only trying one of each thing available, and if you like it, then maybe go in for another flavour if it's available.

This food show was pretty good on the free samples, and sadly full of people taking handfuls of samples at every opportunity.  I walked behind a few people with their hands full of little cups, tiny spoons, and mini squares of assorted foods.  If you wanted to eat more than a little sample, all of the vendors at this show offered to sell you larger quantities of whatever they had on sample.  So the idea of going in and taking more than a bite came off as really cheap.

Candy wise there was a few offering available, including several sugar free chocolate makers, a couple of traditional Greek sweets, hundreds of spoon sweet makers, and a few tasty cookies.  There wasn't too much that I would call "new" or unique treats available at the show.  Most of the treats I'd seen around town, or at least something very similar.

The one exception to this rule was a halvas that I sampled.  For the most part halvas comes in plain, chocolate and occasionally filled with various nuts.  At this show I had the opportunity to sample cranberry halvas.  It had a really nice tart texture that blended so nicely with the sesame and cocoa flavour of the traditional halvas.  I'd never thought about including juice flavours or even dried berries into a halvas, but I think it's something well worth trying again.  I think a raspberry halvas might work, as might I citrus halvas.  This sample really opened my eyes to some flavour combinations I'd never thought about before.

I had a really good time at this food show, I discovered a few new flavours I'd never sampled before, and I got to enjoy a few flavours that I was very familiar with.  I'm hoping that the large amount of people overindulging didn't put a damper on the show for the exhibitors.  I've been to a few shows that started off with many free samples, but had to change their policies because people visiting got greedy.  It changes the show, and most often not for the better.

Although I did sample a lot, Allison and I picked up a few treats as well, including this selection of sugar free chocolate bars which I hope to review very soon.

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Photo Show From Our Friends At Beware The Cheese

Our sister site www.bewarethecheese.com are part of a group photography show in Athens opening tonight.  If you're in the area come on down and see some really nice photographs.

Click here for more information on the show.

Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I'm not sure if this photo is real, or Photoshopped.  Either way it reminds me of a nice cool winter, enjoying all of the winter activities, and makes me miss the cold weather.  This year in particular I've been "lucky" to avoid winter almost entirely, but it's started to mess with my Canadian spirit.  I think any Canadian needs to suffer, even a little each winter, and if you don't you start to go crazy.  So if this is a true contraption, I invite the folks at Orbit gum to bring it over to my house so I can enjoy a taste of winter. I'll turn it on every day and dance around the snow like a little kid on Christmas morning.

I found this ad here.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Frosty and Busted

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 we look at an article I wrote about adding M&M's to a Wendy's Frosty (as an added bonus you get to see me with horrible hair).

Could I look more disheveled?

Man I love desert, it has got to be the best time of the day. I love desert so much I sometimes have desert with every meal, not just dinner. I mean lunch is a given, but sometimes I have desert with breakfast as well. Nothing is more satisfying than starting off your day with a bowl of cereal, followed by a bowl of ice cream. Today was a fun day for me, I decided to head out for a nice meal at my local Wendy's. I have a problem when it comes to the Bacon Mushroom melt; the problem is I just can't eat enough of them. On this particular day I decided that I could go for a cold frosty treat for dessert, so I got myself a Wendy’s Frosty.

When I was a kid we could only get the regular Frosty. When we craved something cold and we where at Wendy's we could only get that chocolate ice cream like stuff in a cup. The kids today? No! They need all the frills and excitement they can get, stupid internet generation. When they get a frosty they can choose from a whole mess of great ingredients to sprinkle on their cool treats. Man kids today get all the breaks; all we had was TV and plain deserts, lucky punks.

Back to the point... Well I decided today I was going to get myself a cold treat, and after thinking about it I still couldn't decide what I wanted to sprinkle on my Frosty. I eventually made a quick decision (only because we had to leave) and I got M&Ms. The shocking thing about my treat is that the M&Ms didn't come already mixed into my Frosty. What I got was a regular frosty like I remembered it, and a bag of stuff to put on myself.

Seriously, look at my hair.

