Friday, March 25, 2016

I Want Easter Candy Variety, And I Have Suggestions

Easter is a very simple holiday candy wise.  There are really only a few candies that dominate the market, Easter eggs, jellybeans, and chocolate bunnies.  Don't get me wrong, I love all of those treats, in fact I think we should have these treats (or versions of them) available throughout the year.  I am however a lover of creativity, and seeing the same Easter candy year after year gets me down.  Several times on this blog I've spent the time designing specific new candy treats for holidays, but not this time.

Rather than be specific about the design of treats, I want candy makers out there to be a little bit more creative.  I'm going to suggest types of candies that I think would work for Easter, and let the candy companies’ work out the details.  These are fairly broad candy categories that I've never seen Easter candy touch, but I think with a little creativity you could have some new classic Easter treats. Right now Easter treats are really limited in creativity, so I think there's just so many places you could go.
The first category is one that might seem like the worst Easter treat idea ever, but I think it would work is potato chips.  Instantly I'm sure your mind is thinking, how do chocolate eggs and potato chips go together, but you have to think a little more broadly.  Recently Lay's has had several contests to vote for a new flavour of chip, and in almost all of these contests there was a "sweet" flavour.  Why not take this sweet flavour and work in an Easter spin, how about hot cross buns flavoured chips (hot cross buns are a traditional Easter dessert in the UK).  You could also go with Easter ham flavoured chips, that would be far less strange but still in the spirit.  Best of all you could limit these chips for the holiday, and therefore not wear out the novelty.
The second category for Easter expansion is gummies.  I feel like a broken record when I tell people that gummies should be expanded into a holiday treat, because frankly I believe gummies are the most versatile candy in the world.  There have been a few Easter gummies (pictured above), however I feel like there could be thousands more.  This is also something you could merge into the chocolate bunny and chocolate egg world. Why not make chocolate flavoured gummy eggs and bunnies.  Even fruity gummy Easter eggs would work, and you could make them super decorated.
Probably the most obvious treat that seems to have missed out on Easter is lollipops.  The round shape of a lollipop would be perfect to link up with an Easter egg.  You could make all kinds of fun flavours and decorate them just like fancy Easter eggs.  If you're really creative you could go with super detailed Easter egg lollipops and decorate them like Ukrainian Easter eggs.  A lollipop of that calibre could be the first edible museum piece ever.

There are three simple candy ideas that I've never seen (or seen very little of), that we already know are popular in the snack food world. So come on candy companies, let’s stretch out the Easter candy lines and make something a little out of the ordinary.

CC

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