Candy News

Science is looking to make it possible for you to taste things over the internet.  Some things I've very excited about, others I'm terrified.

Speaking of science, here's an explanation of the science behind one of the greatest things ever, cookies.

Are you wasting your life?  Not sure?  Why not take a look at your time on earth using jelly beans.

So you want to get into the snack food business, you want to be the biggest company in the world.  Well you have to get past PepsiCo. first.

Here's in interesting look at how the cocoa from your chocolate bar is born.

Yet another awesome looking Star Wars themed gingerbread house, tis the season, I guess.

In Europe, you can't have a low fat chocolate, chocolate must have 25% fat to be considered chocolate, and low fat must be below 23%.

Nuts might be the thing to keep you living longer... that and a little happiness.

A restaurant dedicated to the cocoa bean, that means chocolate for appetizer, mains, and dessert.

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

Last week I posted a video of chocolates being made, this week it's potato chips.  Potato chips hold a certain feeling of nostalgia for me.  Whenever I smell them, see them, or even think about them, it reminds me of traveling on the train.  My father used to buy us bags of chips before we would get on a train to visit our grandparents.  The smell and taste of chips always reminds me traveling on the rails in Southern Ontario.  Also, whenever I ride a train, I'm always craving chips.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Dr. Pepper, Orange Crush, Grape Crush and Hawaiian Punch Juicy Red Licorice - KLN Family Group - While I have a hard time believing that these are "licorice", they do look tasty. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

When it's the dead of winter and you see a advertisement full of summer fun and summer fruit, does it make you feel better or worse?  Do you look at this and remember last summer, the warm days outside eating fresh fruits?  Or do you pine for the warm, wishing the bitter cold would just end already?  I guess depending on which way you feel affects the possibility that you might ever want to try Spangles.

I found this ad here, but I'm not even sure if Spangles still exist.

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A Cool Candy Thing

While this product is labeled as an ice mold, you can use it for so many other application.  Why not make a fun Death Star ice pop, what about a Death Star chocolate, or why not a Death Star cake-pop.  The applications are only limited to your imagination.  Then you can devour your treat like Luke Skywalker devoured the real Death Star... and the you can "go home!"

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Stuff I Want To Try

Candy Crush Candies - Dylan's Candy Bar - For a month I was really into this game, eating the candies would finish my addiction. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Sleep Little Gummy Bear, Sleep

If Gummy Bears Could Dream T Shirts by candycritic
Put your favorite photo on t shirt designs at Zazzle

I designed this t-shirt based on a dream I had.  It's strange to have a dream about what a gummy bear might dream.

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This Week In Candy

This week I got an e-mail from my friends Justin and his father Eric.  Justin was given some rather strange treats as a gift and they wanted to share them with me.  I've actually heard of "Box of Boogers", but I'd never heard of "Ground Gremlin" before.  I asked Justin to give me his opinion and he sent me this:  "It's like spaghetti...and sugary...and it's licorice...and...hamburger meat...but you can't make hamburgers out of it...because it is candy... It tasted like candy but there was a lot of sugar...it was like....like... I don't know...it was like a little bit of....it tasted like chewy strawberries...with ah.....ah.....crunchy sugar."

I think this week I'm going to brainstorm.  I'm going to open my mind and just write out article concepts for this blog.  I welcome any suggestions, and I even welcome anybody to contribute and idea that they'd like to write about.  I can't guarantee anything, but most of my guest writers at some point have received free candy.

Not to get off the subject of candycritic.org, but over the next few months our sister site bewarethecheese.com is going to be getting a bit of a face lift.  That might lead to a link or two on this site going out.  I'll try to fix them where I can.  When the new changes are up on bewarethecheeese.com, make sure to stop by and maybe even buy yourself a nice piece of art.

Well I just finished a batch of applesauce, so I'm going to go sit in my kitchen and just smell.

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A Double Review Today

That's two, two, two reviews in one!  The folks at Salazon chocolate sent us a whole bunch of bars to review, and I was stumped. When a company sends me a bunch of treats, I generally only pick one to review.  I appreciate that they've sent me a whole mess of treats, but I figure I'll pick out the most unique treat out of the bunch.  This collection of bars was a little harder since they all had the same theme.  I decided that I would pick the bar I thought would be my favorite, and the bar I thought would be my least favorite, and review them both at the same time.  As it turns out, I really liked the one I thought would be my favorite, and thought the other one was OK, but not fantastic.

Click here to read about the bar I knew I was going to like.

Click here to read about the treat I figured I wouldn't like.

Candy News

Here's a fun game to play, how many of these UK chocolate bars have you sampled?

