This Week In Candy

Well we're back, and things are starting to settle down a bit in our new location (which for now we'll just call Candy Land).  I've got lots to cover on changes and upcoming Candy Critic blog things.  First of all there's a secret message in the photo above, figure it out and... well there's no prize but you can feel really good about yourself.  It will however let you know the subject of many upcoming blog posts.

Secondly, we're going to be changing a few things here on the blog.  We're going to cut down on the number of entries and focus a few things exclusively to our social media.  The "Candy News" section that we used to post on Friday is going away.  Instead we're just going to focus on posting all our news on Twitter.  We may also decide to post our news on our Facebook site as well, but we're not too sure about that yet (let us know if you have an opinion on the subject).  We're also going to combine our "Friday Candy Video" and "Classic/Creative Candy Advertising" into one post.  I'm not sure what to call it yet, but we'll post weekly about an ad/campaign/candy reference that we've come across.  This will be posted every Friday starting this week.

We're also going to announce our weekly Candy Critic review update on This Week In Candy (the very post you're reading right now), instead of giving it a solo post.

Speaking of which, this week's new review is Lay's Cinnamon Bun potato chips. Click here to read our latest review.

Finally we're going to start writing more original content and longer articles on this blog, this also includes candy related experiments as well.  The idea of these changes is to minimize the number of posts and maximize the quality of posts.  This will be an ever evolving thing, and we welcome any comments.

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A Cool Candy Thing

I know that this is more of a Christmas time type of Cool Candy Thing, but it's never too early to think about Christmas gifts.  I also think that you could use this to decorate your tacky basement almost any time of year.

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It's a Whole Bunch of Candy Posters - Part 10

Gummy Bear Mixed Stripes Poster by bewarethecheese
Browse for more framed art posters at zazzle

For 10 weeks we're going to be featuring great looking candy themed posters from our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  Beware the Cheese not only created all of these great looking candy shots, but they also shoot all of the candy photos for Candy Critic.  Why not pick up a poster as a gift or for yourself.

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Friday Candy Video

The Twix ad campaign from the 1980s is probably one of the most memorable series of candy commercial for me.  The last 15 seconds of this commercial is one of the best examples of candy glamour shots.  And although slightly dated, this commercial actually made eating a certain candy bar kind of cool.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

Nobody slices ice cream anymore.  Even I was too young to really experience the trend of slicing ice cream.  However, once I learned of people doing this in the past, I started slicing my ice cream all of the time.  Do you have any idea of the topping potential when you're dealing with a flat surface instead of a round scoop.  All of your toppings coat the ice cream beautifully, instead of just rolling off to the side.

I found this ad here.

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A Cool Candy Thing

I'm not sure what came first, the expression "Sugar Daddy" or the candy.  Fortunately it appears that the candy company has taken full advantage of the expression, and uses it regularly.  I'm not really sure if it's appropriate to combine the idea of a man that has lots of money supporting a woman (often with sexual overtones), and a chewy candy thing on a stick, but I'm not a good judge of morality either.

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It's a Whole Bunch of Candy Posters - Part 9

Green Gummy Bear on Green Print by bewarethecheese
Look at more Gummy Posters at zazzle

For 10 weeks we're going to be featuring great looking candy themed posters from our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  Beware the Cheese not only created all of these great looking candy shots, but they also shoot all of the candy photos for Candy Critic.  Why not pick up a poster as a gift or for yourself.

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Canadian Candy List - Part 8 - Most Canadian

Over the last few years I've been living away from my home country, Canada.  I've been traveling the world exploring all kinds of snack foods, junk foods, and sweets, but my heart is still in Canada.  I'm going to be back home for an extended period, and I've decided to compile various lists on the theme of Canadian candy and snacks.  Each week, for the next several weeks, I'll be posting a different list of Canadian candies I've reviewed in various categories.  Some of these treats may be available in other parts of the world, some are exclusive to the Great White North, but in my mind all of them are Canadian.

Some Canadian candy tastes great, other candies are fun to eat, but some Canadian candies are truly Canadian.  These candies represent everything it is to be Canadian, some are obvious, some are cultural things only locals would know.

 Some Canadians might argue that a chocolate bar from one of the Toronto Maple Leafs isn't really Canadian, it's more Torontonian.  Well since my Canada includes Toronto (mostly because it's my home town) I'm going to include this bar.  Frankly the bar itself was nothing special, but the idea that a hockey player "endorsed" it is what makes it Canadian.

Click here to read the Doug Gilmour 'Celebrity Candy Bar' review.

I'm pretty sure that just about every single Canadian has some kind of fond memory of eating maple sugar.  I have many, but almost all of them are associated with the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.  We used to go every year, and it wouldn't be a proper visit without a taste of maple sugar.  It's also very Canadian when you consider that most of the worlds maple syrup comes from Canada.

Click here to read the Maple Sugar review.

