A Cool Candy Thing

Nothing can help you cap off your holiday cheer like the heads of your favorite holiday characters mounted on sticks... Oh wait a minute, these are just Pez dispensers, my bad.  I guess this would be a fine thing to get for the holidays, as long as you ignore my earlier comment about them looking like the dismembered heads of famous holiday characters.  I've never really thought about Pez dispensers as dismembered heads before, and now that I do, I'll never be able to look at them the same again.  Maybe they should create a line of famous people who've faced the guillotine.  Maybe a series of Pez dispensers based on some of the characters from the Tudors television series.

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Pineapple Ration Cake

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to sample an official Canadian army ration pack.  I posted all about my experiences sampling it, and for the most part my opinion was mixed (You can read more about it here).  I had several people mention to me, online and in person, how much they enjoyed reading about my experience.  Most of the people that commented to me were, or are, members of the armed forces in various countries.  A few friends of mine who happen to be in the armed forces were so taken back that they offered me even more ration packs to review if I wanted.  Since I figured writing ration pack reviews again might be repetitive, both because I've already done it, and someone else is doing it better than me (click here to check that out).  I decided that I would instead try several experiments using ration packs.

The first experiment that I thought I would try is to take the elements of several ration packs, and try to make it into something else, something better maybe.  Since this is my first time trying this, I decided I would go for something that was in my skill set.  I decided that I would try and create a (slightly) more epic dessert out of some of the dessert ration packs.  The first thing I had to do was collect my ration packs. For this I was granted access to a ration pack stash, it was amazing.  It was like shopping at the  most boring grocery store ever, since everything was either in a nondescript foil pack or plain cardboard box.  While looking through the packs I was inspired for what I wanted to create, pineapple upside-down cake.

To make this sweet treat I would need fruit, some kind of syrup or sugar, and some kind of cake.  The fruit was the easiest to find as canned (bagged in this case) fruit is a staple of ration packs.  For this project I figured that a mixed fruit salad would work best.  This would give me pineapple, cherries, and even some peaches, just to mix it up a bit.  For the syrup/sugar, I went with a maple dessert bar that comes drenched in a maple syrup.  This would provide me with the syrup, and maybe some cake as well.  I also picked up several packages of date squares, these might give me the crust/crumble to make for a perfect cake base.

So with ingredients in  hand I got started.  My plan was simple, I started by draining the fruit, and laying at the bottom of my loaf pan in a pleasant pattern.  For this cake I used 3 packs of mixed fruit salad. The biggest problem I had in this case was the lack of pineapple.  There was some, but not nearly as much as I'd hopped for.  I put the cherries down, and ended up using more peach than pineapple, but I think that's OK.

About 3 hours before starting, I took out the maple cake, and started to drain it.  I let it sit for the 3 hours so most of the maple  would drain from the cake.

I also scrapped all of the crumb/crust from the date squares, and set them aside to dry out for a little while.

Once the fruit was placed in a nice pattern, and the maple cake drained all of the maple syrup. I added the maple syrup to the fruit.  At this  point I wasn't happy with the amount of syrup, so I added a bit of the juice from the fruit as well.  I put the fruit in the oven to let the syrup thicken a little bit.  Once it had been bubbling for a few minutes, I took the fruit out of the oven.

While  the fruit was cooking, I smashed up the  maple square and added it to the crumb from the date squares.  At this point all of the cake ingredients were much dryer than when I had taken them out of the packages.  This was a good thing because I figured they would  instantly absorb the syrup from the fruit.   My first thought was to ad some butter to the cake crumbs to help them stick together, but Allison mentioned that this would be cheating since ration packs do not come with butter.  As the fruit was ready, I took it out and carefully layered on the cake crumbs.  I had to be careful not to push the cake into the fruit as it might ruin the design, but I wanted the cake crumbs packed down enough so they would hold together.

Baking the cake crumbs didn't take too long since they were already cooked.  At this point I just wanted to heat them up, and let the crumbs absorbed some of the syrup.  I probably let it stay in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes, then it was ready to serve.

I thought since my military friends were nice enough to give me the ration packs, I would let them sample my creation.  Overall it was a success.  I was worried that the crumb bottom would completely fall apart, but it didn't, I was even able to flip the cake over while  serving it to reveal the fruity bottom/top.  The syrup was perfect and it held the crumb together fairly well, and held the fruit together perfectly.  Everybody was happy with the results, and I was given the best compliment I think you could receive for this experiment.  “This is probably the best thing that's ever come out of a ration pack.”