A few weeks back I had a debate over weather or not you "have" to toast Pop Tarts.  Apparently toasting isn't the only option.

American's will soon be celebrating Thanksgiving, and here's a few strange dessert ideas to serve with dinner.

Apparently there are rules about how children are allowed to consume candy, crushing up their Smarties (the American kind) and snorting them is apparently not cool.

The fact that I'm a visual artist and a candy food writer makes these sketchbooks made of cocoa the perfect Christmas gift.

Good idea: Enjoying your sweet treats fresh out of the package.  Bad idea: Microwaving them first.

Have you ever wondered who invented the cupcake, or when the jawbreakers first hit the scene?  Well wonder no more.

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

Does gum make you more fun?  This is an interesting experiment if you think about it.  If you take these conclusions, and move them to the animal world, that means that cows are the most fun looking animal ever.  I also noticed that they don't ask the question "which one of these people is most likely to litter leaving something sticky at the bottom of your shoe?"

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Stuff I Want To Try

Italian balsamic chocolate with raspberry puree - Purdy’s Chocolates - Canadians making creative chocolates, what could possibly go wrong. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I've never tried Smooooth N'Juicy before.  I don't think they make it anymore.  Too bad, I would have been interested in seeing what gum would be like if it was smoother and juicier than normal.  I think one thing that may have lead to this treats demise is the name, way too many "o's".

I found this ad here.

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If You Like Waiting Till The Last Minute... This Is It!

Midnight tonight is your last chance to win yourself some free retro candy from Candy Critic and our friends at candycrate.com.  If you're just holding back because you wanted your entry to be perfect, now is the time to cross your final "t's" and dot your last "i's".

If you want to come up with a last minute entry, here's the rules.

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A Cool Candy Thing

I've seen a few different candy themed "intimate apparel" clothing pieces in my day, but this one seems to make the most sense.  After all, if you're into the hand cuff thing, and into candy, what fun it will be to eat yourself free.

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Pregnant Gummy Bear T-Shirt

Baby Gummy Bear Tshirt by candycritic
Put your favorite photo on t-shirt designs at zazzle.com

Imagine this, your lovely wife (or girlfriend) is having a baby.  Congratulations!  I'm sure she's going to be craving all kinds of foods, I imagine gummy bears might even be on that list.  Wouldn't it be fun to get her a T-shirt that both deals with her cravings, and the fact that she's pregnant?  Then you would be the most clever man in her life.  Just because you can't always predict this kind of thing, if you're wife (or girlfriend) is pregnant, why not pick up one of these shirts, just in case she starts craving gummy bears.

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Two More Days To Enter

Remember, your chance to win a box of retro candy from the fine folks at candycrate.com is coming to an end this Wednesday at midnight.  So make sure to tell us about your fondest candy related memory, so you have a chance to pig out on some awesome snacks.

Click here to learn more about the contest.

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This Week In Candy

I had a bit of a sad moment this morning when a bunch of photos I took disappeared.  Well they didn't really "disappear", instead the SD card I used on my digital camera corrupted and the only way to fix it was to re-format.  Fortunately for you guys the photos were not of some new revolutionary treat, unfortunately for me it was of a fun night out.  No matter, I still have a memories.  The photo above was taken using my water proof camera in order for me to test to make sure that the card now works perfectly after being re-formatted.  This lovely night with friends involved getting a bag of fresh artisan marshmallows, this provided me with a great subject to shoot, and something to cheer me up after the SD card debacle. On to our adventures this week.

Remember that this Wednesday is the last day for you to submit an entry in to our contest with our friends at candycrate.com.  It's a really simple contest to enter, and you can win yourself a great big box full of retro candy.  You can click here for details on how to enter, but do it soon, or you might miss out.

I've been giving it some thought, and I think I may stop the Wednesday Japanese Candy Review.  I love Japanese candy, but I'm thinking that it's not fair to focus on one particular country every week.  So starting in the New Year, I'm going to have a different country, style of candy, or even brand of candy, represented each month. So you may see the Wednesday UK Candy Review, the Wednesday Ritter Sport Review, or ever the Wednesday Ice Cream Review.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure in the future a month full of more Japanese snacks will sneak up again.  I just like the idea of mixing it up a bit and showing off a few more treats from all over the place.

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Crackers and Chocolate

The greatest treats I ever find are the ones that are made up of unlikely combinations, but they taste great.  In fact that's pretty much a guarantee if you want high marks on candycritic.org.  If I taste something that I've never tried before, that's pretty good, however if I taste something that I can't imagine working (and it does), that's spectacular.  This week's review is one of those things I had never thought of, and I wasn't 100% sure it would work.