 I posted about the Oh Henry "Oh Canada" bar on my earlier list of best Canadian variety treats.  All I can tell you is that eating one of these bars is the closest you can get to eating a Canadian flag.  It's easily the most Canadian patriotic candy bar I've ever tasted.

Click here to read the Oh Henry "Oh Canada" review.

If you think about Canada, you really think about down home people.  Canada is full of people who welcome everyone and are always super polite.  However, if you want to know where this is the most true, few provinces can beat out Prince Edward Island.  When I visited this awesome province every single time I crossed a street every car would stop (even when I was jay walking).  People would always welcome you into their homes, and the food was simple and very tasty.  When I eat a bag of PEI potato chips I'm reminded of how nice a place Canada is to live.

Click here to read the Prince Edward Island Potato Bag Chips review.

One of the great things about Canada is that it's a country of innovation.  No candy represents Canada, and innovation better than this Canadian Maple candy floss.  It takes a sweet treat that's been around for hundreds of years, and spins it into something brand new.  Unfortunately this particular brand of candy floss is no longer being made, but I'm hoping that another company takes this idea, because it's really great.

Click here to read the Organic Candy Floss "Canadian Maple" review.


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This Week In Candy

Today was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter at Candy Critic.  Today was the day that I was supposed to post a new update and announce some of the changes I had planned for the blog and candycritic.org. Unfortunately fate has stepped in and changed things a bit.

Last week I officially arrived at what will be the new home of Candy Critic for the next few years.  Unlike Greece, I've decided that I'm not going to tell anybody exactly where I am.  It may come out in the future, but for now I prefer not to say.  This weekend I started to prepare for this weeks huge updates with my trusty laptop, and it died.  I do have backups for most of my stuff, but I'm not sure if they were lost as well.  I have another computer, but it's still on its way from Greece.

We have a replacement laptop on order, but I'm really not sure how that's going to work out right now.  So what does this mean?

Until the laptop arrives I'm going to be taking a break from regularly posting on the Candy Critic blog, and from updating the site.  Once the laptop arrives I'll asses what I've got and make the call then. Until then I'll continue to post on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.  The changes are coming, it just might take a little longer than I had hoped.

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Friday Candy Video

This is actually a strange advertisment to post on a site about candy.  I guess I could say that I'm posting this because I want to warn any children reading this that most pills are not candy, and that you should be careful.  But honestly I love the taste of my vitamin C chewables, Flintstones vitamins, and children's aspirin, so I'm probably not really the right person to make any statements on the subject.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

A simpler tag line for an advertisement there has never been.  It's pretty effective for just about any candy in the world.  I guess the only problem is that it sounds strange when you say it out loud.  I'm sure any grammar nerds out there will tell me that it's not correct.  I'm sure there's supposed to be a "'s" or "is" thrown in there somewhere.

I found this ad here.

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A Cool Candy Thing

When I was a little kid, I used to have a tiny plastic pool in my front yard. One day my neighbor friend brought over a plastic ice cream cone, with a sponge like top on it (the same as the ones picture above).  On the cone was a button that would shoot the sponge ice cream top using a spring.  The sponge ice cream top was connected to the cone with a string, so it wouldn't fly very far away.  My friend decided that it would be really neat to dip the ice cream sponge in the pool and have it soak up the water.  He also decided to cut the string holding the cone to the sponge.  The hope was that we could have the ultimate water toy, the reality was that the water made the sponge too heave and it launched about 2 inches before falling to the ground.

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It's a Whole Bunch of Candy Posters - Part 8

Clearly Red Gummy Bear Print by bewarethecheese
Search for another posters online at Zazzle

For 10 weeks we're going to be featuring great looking candy themed posters from our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  Beware the Cheese not only created all of these great looking candy shots, but they also shoot all of the candy photos for Candy Critic.  Why not pick up a poster as a gift or for yourself.

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Canadian Candy List - Part 7 - Varieties

Over the last few years I've been living away from my home country, Canada.  I've been traveling the world exploring all kinds of snack foods, junk foods, and sweets, but my heart is still in Canada.  I'm going to be back home for an extended period, and I've decided to compile various lists on the theme of Canadian candy and snacks.  Each week, for the next several weeks, I'll be posting a different list of Canadian candies I've reviewed in various categories.  Some of these treats may be available in other parts of the world, some are exclusive to the Great White North, but in my mind all of them are Canadian.

All over the world we're seeing candy companies produce treats (bars mostly) with limited edition versions.  I call this candy of treat, a "variety".  Some classic Canadian treats have also come out with different varieties, some are great, some not so great.

 Caramilk is most certainly a Canadian classic candy bar.  Most Canadians would probably put it in their top 10 list of favorite Canadian treats.  To attempt to affirm their Canadian status even more, Cadbury came out with a maple flavoured Caramilk.  You can tell by the review that it didn't really work very well, but at least I felt a little more patriotic eating it.

Click here to read the Caramilk Maple review.

