Thursday, December 28, 2017

It's The Last Candy Review For 2017!!! - Kit Kat Rubies

We decided to save the best for last, and these Kit Kat Rubies are truly amazing. They're so good that we had trouble scoring this bar because it surpassed many of our other favourites. Speaking of favorites, we're spending this week going through the archives of 2017 to find the most notable reviews of the year. We're going to post them in January, but we want your input too. What did you taste this year that was truly amazing, horrible, or just really unique? Let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook or Twitter.

Click here to read this amazing send off to 2017.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find out  what we have planned for 2018.

You can also follow our Instagram feed Snack Facts to learn about all kinds of fun snacking foods.

CC

Friday, December 22, 2017

Thursday, December 21, 2017

It's Our Christmas Themed Candy Review... Sort Of - Sno Caps

I have to admit that it's a bit of a stretch this year with the Christmas review. I guess I could have reviewed my Reece's Peanut Butter Cup advent calendar, but to be honest I'm still working on it. Sno Caps don't really have any kind of Christmas theme to them, or any kind of nostalgia for me. They do however remind me of snow, and right now I'm living in a place that doesn't have any snow at all, and I miss it a bit.

So here's hoping you're having a white Christmas.

Click here to read the review that isn't cold, but reminded me of it.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with what we're doing over the holidays.

Also, make sure to follow us on YouTube to keep up with all our podcast and vlog stuff (we have a few new  projects starting in the new year).

CC

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

It's The Last Episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! for 2017!


This is not only our last episode for 2017, it's the last episode in its current format. In January we're premiering the new and improved Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! This episode features what can only be described as the worst fish related snack we've ever featured. It's likely our first fish related snack, and judging by how it went, it might be our last.

Click here to check out old episodes of Chris, Why Would You Eat That!??

Also, follow us on Twitter and Facebook to learn about future episodes and suggest some crazy foods you think we should eat.

CC

Monday, December 18, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Darth Vader Candy Bowl

I'm always looking for cool ways to store my candy stash, this just might be the coolest... or geekiest, either way I like it.

CC

I'm Having A Hard Time With This New Candy Review - Chewy Lemonhead "Fruit Mix"

This treat is everything I hate about candy variations, but it didn't taste too bad. I was conflicted about how I should rate it, but I think I managed a fair assessment.

Click here to find out how this conflicting candy did.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find  out about future reviews and articles.

You can also follow us on Tumblr, if that's the sort of thing you do.

CC

Sunday, December 17, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - King Chocolate


Of all the games that I've posted on this wish list, this is probably the one I want most. After all, I love chocolate.

CC

Saturday, December 16, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - New York Slice

Yet another fun game all about food that I love. It would be awesome to play this game while eating pizza, unless it also might get confusing.

CC

Friday, December 15, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Sushi Go

I love games, and I love food, so it makes sense that I would love any game that is associated with food.

CC

Candy In The Media - Watching Candy Canes Get Made


Another post that has to do with my obsession with watching candy get made. This time it's seasonally appropriate because it's all about Candy Canes.

CC

Thursday, December 14, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer

This is pretty much the cream of the crop when it comes to baking equipment for the home. There is no way this wouldn't be on my wish list.

CC

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Lucky Charms

Lucky Charms has been the cereal that has managed to get away from me for my entire life. I went from being a kid with a mother that  refused to buy it for me. To being a teenager who thought that I was too cool for Lucky Charms (they were also way out of my poor teenager budget). Now I'm old enough to buy them myself, and I'm married to a woman that insists that I stay alive, so she keeps them away from me.  I'm hoping on my death bed I'm given a giant bowl of Lucky Charms, then I can die happy.

CC

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Ice Cream Ball

I have to be honest, I don't own any ice cream making tools. I own a few ice cream scoops, but other than a few no turn ice cream recipes, I don't make ice cream at home. Maybe this year things will change.

CC

Monday, December 11, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Fancy Ice Cream Scoop

I love ice cream, I also feel that if you truly love ice cream than you must own a good quality scoop.  If I go to someone's house and they serve ice cream scooped with a spoon, I just get up and walk out.

CC

It's Time For a New Candy Review! - Choco Kit "Ice Cone!"

I have to be honest, I've been feeling a little bummed out about living in a place that doesn't have a winter. In February it's a fantastic thing to not think about winter and snow, but around the Christmas holidays it's a little depressing. There are a few decorations up, both in our house and around town, but it doesn't feel the way Christmas should without the snow.

Click here to read the review that inspired this funk (only because there are penguins on the package).