Click here to read today's review.

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Candy News

Mallomars are 100 years old... the cookies aren't, but the concept is.

Dorito bread and Dorito butter, two excellent ideas.

Here's some really nice photo work that simply looks at colour and candy.

With the holiday's coming, we're going to start seeing extreme gingerbread houses.  Here's the first, and here's the second so far.

People really like nuts in their chocolate, apparently plain old chocolate just isn't cool enough.

If you thought potato chips were simple, think again.

Just when you thought chocolate couldn't do any more, apparently it might help in the fight against E.coli.

Thinking about entertaining a fine night of dinning?  Don't forget to buy some chocolate.

Art inspired by gummy bears, they left out one particular piece, but I'm sure I'm a little biased.

The Telegraph compares the Hershey bar to the Dairy Milk bar, which do you prefer?

Disneyland is selling candy canes for 10 dollars each, and people are lining up to buy them.

That little Debbie has been making Sweet Rolls for 50 years now, she looks pretty good for her age.

Here's a great way to enjoy eating jelly beans, and also keep your life organized... It's really a win/win situation.

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

Peppermint Circus Peanuts - Spangler Candy - I'm wondering why I want to try these, they seem strange, but yet fascinating. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Friday Candy Video

I'm not sure what part of this commercial I enjoy more, the cool retro animation, or the fun little poem.  Old people often say that they "don't make cartoons the way they used to", and in the case of this commercial I think it's true.  In fact, I'm pretty sure they stopped making commercials this cool around the 1970s.  So I guess that makes me an old man.

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Next Wednesday's Your Last Chance

If you're having a hard time coming up with a good candy related story from your past, don't worry too much.  You have the weekend, and even a few days after before you have to submit your entry.  Also, if you really can't remember a story from the past, just make it up, after all, I don't plan on checking the facts at all.  I just want to make sure that some deserving Candy Critic reader is able to enjoy this retro box of candy from our friends at candycrate.com.  So think about it over the weekend, and draft up something fun, touching, or just plain wacky.  If you need more details about the contest, like how to enter, click here.

Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

For an advertisement for Cellophane, this poster uses the word "candy" a lot.  Even if you take out the words, you'd pretty much have a generic ad for candy and nothing more.  Pretty much Cellophane is the secondary point of the ad if you ask me.  That's why I figured it was worth posting on my candy website.

I found this ad here.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts - Kellogg's - While I'm picky about Pumpkin pie, I do really like PopTarts. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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A Cool Candy Thing

One of my favorite toys growing up had to be the water gun.  I liked the big Super Soaker guns, and I liked the little squirts on a slight angle clear plastic water guns too.  I have fond memories of going out to the local candy shop and finding water guns full of candy, and I always figured I was getting a two for one deal.  You could stuff your face with candy, then work off that energy having water fight.

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Wednesday's Japanese Candy Review

I'm starting to really run low on Japanese candy reviews.  This means I either have to stop doing a special Japanese review ever Wednesday, or I have to get myself some more Japanese candy.  The lazy man in me thinks just stopping this review would be the easiest.  The not so lazy man in me is thinking that maybe I should start highlighting some other treats from other places.  The ambitious person in me thinks that I should seek out more Japanese candy.  Today the lazy person is screaming the loudest, but I think by next week I'll re-think it through.

Click here to read this weeks Japanese candy review.

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Retro Candy Poster

Hearts 01 print by candycritic
Browse more Candy Posters at Zazzle

With all of this retro candy talk, you can't forget one of the coolest retro candies ever, the Conversation Heart.  What I love about this retro candy poster we have for sale, isn't just that the candy is retro, but the messages are retro as well.  How many people even understand the phrase "Beep Me"?

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What's Your Best Candy Memory?

Just answer the question, and you could win a whole box of candy goodness from our friends at candycrate.com.  All you have to do is explain to me, and a few Candy Critic officials, that you have the most awesome story from your candy past, and you could win.  It's really simple because you don't have to make it up, I'm sure you have a really cool candy story to share.

Click here to find out how to enter our candy contest.

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This Week In Candy

Last week I attempted my first ever "I'll make it, if you suggest it".  It's a little project I'm doing on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  It's very simple, every so often I ask my friends to suggest something that I should attempt to make, in many cases the recipe doesn't exist.  Then I pick the one that I think is the most insane, and try to make it.  This first attempt is an Oreo upside down lava cake with frosting.  Just in case it's not clear, I used an Oreo instead of a cherry in the middle of the pineapple.  This suggestion came from my friend Brent, who may be making a future appearance on the Junk Fud podcast.  I have a few more suggestions that I may try, but I'm always looking for more ideas as well.  So be sure to send them in and I may attempt your treat.  As a note, I should tell you that while this looks tasty (?), it's was kind of gross.