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This Week In Candy

2014 is coming to an end, and what a fun year it's been.  I've traveled to some amazing places, and sampled some pretty amazing candy.  This week I'm going to be looking over this year's candy reviews and I'm going to pick out some of the highlights.  What was my favorite candy that I sampled this year?  What candy stood out for me?  Were there any candies that I feel will be the trendy candy of 2015?  I have a lot of re-reading of my own reviews to do this week, but if you have a favorite treat that you tried this year, let me know.

This week I'm also going to be posting a blog to follow up an earlier post I did on the subject of military ration packs.  I've decided to expand my knowledge of military ration packs and try out a few experiments.  This week I'm going to attempt the impossible, make ration pack food into something spectacular.  Some say it can't be done, I hope to prove them wrong.

This week on Snack Facts (our Instagram feed), we're going to look at cereal.  Classic cereals, cereal history, and cereal origins are all the subject of our daily facts this week.  If you want to keep up with snack facts you can follow us on Instagram, if you're not on Instagram you can also follow Snack Facts on our Facebook page, as well as our Twitter feed.  You can also follow our Facebook page and Twitter feed for daily news and fun links about the candy and snack food world.

This week's review comes from my recent visit to Dubai.  I found it pretty difficult to find many United Emirates traditional candies, but I searched out a little and I found today's new review.  It's pretty much what you'd expect from a place like the UAE, and it doesn't disappoint at all.  Click here to check out this new review.

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A Cool Christmas Gingerbread Thing

All this month I've been posting all about some crazy and un-orthodox gingerbread house making gadgets.  Today I'm going to bring up another possibly sensitive subject, gingerbread things other than men/women, and houses.  Would Christmas be the same if you didn't have a gingerbread house?  Would the festive season work if there wasn't a large cookie house to destroy?  I would like to argue that yes, yes it would.  In fact this gingerbread train not only looks great, but it also has a coal car in the back.  What's so great about a coal car you may ask?  It's simple, that's a great place to fill up with all kinds of Christmas treats.  This way you not only have a gingerbread creation to enjoy, but you also have an awesome candy bowl that you can eat.

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This Week In Candy

As of last Thursday night I have not had internet, television, or telephone service at my home.  This has forced me to head out to my local hangout/food establishment to work.  This was something I had always planned on starting so that I could focus on writing a bit more and get out of the house now and again.  It's proven to be a big success, however I've also hit a few glitches with updates and blog posts.  As I iron out these problems I think I'm going to continue this trend, as long as the folks here don't get sick of me and kick me out.

I guess the  big news right now is the Christmas/Chanukah season.  I hope all you guys are having a great holiday season, and I hope it's full of sugar plums and christmas treats.  My plan is to keep it low key, but that plan almost never works out.  So baring that, I hope to have lots of friends around and lots of good food to  munch on.

Last week on Snack Facts we looked at the classic holiday treat, the candy cane.  This week we're going too look a little more broadly at holiday treats, and we're going to feature some random holiday snack facts.  You can check out all our awesome Snack facts on our Instagram feed, and if you don't have Instagram, you can also find it on our Twitter Feed and Facebook page.

Today we're also posting the last of our selection of Christmas candy reviews.  Reese has always impressed me with their holiday treats, and once again I'm not disapointed at all.  Click here to find out why I loved these chocolate bells so much.

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You Say Hello, And I Say Dubai...

After spending 4 days in Dubai, I can say one thing for sure, Dubai is a really strange place.  It's not strange in the regular ways things are strange, it's not creepy strange like Las Vegas, or it's not scary strange like Halloween.  Dubai on the surface is a very nice place, in fact it's one of the cleanest most beautiful cities I've ever seen in my entire life.  The thing that makes it strange is all about cultural geography, or lack there of.  Dubai is the kind of city that really has no culture of it's own to speak of.  Traditionally it's simply a small village in the middle of the desert, but with the amount of money that's been thrown into building massive buildings and malls, it could also be almost any place in the world as well.  A good way to understand how this city is different is to look at the snacks, food and candy of Dubai.

The one thing that strikes you about Dubai when you're shopping for food or eating at a restaurant is the huge selection.  The selection of foods in Dubai aren't unfamiliar to most westerners either.  Restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory, Tony Romas, and Olive Garden can be found just about anywhere.  Even Canadian chains like Tim Horton's and Eggspectations can be found in Dubai.  If you're traveling from just about any corner of the globe, you'll find a bit of home in this city.  This also extends to candy as well, at the grocery stores I visited I found plenty of Hershey's, Cadbury, and Nestle chocolate.  I also found just about every brand of gummy and hard candy. I felt like a kid in a candy store, literally.  There was one thing however that I really had to hunt for, local foods.