You can also find out what I'm doing to cope with this Christmas funk on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Why not follow us on Pinterest, it'll make you and me happy.

CC

Sunday, December 10, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Soda Stream

I love sparkling drinks, and I'm always fascinated about how you get the bubbles in a drink. I'm sure I would probably use up the carbonating cartridge just messing around and being fascinated.

CC

Saturday, December 09, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Oreo Candy Canes

I realized that not one thing on my wish list so far had anything to do with Christmas. So I asked my friends to suggest a few ideas and the one that stuck out for me was Oreo candy canes.  I'm not sure if I'd enjoy eating an Oreo flavoured candy cane, but it's just nice that it's not Oreo making a candy cane flavoured cookie?..


CC

Friday, December 08, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Swiss Chalet Dipping Sauce

I'm not going to be home (Canada) for the holidays this year, and while having family and friends around for the season would be nice, it would also be impractical.  Having some Swiss Chalet dipping sauce on the other hand is heart warming, nostalgic, and far less expensive than having my family fly over.  I also think it would taste really great on a turkey.

CC

Candy In The Media - Melting At Christmas


This Christmas commercial for Hershey's may seem harmless, but I think it's super weird. The weirdness surrounds the choice of  song. First of all "I'll Stop The World And Melt With You" is not a Christmas song, so that's a little weird.  The downright disturbing part of this commercial is the fact that it's sung by people made of chocolate. It's implying that these chocolate people are happy to melt (or die) for me on Christmas.  That's a pretty grim message if you as me.

CC

Thursday, December 07, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Bulk Kit Kats

Sometimes you just want a whole lot of something you love (Kit Kat bars).

CC

It's About Time That We Had Some South American Candy Reviews - Vauquita "Tableta Dulce De Leche"

I've never been to South America. At this point I think it's the only continent that I've never visited (excluding Antarctica). So as you would imagine, I don't have many South American candies reviewed on Candy Critic. Well I've taped into a vein of South American candies, so for the next little while I'll be posting new South American candy reviews regularly.

Click here to read the first of a few South American candy reviews we'll be posting in the next little  while.

You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with all the places we do visit.

You can also follow our Instagram feed to learn about various Snack Facts.

CC

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - 3D Chocolate Printer

Up until now I've been posting some pretty simple "stocking stuffers", but if you really want to impress a Candy Critic on Christmas, this is the perfect gift. Why settle for average bars of chocolate when you can have any shape you want.

CC

It's Time For A New Episode Of Junk Fud On The Road All About Hong Kong Disneyland!


Some tourist destinations are bigger than the city they're found in, and therefore we feel deserve their own episode of Junk Fud On The Road. I'm fairly certain that all of the  Disney parks qualify for their own podcasts, and if I have my way there will be a podcast about each one.

Click here to check out all of our old episodes of Junk Fud On The Road.

You can also follow us on YouTube or Sound Cloud to keep up with the episodes as they get posted.

CC

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Big Mac Sauce

I'll tell you why I'm obsessed with the idea of a bottle of Big Mac sauce. It's not because I want to make Big Macs at home, it's because I want to see if the sauce works in other experimental cooking ideas.

CC

Monday, December 04, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Wreck-It Ralph

When I first saw this movie, I had no idea that there was anything candy related at all. I was so happy to see such a cool candy theme, as well as a really good movie.

CC

I'm Having A Rough Day, And I Tought Today's New Review Would Help - Brain Blasterz

Right now I'm sitting in my office and it's very noisy. They're doing work on the exterior of the building and all I hear is regular drilling and hammering.  This isn't drilling and hammering in the distance either, it's really loud, and only gets louder when they're working on my window or one nearby.  It's made worse by the fact that every time I look out my window there's a dude with his shirt off working outside.

So here I am trying to figure out the best review to post, and the name of this treat Brian Blasterz gives you an idea of where my head is right now.

Click  here to find out if this did in fact blast my brain.

You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with the candy news and my sanity this week.

You can also follow us on Pinterest, because I like the pictures that come on my feed, and they relax me.

CC

Sunday, December 03, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory

This is probably the most famous about candy known out there... If you're wondering which version, probably the first is the most well known in a good way.  The second is interesting, but lacks a bit. The best way to find out is to get both and watch them one after another.

CC

Saturday, December 02, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Easy Bake Oven

When I was a kid my parents never got me an Easy Bake Oven. I assume it was because this kind of toy was a "girls toy", and boys shouldn't be playing with it.  I know that parents today are starting to learn that assigning a gender to toys for girls and boys is not a good thing. I can tell you first hand that this is totally true. After all I can't think of anyone, girl or boy, who wouldn't want a warm cookie.