First of all I have to say, good job Wendy's! You see I'm a guy on the go; sometimes I can't eat my desert in the restaurant. I'm also a picky eater, but I'm sure if you've been reading this web page long enough to know that. I like the system they have with this Frosty because it gives the consumer control.  By putting on the candy bits yourself you can save some, and put them on halfway down the cup later on. That way you don't get a mouthful of candy on the first bite, and nothing on the bottom. This was the first time I've enjoyed one of these new Frosty hybrids but I assure you it won't be my last.

The strange thing about this Frosty was the M&Ms I received in the little bag. Now the menu said I'd be getting M&M bits, and that's what I got. I didn’t get a bag of regular M&M’s, but instead I received a bag of pre-broken M&Ms. What I want to know is, don't you find it odd that Mars is packaging broken M&Ms? It just seemed strange to open a pack of M&Ms and everything inside is smashed on purpose. Remember this is the candy that's supposed to be strong enough not to melt in your hands. It was just a little weird, that Mars made a batch of M&M’s, only to smash them up for people to sprinkle on they’re Wendy’s Frosty.

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Stuff I Want To Try

The Big One Jaffa Cake  - McVitie’s - Since Jaffa cakes are normally really small, wouldn't a big one just be like a normal sized cake? - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Candy Art - Kit Kat Paintings

I love it when people use candy as a medium to make art.

I do it a little myself, and it's very rewarding.

When you make art out of candy, people react differently then when you use traditional art supplies.

Click her to see more of this awesome Kit Kat art.

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Photo Show From Our Friends At Beware The Cheese

Our sister site www.bewarethecheese.com are part of a group photography show in Athens opening on April 18th.  If you're in the area come on down and see some really nice photographs.

Click here for more information on the show.

The 5th Instalment of the Junk Fud Podcast

We took a little break, but we're back with a new episode of the Junk Fud podcast.  This week's guests are Gino and Alisha, two people that know movies and enjoy a little junk food now and then.  We talk about junk food in movies and television, and the junk food we like to eat when we watch movies and television.

Click here to listen to the latest episode of Junk Fud.

If you think you'd make a good guest, or you're interested in sponsoring an episode of Junk Fud, drop us a line here.

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This Week In Candy

Last week I had the privilege to taste the worst chocolate bar I've ever tasted in my entire life.  I posted the review this morning, but nothing can take the memory away of biting into a bar and being filled with such disappointment   People often ask me what I look for in a candy, it's not an easy question to answer because I look for so much in a treat.  The only thing I can tell you is that I'm most certainly not looking for disappointment   Fortunately for me, the candy world often doesn't disappoint, and I'm often blessed with great treats to taste.

We've just put together a deal with a Japanese candy store called Oyatsu Cafe.  They're going to be sending us a whole bunch of awesome treats to try out and review, but that's not all.  If you happen to want to sample one of the Japanese treats we review, Oyatsu Cafe will give you 15% off your purchase if you enter the code "CANDYCRITIC" in your shopping cart page.  They've got a pretty good selection of treats, and they'll ship anywhere in the world.

I also want to remind you about the photography show happening this Thursday in Athens at the Finnish Institute at Athens for our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  If you want to come down and say hello that would be very awesome.  Not to be outdone by the folks at Oyatsu Cafe, if you find me there, tell me the words "CANDY CRITIC" and I'll give you something cool.

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Zeros All Around - A Horrible Review

This is a first for me, I've never given a candy bar a perfect score of zero in my entire time doing this site.  To get 3 zeros, your bar has to fail in so many ways.  It has to taste bad, have a crappy texture, and be completely no fun to eat.  A perfect zero score basically says that this candy is not worth tasting, even for the courageous candy eater.  It's not that you'll be so grossed out by this candy bar, you'll also be really disappointed as well.

Click here and find out why this bar is so bad.

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Candy News

They claim that this is the "first" chocolate hotel in the world, but I'm not too sure about that.

I think I've mentioned Unreal Candy here in the past, but I'll mention them again in hopes of getting some samples.

You may not think much about pouring some syrup or honey on your pancakes, but trust me, there's a lot going on.

As it turns out, the late Margaret Thatcher may have invent soft serve ice cream, love her or hate her... nope, if she helped invent soft serve ice cream I'm going to love her.

Pearson's Candy factory in St Paul opens it's doors to tours.

Here's a great look at the Hershey's test kitchens, it's the kind of place many bakers and chocolatiers would love to work.