 If you want to taste a bit of the true UAE culture, Dubai may not be the best place to visit.  The foreign chains have all but eliminated the local cuisine from the tourist path. There are a few restaurants that seem local in the old section of town, but its hard to tell.  The main parts of the city, the malls and giant buildings, have no restaurants that clearly show off UAE cuisine.  The only time I can say that I was pretty sure I ate something close to traditional food is when I took a desert safari.  At this safari we ate food that seemed pretty close to what you would expect for this part of the world.  Things like eggplant dips, cooked meats, curries, and flat breads.  I'm not convinced that this food was 100% authentic, since it's geared towards tourists, but the theme seemed fairly close.

The only other oddity about the food is the strict rules regarding food.  For the most part gum is not encouraged, or completely banned from indoor facilities.  You can't ride a subway or walk through a mall blowing bubbles. Food and drinking is also banned on their public transportation system as well.  While these rules may seems harsh, the results can't be argued.  The city is one of the cleanest I've ever seen.

The other strange rule regarding food, for westerners at least, is the lack of bacon.  This is a Muslim country and according to the Muslim religion pork is a no-no. They do compensate with beef and turkey bacon (I didn't see any chicken bacon, strange no?), as well as other beef replacements.  The good thing is the quality of the beef and other meats is fantastic (although it's expensive) so you don't really find yourself missing too much. And if you're really craving some pork, some grocery stores to sell it. 

Dubai is really a great city, it has just about anything you might want to eat, except maybe something local.  While I did miss the local food, I was very well distracted with all of the huge selection of North American and western restaurants and foods.  Candy wise I found a few interesting things that I probably can't get in many other cities, like camel milk chocolate and awesome chocolate covered dates, but I really had to search for them. I did however find some classic bars that I haven't had in a while, so I left a happy boy.

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Candy In The Media

I never thought of the guy from Hootie and the Blow fish as a Christmas crooner, but he really pulls it off.  Whenever I think about Christmas songs like this I gag a little, then when I'm sitting down on a cool December's night I can't help but feel a little warmer when they're playing.  There's just something so relaxing and warm about songs like this.  I personally can't wait to sit in my living room with a mug of hot cocoa, enjoying the smooth sounds of Christmas with the smell of a Christmas tree filling the room.  Good job Hootie guy, you made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. My only complaint, not enough mention of candy canes.

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A Cool Christmas Gingerbread Thing

Over the last few weeks I've been posting various gingerbread house gadgets that help you make the perfect gingerbread house.  Some might argue that cookie cutters that cut the perfect shaped house pieces, or anything else that helps you make the perfect house might be cheating.  Frankly, I've been on the line about that, in some ways I think it's great to have a gadget to help you make a better gingerbread house.  However I understand that some purists might see the harm in not using your hands, and making a few mistakes, so you can learn how to build your very own cookie built architectural dream house.  Today's gadget on the other hand pushes things way too far.  I think if you're going to build a gingerbread house, it's probably cheating to have a cake pan that's chapped exactly like the gingerbread house.  While I can see the fun in using this mold to make a house out of cake or Jello, I think if you plan on using this mold for any kind of cookie like house, you're cheating.

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This Week In Candy

Today is the first day in a few weeks that I feel like myself.  I had a two week long cold that didn't knock me out, but it made me feel pretty tired every day.  But candy news and fun waits for no cold, and I spent the two weeks working on all kinds of fun things.  First of all, I had a quick 4 day weekend in Dubai, I took lots of pictures, and sampled a few fun candies.  I'll have a full write up on the trip later this week.

Recently, we also posted a question on Twitter to a few famous chefs, we asked them "What's the best candy to cook with?".  Overwhelmingly chocolate and cocoa ranked number one on the list.  Many of the chefs commented on how well chocolate works in both sweet and savory dishes.  Second favorite seemed to be candied fruit, which can also be used for many different savory and sweet dishes as well.  Probably the most surprising answer I got was the suggestion of using Red Hots candy in savory cooking.  I could see how it might work, but I think it would be a really tough challenge.

Also, all this week and last week we've been telling you guys about some of the cool candy themed t-shirts and greeting cards we have available at our store.  They make a great gift for any candy fan in your family, and all the profits go to keep this site up and free.

This week on Snack Facts, we're looking at the most famous of all Christmas candies, the candy cane.  We have a new candy cane fact going up every day on our Instagram feed.  If you don't use Instagram, you can also find the snack facts on our Twitter and Facebook feeds as well.

Finally, in continuing our line of holiday themed candies this month, today's new review is of a classic holiday chocolate that I would often find under the tree this time of year.  While the chocolates themselves don't really have a holiday theme, they're very much tied to the holidays for me.  Click here to read our Quality Street review.