I had a Mr Big faze in my life when I was a kid.  A time where this bar was the end and be all of my candy eating life.  It was short run, and today I'm not really a huge fan of these.  Adding more chocolate flavour didn't improve my opinion either.

Click here to read the Mr. Big "Double Dunk" review.

 This is probably the most Canadian variety of any candy ever.  Not only does it have a maple flavour, the log of fudge in the center was coloured red and white.  Canadians are not really known for being overly patriotic, but this bar is the exception to that rule.  Personally I would rather eat this than wave a flag any day.

Click here to read the Oh Henry "Oh Canada" review.

For a while Smarties got into the chocolate bar market (Maybe they still are, I haven't been paying attention).  For the most part it didn't really work out.  After all, the best thing about Smarties is the crunchy candy shell, and the fun colours.  They attempted to try to improve these bars by adding different centers (instead of chocolate) to the middle of the Smarties. Frankly I would have rather just had a handful of peanut butter Smarties instead.

Click here to read the Smarties Bar "Peanut Butter" review.

Americans don't really understand the pure joy of Cadbury products.  There's something really great about the way they take high quality ingredients, and occasionally do really creative and strange things with them.  These popping Mini Eggs are a great example of that.

Click here to read the Mini Eggs Popping review.


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Friday Candy Video

It appears that the height of technology in 1979's commercials is playing film in reverse to make people look like they're defying gravity.  Story wise, I guess most people in 1979 were used to M&Ms, and were pretty surprised to have a peanut butter filling instead of just chocolate or a peanut.  Most people, even today don't really notice that Reese's Pieces don't contain any chocolate either.  Next time you bite into one, now you'll get a little surprise yourself.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I'm not sure if you could possibly find a more un-appealing photograph of a yummy Dairy Queen strawberry sundae.  I know that this is likely what most Dairy Queen sundaes look like, particularly when your Dairy Queen maker is a part time student on their first job.  But what about a little glamour in advertising, why not spruce it up a bit to make me slightly interested in getting a strawberry sundae?

I found this ad here.

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A Cool Candy Thing

I'll be 100% honest here and tell you that I'll probably never order one of these for myself.  It's not that I think this is incredibly tacky or gaudy... well actually I do.  But some people are into tacky things, and if you're one of those people and you really like ice cream, it might be perfect for you.

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It's a Whole Bunch of Candy Posters - Part 7

Caramel and Chocolate Poster by bewarethecheese
Browse more Caramel Posters at Zazzle

For 10 weeks we're going to be featuring great looking candy themed posters from our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  Beware the Cheese not only created all of these great looking candy shots, but they also shoot all of the candy photos for Candy Critic.  Why not pick up a poster as a gift or for yourself.

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Canadian Candy List - Part 6 - Best Discontinued Treat

Over the last few years I've been living away from my home country, Canada.  I've been traveling the world exploring all kinds of snack foods, junk foods, and sweets, but my heart is still in Canada.  I'm going to be back home for an extended period, and I've decided to compile various lists on the theme of Canadian candy and snacks.  Each week, for the next several weeks, I'll be posting a different list of Canadian candies I've reviewed in various categories.  Some of these treats may be available in other parts of the world, some are exclusive to the Great White North, but in my mind all of them are Canadian.

Much like any candy market, some snacks just don't make it.  Sometimes due to bad marketing, bad management, or any other corporate problems, great treats don't survive.  Here in Canada it's no exception, there have been some great Canadian snacks that unfortunately aren't with us anymore.

 I'm not 100% certain that the Caravan no longer exists.  It used to be fairly popular, than it disapeared, I had assumed that it was gone forever, but I found it again.  It's been a while since I've seen another, so it might be discontinued, or it might be still around, just hard to find.

Click here to read the Caravan review.

Of all of the discontinued Canadian treats that I've ever writen a review about, Choclairs is probably the most in demand to return candy.  Every so often I get an e-mail from a Choclairs fan asking me if they're still around, and where they can get one.  Sadly I have to respond with the cold truth, they've stopped making them a long time ago.

Click here to read the Choclairs review.

 Mackintosh's Toffee is not really discontinued.  Similar to the Caravan bar, it's come and gone several times.  Right now I still see it in the small bite sized format, but the large bar format seems to be a little harder to find.  I've heard rumours that they've discontinued it, but then other people tell me they've seen them on the shelves.  So have you seen a Mackintosh Toffee flat pack lately?

Click here to read the Mackintosh's Toffee review.

Pure Fun was a company out of Toronto that made all kinds of great candies.  Of all the candies they made, my favorite, and the most Canadian, was their maple candy floss.  I became friends with the folks at Pure Fun, and I was really sad when they decided to call it quits.

Click here to read the Organic Candy Floss "Canadian Maple" review.

This was the first bar that I ever tried featuring Pop Rocks.  Before I experienced the Xploder I would have never thought about the texture combination of smooth chocolate and exploding candy.  Today we see this combination much more often, but I'm sure we can think the folks at Wonka for doing it first.

Click here to read the Xploder review.

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