Don't forget, it's not too late to enter our contest with a prize provided by our good friends at candycrate.com.  First prize is an awesome box of nostalgic candies sent right to your front door.  All you have to do is tell me what candy treat has the best memories for you, and why.  Click here for more details, and information on where to enter.

The rest of this week, like last week, is going to be full of nostalgic candy.  We're looking back at some of our favorite candy things that gives us great memories.

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A Little Late With Today's New Review

Normally I try to have these reviews up first thing on Monday morning, but this Monday morning didn't go exactly as planned.  It wasn't bad or anything, it just didn't go as planned.  Today's review is a little interesting, and I expect to get a few comments about the fact that many probably don't consider it a candy, I made my argument and you're welcome to disagree.

I should mention that today's controversial review was brought to you by our good friends at candycrate.com.  The same people who are providing us with the awesome prize that we're giving away right now.  You can click here to learn how you could walk away with a box of cool retro treats, including a pack of cinnamon toothpicks.

Click here to read today's controversial review.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Decadent Chocolate Soda and Cheese Cake - Presidents Choice - If you're not Canadian you may be unfamiliar with "The Decadent" products.  They're products based on one of the best store bought chocolate chip cookies you'll ever try, at least by Canadian standards. My friend Jade posted this picture of The Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake and The Decadent Chocolate Flavoured Soda. Her opinion was "Yes to the cheesecake. No to the soda." While I'm sure her assessment is probably right, I still really want to try the soda. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Candy News

Jimmy Kimmel has a horrible (and funny?) tradition of asking parents to video tape their kids reaction when they tell them that they've eaten all of their Halloween candy.

The National Confectioners Association has published some great tips on how to make your Halloween candy last.

I look forward to the day when I can tell you that the chocolate price crisis is over, but I really think it's just getting started.

Wouldn't you know it, just when chocolate prices start really going up, more scientific proof that chocolate's actually good for you.

You could argue all day about where in Europe the best chocolate is made, however the most chocolate consumed in Western Europe is in Germany.

As you can imagine, this article about a man eating a world record 121 Twinkies in 6 minutes, also features an attractive photo.

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

Astro Pops... You've changed!!!  Several of these commercials show Astro Pops of different colours and flavours.  I can't remember if I've ever seen anything accept the classic yellow, red, and blue combination, but video evidence can't be wrong.  Does anybody remember these other flavours?

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Stuff I Want To Try

Wavy Potato Chips Dipped in Milk Chocolate - Lay's - While I love chocolate covered potato chips, I'm not sure how well it would work out of a bag. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

While researching some cool retro candy ads for this (and next) weeks Classic/Creative Candy Advertising posts, I came across a really cool blog with a great collection of retro candy packages.  Some may argue that packages don't really count as advertising, but I disagree.  I've bought many a candy in my life just because of the cool package.  I'm sure candy companies wouldn't put so much effort into designing their candy packs if they didn't think it helped to sell the candy too.  This Lik-M-Aid package was my favorite of this retro candy package collection, but it's well worth clicking the link below and seeing this whole candy package set.

I found this, and many other cool retro candy packages here.

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Free Retro Candy For You?!!

That's right, if you haven't heard yet, we (along with our friends at candycrate.com) are giving away a box of retro treats. To win this box of treats all you have to do is tell us what candy treat has the best memory for you and why.  You can click here for more details, but I assure you entering this contest could not be easier.  Soon you could be sitting at your dinning room table enjoying a bunch of retro treats remembering days gone by, or creating some new sweet memories.

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A Cool Candy Thing

I think that today's cool candy thing might be stretching the concept of these blog posts, "A Cool Candy Thing".  It's not really a thing as much as it's a candy.  The reason I figured that these gummy treats could qualify as a thing, is because of how much fun it would be to play with these gummies.  You could have an entire army of Gumby and Pokey's, and you could recreate the battle of Helm's Deep in stop motion.  Then when you're done, you could eat them all.  So in that way these would be little stop motion props, that also taste good.

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Wednesday's Japanese Candy Review

What a rainy day it's turned into, nothing makes me happier than to flick on a cartoon, sit on the couch, and munch on a handful of snacks.  Today's review is absolutely perfect for a rainy day snack.  I find that small bite sized treats work best as rainy day snacks, but I'm not sure why.  There's just something appealing about stuffing your face with a lot of little things that seems to brighten up any rainy day.  Sure I don't mind eating a chocolate bar now and then, but today little cookies seem just perfect.