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Candy In The Media

Man this is a depressing song.  I've learned two things about Dolly Parton listening to this song.  First of all she really gets sad around Christmas time, I mean she's really not that happy at all.  Secondly, I get the feeling that like many people, Dolly Parton does not like hard Christmas candy.  I wonder if she had the same experience as I did.  When I was a kid my mom would put out hard candy at Christmas and most of it wouldn't be touched, then it would sit in the bowl for months, forgotten. Eventually I'd be desperate enough to try and eat some but by then it would have hardened into a solid lump. I'd try and break pieces off, and I'd inevitably cut myself on the hard candy scaring my hands and my interest in Christmas candy forever.

(Thanks to Mark for his song suggestion)

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A Cool Christmas Gingerbread Thing

This seems like something that could be old fashioned, but it might be modern as well.  When I was a kid, and my grandmother used to make a gingerbread house, but she didn't use any kind of cookie cutter, she used a knife and some cookie based architectural skills.  This cookie cutter on the other hand looks like something she would own, but I'm not sure that they had gingerbread house cookie cutters in my grandmother's day.  So I'm asking any cookie historians out there, are gingerbread cutters a new thing, or have they been unearthed in great pioneer settlement archaeological digs?  Was my grandmother a classic baker, or was she just too cheap to buy cutters?

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This Week In Candy

As you read this post I'm presently somewhere in Dubai.  I'm not sure where, but hopefully I've managed to post a few pictures of some of the treats I've discovered and keep any sand out of my ice cream.  So what does this mean for things at candycritic.org this week?  Well the new review is going to be a little bit delayed.  I should be back soon, and I'll try and post it as soon as I get back.  Also next week I'll be sure to post something about this trip, as I'm sure Dubai has some fun and tasty sweet treats.

If my internet connection holds out, then the Snack Facts posts should be going up as usual.  This week we're looking at chocolate, a topic near to my heart right now since I'm presently working on a book about the history of chocolate.  I've decided to share a few quick facts that I've picked up researching this book.  As always you can follow Snack Facts on Instagram, and if you don't do Instagram you can also see the posts on our Twitter or Facebook feeds.

Our other posts this week will all be about Christmas/the Holidays, because it's one of the best times of year to talk about food.  Candy, and snacks have been an important part of my holiday seasons, and I'm always excited to see what the big red man has left me to munch on.  In our Cool Candy Things post I'm continuing to post about awesome gingerbread things.  For Candy In The Media all this month I'm looking at famous Christmas songs that feature candy or sweet treats.

Sorry no new review today, but I'll let you know when it's up later this week.

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Candy In the Media

In an attempt to merge this week's two main themes, Cadbury and Christmas, I searched out Cadbury Christmas commercials.  What I found was pretty interesting.  As it turns out last year was the first time Cadbury had ever produced a commercial for the holiday season.  They've been using print advertising for Christmas for a very long time, as shown by this example:

But this was the first time that they ever produced a commercial for television with a Christmas theme in the more than 180 years that the Cadbury company has been in existence.  You have to give them some credit, television hasn't been around for 180 years.  The first television transmissions didn't start to happen until the 1930s, about 80 or 90 years ago.  Still, Christmas advertising has been a big thing on television for a long time, and it's taken Cadbury, one of the most important global candy brands, many years to come up with a Christmas advertisement.

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Cadbury Proof - Part 2

Photo by Adam Montpetit www.behance.net/amontpetit

Almost 5 years ago I posted a blog about the purchase of Cadbury by Kraft (You can read it here).  I said in this post that I would save a Dairy Milk wrapper that was purchased when Cadbury wasn't owned by Kraft, then in one year I would compare the bars and see if there were any changes made.  Life got in the way and I wasn't able to write the article in one year.  Then after having moved several times, I lost the wrapper.  However, after having moved again recently, I was going through my file drawer and I came across the Dairy Milk wrapper from almost 5 years ago.  It reminded me that I should check up on how Cadbury/Kraft was doing.  See if they've made any great advancements, as well as check to make sure they're not lowering their standards in any way.

Since I'm not living in Canada right now, the place where I bought the original bar, I had to ask around and see if anybody would be willing to help me out by purchasing and photographing a Dairy Milk bar for me in Canada.  Fortunately my friend Adam (check out his awesome photo website here) was happy to oblige.  Probably both to help, and also to have an excuse to eat some chocolate after his photo shoot.  The first picture on this post is of the current state of the Dairy Milk bar in Canada, the photo directly above is of the wrapper from almost 5 years ago.  The wrapper itself has gone through a bit of updating, but I must say not much.  The two glasses of milk are still there, and the logo is almost exactly the same.  The colour of the package may have changed a bit, but that could also be a lighting thing.  The Dairy Milk font has changed a little, and the biggest change is the addition of the giant chocolate jug.  So far this is fairly promising.