You probably already know that chocolate is good for your heart and your brain, but here's an article on the subject just in case.

Someone stole 5 metric tons of Nutella, what kind of evil people are there in the world?

Some people love white chocolate, others feel it's wrong to even call it chocolate.

Someone has made the worlds largest tub of ice cream, now someone has to make a spoon, a giant bottle of chocolate sauce, and I'm set.

Queen Elisabeth visits the Mars factory, I'm sure she took home a few treats for the kids.

Got yourself an old hard drive?  Want some cotton candy?  There is a solution just for you.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Cadbury Pots of Joy  - Muller - If you're going to make pots, why not fill them with joy? - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Friday Candy Video

I'm not sure if this video is real.  If it's real, it's one of the coolest forms of candy art ever.  I only doubt the authenticity because I don't believe you really get a good look at the lollipop before the guy sticks it in his mouth.  Can anybody verify this video?

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It's National Licorice Day!!!

All of my Finnish, Dutch, and Australian friends must be pretty psyched about this holiday.  I'm not sure why these countries took to licorice so much, but in my travels I've found them to be the worlds licorice experts.  Historically it's really hard to trace where licorice originated because it was used by so many countries as a medicine that slowly evolved into a candy.  As a note, according to some scientists too much licorice can actually damage your liver.  I can also tell you that licorice eaters are very divided, people either love or hate the stuff.  Me, I'm OK with some licorice flavours, but if they're too powerful they turn me off.

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Photo Show From Our Friends At Beware The Cheese

Our sister site www.bewarethecheese.com are part of a group photography show in Athens opening on April 18th.  If you're in the area come on down and see some really nice photographs.

Click here for more information on the show.

What Flavour of Gum Would You Like To Try?

Of all of the varieties of candy that I review on candycritic.org, gum is the one that's excites me the least.  I tend to not really do that many gum reviews, and there's a reason.  I find that the gum industry is stuck in a wheel, and they just keep coming back with the same ideas over and over again.  There are advancements in gum technology, and they're great, but very often I'm stuck with the same flavour over and over again.  No matter what your advertising campaign, and no matter what your package looks like, it's very hard to convince me that your gum is that much different than the rest and it's all because of one thing, flavour.

The biggest advancements we've seen in gum over the years has focused on very specific areas, mainly sugar substitution, texture, and naturalness.  I can't argue that gums like Glee Gum, and Rev 7 have created some amazing advancements in the gum world.  They've not only improved the way gum feels in our mouths, but they've improved what it does to our bodies and what gum does to our environment.  I just feel that there are more directions you can take to improve gum, and that many companies are avoiding the obvious.

To me the obvious choice in gum advancement is flavour.  Some companies are adjusting their flavour to use natural ingredients, but for the most part the flavour choices are all the same, dozens of varieties of mint, cinnamon,  berries, and citrus fruits.  Even plain bubble gum is just a variation on mint.  The chocolate bar industry has started to really mix it up, ingredients like bacon, salt, and hot peppers aren't that strange at all.  Fancy chocolates have gone even further, but gum just seems to use the same flavours over and over again.  Every time I see a new kind of gum out on the market, it's a new gum with the same flavours.  And even worse, the new trend is towards mixing these old and tired flavours, rather than coming up with something totally new.

After all of this complaining, I'm sure you're wondering, what flavour of gum do you want?  I'll be honest, I'm not sure what flavour of gum I'd prefer over the regularly used flavours. The thing is, I'd like to try quite a few.  I think Umami flavours might work very well in a gum mode.  Yes I would eat a piece of meat flavoured gum, but I'd also be interested in mushroom and other earthy flavours.  I think some other green vegetable flavours would be nice as well, people have been chewing leaves and grass for ages so why not incorporate that into gum.

Part of the problem I have in suggesting new and creative flavours of gum is that I've never been given the chance to really experiment.  No gum making company has ever challenged me with flavours like Jelly Belly, or even some of the fine Belgian chocolatiers.  These flavours exist in the lexicon of artificial and natural flavours, why aren't you using them to make a gum that changes the way we think about chewing.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I can't tell you how politically incorrect this licorice advertisement is. It's so wrong that I'm not 100% convinced that it's real.  The site where I found it claims it's real, but I can't say that I've ever seen this brand of licorice myself.  If it is real, I'm sure it's not still made, at least I hope not.