Click here to read today's new review.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Glowing Ice-Cream - Lick Me I'm Delicious - While I really would like to try this, I don't think I want to spend the 140 British Pounds a scoop that it costs. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Dots For Your Wall

Button Print by candycritic
View more Color Posters at zazzle.com

A few people commented about how much they love candy dots, and even mentioned that they liked the photo of candy dots that I posted yesterday on This Week In Candy.  Well wouldn't you know it, our sister site bewarethecheese.com is selling posters of that photo.  You can also get it in limited prints and greeting cards as well.  This is truly one of the strangest, yet most beautiful retro candies ever.

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This Week In Candy

What a fun week we have in store.  First of all I'd like to announce, officially, a contest we're having with our good friends at candycrate.com.  For the next two weeks we are going to be singing the praises of cool retro candy.  Best of all, the folks at candycrate.com are going to give one of our lucky winners an awesome box filled with retro candy.  That's right, one lucky winner is going to win a box of candy for free.  This box has everything from an Abba Zaba to Walnettos (What's this Walnettos are this week's review?!!), and everything in between. You can read all about which fine treats you'll be getting right here.  So how do you win this awesome prize?  It's actually very simple, tell me what candy treat has the best memories for you, and why.

A crack team of candy enthusiasts will go through the entries and pick out the one that tugs on our heart strings the most.  That person will win the awesome box of candy provided by the fine people at candycrate.com.  You can enter by sending us a message here, leaving a comment anywhere on this blog, dropping us a line on our Facebook page, on our Google+ page, or if you can cut it down to 140 character our Twitter page.  Feel free to get creative, if you want to shoot a video on YouTube, or take a series of photos, that's fine too, just include the link.  The key is to make sure we can get back to you, so make sure we can contact you via social media, or e-mail.  If we can't contact you, and you give us a beautiful story, we'll have to give it to the guy with the second best story instead.  The contest ends November 20th at midnight, so you have time now, but it will run out quickly. The only bad news is that this contest is limited to folks living in USA and Canada only.

So as you can see from this awesome announcement, we're going retro for the next little while, that means I have to pull out my Hammer Pants, and Blue Blockers.

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We've Got Some News Later Today!!!

Yup, we're officially announcing a huge contest this afternoon, and today's new review is just a small hint as to what kind of awesome prize you could walk away with.  If you've never sampled, or heard of, today's new review you don't want to miss a chance to sample it yourself.  I was once like you, I had no idea what this "Walnetto" thing was, but I'm a changed man now.

Thanks to our good friends at candycrate.com for providing us with this yummy treat to try.

Click here to read the review.

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Candy News

Art made from candy is truly something I love, here's a great example of that, which includes monsters as well.

Here's a strange question, "Which Candy Would You Eat On Pizza?" I would have to go with sliced Oh Henry.

If you're thinking that candy on a pizza sounds good, why not try a 7-Layer Candy Bar Dip?

I think I've posted articles about this before, but here's another look at Babe Ruth V Baby Ruth.

Did you know that Chattanoga was a candy town, I sure didn't, but now I think I may have to visit.

Once again the hierarchy of candy has returned, prepare to argue about weather or not a Bounty bar is better and a Mounds bar.

Dietitians agree that portion control is the way to go, and changing our treats to make them healthier is not.

Retro candy stores are a great way for a small business to thrive.

Speaking of candy stores, take a look at Economy Candy in New York, it looks fantastic.

A blast at a Mexico candy factory kills 1.  No one should die for candy.

In this Guardian list of the most impressive food heists, 4 of them are sweet treats.

Do you know what one million Skittles looks like?  Would you like to?

Haute couture made out of chocolate!  Now that's the kind of fashion show I could get into.

Kit Kat is going to change their recipe to eliminate saturated fats, it better taste as good or better.

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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Here's But a Sample of One of The Treats You Could Get For Free!

So you're thinking to yourself, sure I have a bunch of candy right now to enjoy.  Halloween just finished and there's candy a plenty for me to munch on, but what about in a few weeks from now.  How do I cope with life without free candy?  Well my friend, one lucky Candy Critic reader (and it could be you), is going to walk away with a huge box of assorted treats for free from our friends at candycrate.com.  What kind of treats you ask, well I can tell you for sure that an Abba Zaba will be one of many treats you can expect.  Check back on Monday for more details about this contest.

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Friday Candy Video

Now that you've collected all of your Halloween candy, it's about time you figured out how you can maximize your haul on the playground.  This video gives a pretty detailed account to the value of the treats you've brought in.  I personally think there should be some kind of official exchange rate for Halloween candy posted somewhere.  This would allow you to see what your candy is worth based on the supply and demand of your area.

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