Photo by Adam Montpetit www.behance.net/amontpetit

Upon comparing the ingredients, I'm happy to report that the order that they appear is still the same, and there appears to be little or no change to the ingredients.  This doesn't mean that there is definitely no change at all.  Companies are required to list what ingredients are in a bar, not how much of each ingredient is in a bar.  That means that notionally they could lower the amount of cocoa in the bar, and keep the wrapper the same.  The only reason they would have to change the package is if the change affected the ratio of ingredients.  The ingredients are listed from most found in the bar to the least.  So the amount of cocoa would have to change to the point where there was either less cocoa than soy lecithin, or more cocoa than cocoa butter for a change to be required.

I'm also happy to report that they haven't changed the size of the bar either.  I've traveled around and seen "updated" Dairy Milk bars in the shapes of bubbles, and these bars were a few grams lighter than the Canadian Dairy Milk bar.  I was worried that the folks at Kraft had decided that this "new" shape would be the norm all over the world, and that they would shrink the size of the Dairy Milk bar.  But as the bar Adam purchased shows, 42 grams, is exactly the same weight as the one I purchased several years back. It would appear that Kraft is doing well and leaving this classic bar alone.

While I am very happy about the fact that the Dairy Milk bar hasn't changed in Canada, I'm not completely happy with the way Kraft has dealt with Cadbury products.  I was optimistic when the purchase happened that Kraft would try and make Cadbury products more universal.  I was hoping that they might try and move some Cadbury products into new markets and share the wealth.  Caramello Koalas should be available to everyone around the world, not just Australians, and Crunchy bars should be on every store shelf around the world.  Most importantly Cadbury should be available to my neighbors to the south, the Americans.  As far as I know Cadbury is still a specialty item in the US, and that's a shame.  It's about time Americans knew what great chocolate bars taste like, and maybe add a bit of competition into what I consider one of the weakest in quality of chocolate bar markets.

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A Cool Christmas Gingerbread Thing

There are really two ways to look at these gingerbread house molds.  You can see them as cheating, I mean you don't have to cut any gingerbread, or create any textures using icing with these molds.  All you have to do is jam you gingerbread into them, bake, and in no time you'll have the pieces for a detailed and textured gingerbread house.  You also don't have to worry about cutting your pieces perfectly.  How many times have you had to fix a gingerbread house on the fly because you made one wall too short?  So maybe these are the cheaters way, but maybe they're also a door to a really creative candy neighborhood.

Why not make a gingerbread house, then make a jelly house, and next to that a chocolate house.  These silicon molds don't limit you to just one material, you can make a house out of anything you like. At the very least out of something that goes fairly solid.  And why limit yourself to desserts, why not take a little mashed potato, and bake these in the oven till the mashed potato goes hard?  There's really lots of choices for you to make the tastiest neighborhood in your neighborhood

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This Week In Candy

Last week we were all about potato chips, this week we're going to look at one of our favorite chocolate bar manufacturers, Cadbury.  On Thursday we're posting the second part of our long await look at how the purchase of Cadbury by Kraft has affected the brand.  It was almost 5 years ago when Kraft bought the British company, so lets see if they've improved anything.  This week we're also featuring Cadbury in our Snack Facts feed on Instagram.  Check back daily for a new fun fact about how this company came to be a global powerhouse.  If you're not on Instagram you can also check out the feed on our Twitter, and Facebook feeds as well.

Speaking of Snack Facts, we've decided to try a new format for the feed for this week (and probably next week as well).  If you follow us and you love the new format, let us know, you can also let us know if you hate it as well.  We're also thinking about doing a special edition of Snack Facts in the new year with contributions from anybody that might follow us.  So if you know something interesting about a popular snack or fast food, send us a message.

On top of all of all of this Cadbury insanity, we're also going to start with some of our Christmas/Holiday Seasons stuff.  This week on our "Cool Candy Thing" post we're featuring gingerbread making things.  We're going to continue featuring gingerbread things until the end of Christmas, so strap in.  This week's "Candy In The Media" post features both Cadbury and Christmas.

Finally, in the next few days I'm off on another adventure.  If possible I'll post a few shots of any great snacks I find along the way (Check Facebook or Twitter).  I'll also post a round up of all the cool treats I discovered on this adventure, along with a few photographs, on this blog when I get back.