Click here to learn more about this licorice.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Maryland Gooeys  - Burton's Biscuit Co - I like the idea of a gooey cookie. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Kinder Fun

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 we look at an article I wrote exploring a fun little basket of Kinder treats.

So it's Easter and what's the greatest part about Easter? It’s really one of the best examples for a holiday that brings fun and candy together. This is the time of year that candy has to be fun. If it’s as simple as hunting for chocolate eggs, or a cool and crazy candy in a basket, Easter is all about playing with your treats. So what does the Candy Critic do to celebrate this type of holiday? Well I go to the folks that make "Kinder Surprise" and pick up an Easter fun type basket. Wondering if it's the treat for you? Well look no further as we present; Candy Critic looks at the "Easter Kinder Mix" pack.

Kinder Surprise

Nothing says fun more than the word “surprise”, and nothing is more surprising than the prize you might find in a Kinder Surprise. I say this with much honesty, only because some of the prizes are a little strange. Covered in great chocolate and always filled with cool prizes, this is one of the treats I always go for when I'm in a bad mood. Since Easter is all about making sure you’re in a really good mood this treat fits the bill.

Here's a picture of my prize:

Kinder Choko-Bon

Kinder Choko-Bon is what you might call interesting. As usual the chocolate is great quality, a regular trait in Kinder treats. This one has either a white really light nougat or a white chocolate filling, with little wafer or nutty bits. I like it since nothing is better than a bite into something with a little texture surprise.

Kinder Bar

If you like the chocolate on the ever popular Kinder Surprise then get yourself a whack of these. This is basically the egg without the prize. Well that and it's rectangular not oval and it's not hollow. Okay so it's not really like the egg at all, but the chocolate is great and there's no chance of biting into a prize.

Kinder Hippo

Of all the treats in Kinder collection, this is the only one I've never sampled before. I'm not sure if they're new, but they’re new to me. So here goes… Holy cow, these are great!  It's like a light tasting "Nutella" cream inside a wafer Hippo. How many times in your life can you say, "wafer Hippo"? It's not bad, like all Kinder treats the creamy stuff is high quality and smooth, and everything about it says fun. If you can find a Kinder Hippo, try it out you might like it. My only problem is they appear to be rather fragile, I got two in this Kinder pack, and they were both busted.

As a bonus here's my Hippo getting lassoed by my Kinder Surprise prize:

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This Week In Candy

Spring is in the air here at Candy Critic.  Spring means a few things to us.  First of all it means that we now have an excuse to go out and buy some ice cream.  It also means that we should get all of the chocolate we want mailed to us mailed soon, because many candy companies will not ship chocolate in the summer.  Spring, particularly after Easter (for most of the world), means that we have to wait till October for a candy-centric holiday to roll around again.

Last week we had planned to publish a piece about chewing gum innovation  but due to a schedule problem we couldn't get it up online.  We should be able to get it up this week, so keep your eyes peeled.

Finally, our sister site www.bewarethecheese.com is putting together a photo show in two weeks. You'll see a few posts about it in the near future, and we hope, if you're in the Athens Greece area, you can stop by and say hello.

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New Review, Worst Candy Ever?

I often get asked what's the worst tasting candy you've ever eaten in your life?  I might have the official answer with this weeks review.  It's not the most disappointing candy I've ever eaten, but it might be the worst tasting candy. The difference between the worst tasting candy and the most disappointing is huge.  I'm never disappointed to taste something gross, it's still an adventure, and it's what makes reviewing candy fun.  Disappointing candies are ones that I really expect something and the treat falls flat.  It could be a new candy bar that's released with big fanfare, however in the end, it's just a remake of a bar that already exists.

So enjoy today's terrible tasting review.

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It's National Caramel Popcorn Day!!!

Yesterday was national caramel day, today is national caramel popcorn day, I wonder if there's some kind of conspiracy going on.  Having said that, this is the kind of conspiracy I could get into.  While chocolate covered pretzels are probably my favorite salty sweet treat, caramel corn is probably the oldest one.  I've been eating caramel corn my whole life, and I imagine that few salty sweet treats can claim to have been around nearly as long.

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