To go with our Cadbury theme week, this week's review is from one of Cadbury's most famous line of chocolate bars, the Dairy Milk bar.  The Dairy Milk bar rarely if ever completely fails, but some are better than others.  Click here to read our latest Dairy Milk review.

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Candy In The Media

I figured the best way to cap off potato chip week here on candycritic.org, I'd find a fun potato chip commercial to post on this week's edition of Candy in The Media.  This commercial for Lay's potato chips might disturb some. I always find it disturbing to watch food based snack characters cannibalize themselves.  It's been done before, but each time it shocks me, and also makes me want to eat what they're eating. I guess I figure if popular food based characters are willing to resort to eating their own kind, it's gotta be tasty.

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A Cool Candy Thing

My latest obsession has been strange candy themed fashions.  I'm not sure if this is the strangest, but it is pretty odd.  Personally I think the next time I have to go to a formal event (this happens more than you might expect) I'll put on these clever bottoms.  Hopefully I can find a tie to match, maybe I could buy two pairs and make a tie out of the second.  I just think it's about time that really loud candy themed clothing made a come back, hopefully we'll soon see it in pop music videos and the runways of fashion week.

I must admit, my personal candy themed fashion collection has really suffered over the last few years.  When I get a candy themed piece of clothing, I generally wear it into the ground really quickly. Right now I'm looking to find popular candy and junk food logos in foreign languages.  Do you own any fun or strange candy or junk food clothes?

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This Week In Candy

It's chip week here at candycritic.org.  To start things off, we're having a potato chip review-a-thon.  That means that instead of just one review (posted today), you're getting a review ever day this week.  Best of all, each of these reviews will be a potato chip review.  We'll feature flavours from all over the world, some are great, some are horrible, but all make me want to drink copious amounts of cola (because that's what chips do).

Along with our potato chips review-a-thon, we're also featuring the glorious potato chip on our Intstagram feed Snack Facts.  That means that not only will you get a new chip review every day, but you'll also get a fun potato chip fact as well. If you're not on Instagram, then you can check out Snack Facts on our Facebook and Twitter feeds as well.

As far as projects that we're still working on: You can keep up with our Giant Jaw Breaker challenge on our Twitter, and Facebook feeds.  We're also finishing up a long  time second part of an article we wrote over 4 years ago about the Cadbury/Kraft merger, which should be posted next week.

To start off this week's review-a-thon, we have a potato chip from Greece, it's a typical Greek flavour, but it's a little cheesy.  We'll be posting new chip reviews all week, make sure to follow our Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter feeds to keep up with the latest reviews. Click here to read today's chips review.

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Candy In The Media

Best Candy Commercial Ever by tlsmith1138

I have to admit, I'm kind of shocked by this commercial.  I'm shocked that Butterfinger would associate their candy with the song Babies Got Back, and I'm even more shocked they way they made this song even a little more edgy.  I'm not really offended by this commercial, in fact any shock I have is out of respect.  It's good to see candy companies going out on a limb, even if it's a really strange one.

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You're Fishing For Trouble (My Rules For Fish and Chips)

I love a good batch of fish and chips, but there's one thing I hate, and that's a bad batch of fish and chips. So many things can go wrong with fish and chips, bad batter, burnt batter, nasty fish, these are all common problems I've come across.  The thing for me is if I'm handed a bad batch of fish and chips my reaction is completely polarizing from how I react to a good batch.  I can't eat bad fish and chips, I just can't get them down my throat, and after one bad bite I've been know to lose my appetite completely.  Some foods I can manage if they’re not perfect, but fish and chips have to be just right.

So that brings up the important question, how does one know if the place you're getting your fish and chips are up to scratch.  Without taste testing the fish you're really running the risk of biting into something horrible.  I have two basic rules that I've found to work, helping me find the perfect fish and chips.  After you read these rules you'll realize that I don't really eat fish and chips that often.  I don't always need both of the rules to be fulfilled at the same time, however if they are, it's almost always a sure thing.

Rule 1:  The word "fish" must be in the name of the restaurant making fish and chips.  If the word chips appears and not fish, then I'll just order fries. It may seem like a silly rule, but the way I see it if a place is willing to put "fish" in their name they're banking on their fish.  This rule can apply to other sorts of cuisine as well, but I really find that it works well for fish and chips places.  Don't get me wrong; I'm sure there are plenty of fine fish and chips places without the word "fish" in their name. However my experience has shown me that there are very few bad fish and chips places with the word fish in their name, but plenty of bad fish and chips places without it.

Rule 2: If I'm in an English pub near the sea, I'll give them a try.  When I say English pub, I mean a pub in the country of England, not just and English themed pub in another country.  For some reason when I travel to any English coast I get a craving for fish and chips, and I have yet to find one pub that's let me down.  I have on the other hand tasted bad fish and chips in English pubs in central England, and I've had a lot of bad fish and chips in pubs outside of England.

A good recommendation is fine, but if I don't get either of these two criteria met as well, I'm most likely going to order a club sandwich instead.

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A Cool Candy Thing

With the cold weather here, it's about time to think about how to keep warm.  Why not drape the most important part of your body in a stylish M&M's hat (or as they call it in my home town a "toque").  I'd never thought about how well these characters work as hats, after all they're round and colourful, and heads are round and look good when covered in colourful fabrics.  So what candy would make for good mittens or scarfs?

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This Week In Candy

We just finished up the new and improved Candy Critic Map.  The map is made up of two parts (and hopefully soon a third).  The first section lists some of our favorite candy shops and must see places (these are marked with the blue pins).  I've personally visited every single one of these places, and if you're anywhere near them I highly recommend checking them out.  The second section (marked with red markers) are countries around the world that I've visited, with a suggestion for the must taste candy, must try fast food, best food description in one word, and worst food description in one word.  You'll notice that the markers are on the capital city, but it's supposed to represent the whole country.  The next phase we hope to start will consist of your favorite places to get candies and sweet treats.  We're asking all of you to suggest sweet places people cannot miss.

You also may have noticed that we've officially started up the Giant Jawbreaker Challenge.  It's been a little slow going, but we're working on getting through that giant red jawbreaker one hour at a time.  I'm thinking of starting a betting pool as to how many hours it will take for me to get through it.  You can keep up with the day to day progress of  the Giant Jawbreaker challenge on Facebook, and Twitter.

Don't forget to check out our Instagram feed with our daily Snack Facts.  This week we've decided to give you a potpourri of facts featuring a whole assortment of treats.  You'll learn what's so unique about a Schweppes can, and how many years it took to put the holes in a fruit flavoured Life Savers candy.  Instagram is the main place to check this out, but you can also see our snack facts on our Twitter and Facebook feeds as well.

Next week we're going to have another review-a-thon.  That means that instead of just having one new candy review posted on Monday, there will be a new candy review posted every day.  For this review-a-thon we'll be looking at potato chips.  It's a controversial topic since many people have told me that chips aren't candy, and I shouldn't be reviewing them.  I tell these people, if you don't like it, start your own candy reviewing site, and don't review chips.

This week's review was from our good friends at Torie and Howard.  They make some fine hard candies, and we're always happy when they want to send us some new treats to review.  You can read this week's review of their Meyer Lemon and Raspberry candies right here.

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Candy In the Media

This might be the most NSFW candy advertisement I've ever seen.  I mean it's not horribly obscene, but it pretty much dances on the edge.  I also don't really find it very realistic.  I've never heard of, or seen anybody dance around nude with a chocolate bar.  In general eating candy while nude is not commonly done, no matter what your age.  I guess I could attempt a project and see if a Kit Kat bar tastes any different in the nude than it does fully dressed.

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Be Rational

Remembrance day was just a few days ago, in Canada this day is about remembering all of the Canadians that gave their lives, and their time to keep Canada awesome.  Recently I had the oportunity to sample a small part of the life of someone serving abroad.  I was given a Canadian military ration pack to try out.  For those that don't know what a ration pack is, it is a bag of food that should be able to give the average soldier substanance for one day.  Historically ration packs have been given a bad rap, it's been said that the basic food is just enough to keep someone alive, but nothing to keep them happy.  However, with the advancement in food science and packaging, ration packs have become fairly sofisticated, and now offer some pretty fancy meals to soldiers that may have nothing but a fire (or sometimes not even that) to heat up their meals.

The pack I received is for a soldier that notionally has some way of boiling water.  The pack contained a pretty wide range of foods, from a small Werthers candy to suck on, to a bag/box of something that claims to be sweet and sour pork.  It also comes with various powedered fruit drinks, coffee, tea, and a bag of Oreos.  I pretty much munched down the Werthers and Oreos imediately after opening the package.  They were exactly what you might expect, mini Oreos and a nice smooth butterscotch candy to suck on.  I'll probably never drink the coffee, and the tea and powedered drink were un-eventful.

The real highlight of this meal is the sweet and sour pork, or at least that's what was written in huge letter on the box that all of this comes in.  To prepare the pork you have to boil it in water for about 10 minutes.  I can assure you that this has nothing to do with "cooking" anything, and it's more about warming it up.  The side dish of rice involves taking some boiling water and pouring it into an envelope, sealing it closed, then letting it sit for 10 minutes.  I assume that the bags you cook these dishes in are also designed to be eaten out of, but since I was at home, and since I wanted to photograph them, I decided it might be better to serve everything on a plate.

It's not the most appealing looking plate of food, but it smelled pretty good.  My assumption throughout the whole process of making this food was that the pork would be disgusting and the rice would be tolerable.  I was wrong.  The pork, while not being the best asian meal I've ever eaten, wasn't that bad.  The meat was pretty tough, but what can I expect from something that can sit in a bag for months.  The sauce was actually pretty tasty, and I the chunks of fruit and vegetables throughout the sauce was a really nice surprise.  The rice on the other hand was horible.  I can't say that I've ever tasted rice that was actually inedible, until today.  It wasn't just the texture, but the "butter" flavour just ruined everything.  I think the rice would have worked out so much better if it was just plain rice.

For dessert I was offered pears in a syrup.  For some reason I imagined some kind of poached pear served with a caramel like syrup.  I really thought it would have been something fancy, but it wasn't.  What I got was a bowl of pears that looked identical to the types of pears one might find out of a can at the grocery store.  It wasn't bad, but it could have been better.  I think a little spice, or some kind of caramelized flavour could take these typical pears and made them something special.  I'm not saying I wouldn't be grateful for these if I was stuck out in a jungle with nothing else, but why aren't the people that serve our country entitled to something with a bit of extra flavour.

The next day I decided to treat myself to the "lunch" portion of the ration pack.  Or at least that's what I assume this is supposed to be.  Frankly it didn't really have much explanation and the peanut butter, jam, and pita really didn't go with anything else in the pack.  I decided to make myself a peanut butter and jam pita lunch, and it was OK.  The delivery method was a little messy, but once I squished the pitas together my poor peanut butter and jam squirting skills went unnoticed.  The great thing about this sandwich is that it reminded me of being a kid.  When I was a kid I loved making pita sandwiches, I liked pita bread more than sliced bread.  This simple ration pack made me feel like I was a kid again, back home.  I sure hope that the folks that eat these packs overseas get the same feeling, because they deserve a little bit of home comfort.

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A Cool Candy Thing

So why is the world better for kids today than it was when I was a kid?  It can all be summed up with this t-shirt.  When I was a little kid there was an offer to get yourself a Nerds t-shirt.  To get this t-shirt you had to send a bunch of proofs of purchase, and a large sum of money (at least large for a 5 year old kid).  Then you had to wait 6 to 8 weeks for delivery.  There were no other options to buy Nerds t-shirts, stores did not carry candy themed clothing, you could only get it through the mail.

Well I saved my proofs of purchased and saved my allowance, and with the help of my dad, I sent everything away.  As it turns out there was a problem with the mail, and delivery of my shirt was delayed to twelve weeks.  I was a young growing boy determined to get my t-shirt.  The problem here was that I was "growing", and growing rather quickly.  By the time my shirt arrived it was too small for me.  I didn't know how to return the shirt, and my parents didn't really realize the problem. So I've never had a Nerds t-shirt that fit me, even though I saved for it.  I still have the shirt, it's very small, but out of principle I keep it.  Maybe I'll give it away to someone, maybe I'll see if it can be re-purposed into something I can use.

But this is why kids are so lucky today, a couple of click of a button and the Nerds shirt will be at your door in no time.

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This Week In Candy

Welcome back to another fun week here at the Candy Critic blog.  There's lots to bite into this week, so let's get right to it.  First of all, Thursday we'll be publishing a blog about army rations.  I had the opportunity to sample a Canadian military ration pack, and I documented my whole experience.  I can tell you that the ration pack was surprising, both in the good and bad way.

Secondly, I've ironed out the details of the Giant Jawbreaker Challenge, and this week we're going forward with it.  I'm going to attempt to consume a giant jawbreaker, and I'm going to time how long it's going to take me to go through it.  I know that this is the kind of challenge that will have to be done in stages, so I have a plan.  I will suck the jawbreaker in 1 hour stages, after each hour I will photograph it, weigh it, and post a photo on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.  I imagine that at first I'll have to take longer breaks between each hour, but once it starts to fit comfortably in my mouth, I should be able to get through it faster.  Once the jawbreaker is gone, I'll post a blog recapping the whole experience right here on the Candy Critic blog.  So this week is going to be a tough one on my jaw.

This week on Snack Facts, available on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, we'll be looking at Pepsi cola.  It's not really my go to drink, and I really didn't know that much about it.  So all this week you and I can learn a little something about Cokes biggest rival.

This week's new review is a re-working of a classic Canadian chocolate bar, the Oh Henry.  I'm often not a big fan of variations of classic chocolate bars, but this one might be the exception, make sure to click here to read the full review.

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