CC

Friday, December 01, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Slurpee Maker

Sometimes I want a Slurpee, but I don't always live in a city that has a 7-11. Sure it's a bit more work making your own Slurpees at home, but I can live with that.

CC

This Might Be The Most Disturbing Ice Cream Treat Review We've Ever Posted - Lgantu

When I first bought this ice cream treat I didn't think much of it.  I thought it was a simple little butterfly shaped ice cream treat, and nothing more.  After inspecting the package a little  closer I found some pretty strange and dark details. It went from being a fairly harmless ice cream treat to being something so strange and weird that it kind of creeped me out.

Click here to find out why this ice cream is so creepy.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all of our candy shenanigans.

You can also follow us Google+, if that's the kind of thing you might do.

CC

Candy In The Media - The Math Behind Cutting A Cake Fairly


Since I'm not very good at math, I've decided that I'll just never share a cake again.

CC

Thursday, November 30, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Cream Whipper

I can't tell you how much I love whipped cream. I'm actually a bit of a whipped cream snob, and I don't really like the stuff in a tub or in a can.  I love real whipped cream made from nothing but high fat cream. The problem is I don't like the act of whipping it, by hand or with a mixer.  This is why the perfect gift for me would be a fancy cream whipper.

CC

Part 4 Of Our Asian Ice Cream Review-A-Thon Looks Pretty Fancy

There are really two categories of ice cream treats. Simple cheap looking treats, and fancy expensive looking treats. This clearly falls into a fancy looking treat because the package depicts it as something you might see served at a fancy restaurant. The key to the look of this fancy treat is the fact that the package depicts it with the lid slightly askew. I always love the fact that when you get a fancy dessert in a restaurant that's contained in some kind of edible shell, the chef often chooses to open it slightly for you. It's as if they're not confident that you know how to open up an edible shell yourself.

Click here to read all about this fancy ice cream dessert.

You can also follow us on Facebook or Twitter to keep up with all of our Asian ice cream updates this week.

Why not follow our Instagram feed called "Snack Facts" too, you might learn something new.

CC

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Culinary Butane Torch

As I mentioned yesterday, I love to bake, and a torch would allow me to make some pretty fun desserts that require direct heat.  A torch would also allow me to take out some frustrations on really bad candies that I have to review. P.S. If someone buys this for me, I will send the videos of me melting gross candy.

CC

Part 3 of Our Asian Ice Cream Review-A-Thon is Out Of This World - Gotcha Alien

One of the things I always learn but never remember about candy, is to not judge a candy by its wrapper.  This was yet another instance where I saw something I thought I wouldn't like, and instead found something I'd get again.  Not judging candy by its package is a hard thing to do because it's really all you have to judge a candy when you see it on the shelf.  That is unless you do a little research on your favourite candy review site first.

Click here to find out why I was so impressed with this ice cream treat.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get early access to all our reviews.

You can also find early reviews posted on our Tumblr feed as well.

CC

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Bogeyman Egg Separator

Many of you might know that I love to bake. I love to bake, but I hate separating eggs. This invention may not make separating eggs any easier, but it will certainly make it a lot more fun.

CC

This Asian Ice Cream Goes From Happy To Sad - Mr Triple

The  reason this treat takes you from happy to sad is the fact that the first 4 or 5 bites are pretty good, maybe one of the best ice cream treats I've had in a while. Then as you get to the halfway point the quality drops a little, and when you're down to the last third it's pretty disappointing. I know that's a lot of fractions for you to work out on and ice cream treat, and I apologies.

Click here to find out why this ice cream treat disappointed me at the end.

Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with this week's Asian ice cream review-a-thon.

You can also follow the review-a-thon on Google+, but judging by our numbers you wont.

CC

Monday, November 27, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Star Wars Millennium Falcon Waffle Maker

I've never owned a waffle maker. I'd like to believe that the reason I've never owned a waffle maker is that they're reliable machines that can last a lifetime. I believe that I've held out on getting a waffle maker till this very day, when I could get a waffle maker that makes waffles in the coolest shapes of the coolest spaceships in the world.

CC

Today We're Starting Our Asian Ice Cream Review-A-Thon!!! - Kit Kat Green Tea Ice Cream Cone

One of the hardest types of treats for me to collect from different parts of the world are ice cream treats.  They just don't ship well. I'm always really frustrated when I hear about a really interesting, ice cream treat that's only available on the other side of  the world. When I travel, one of the first places I look for new treats to review is in the freezer cases at the local grocery store. I know that if I really want to try anything that's on the shelves at these grocery stores, I can probably find someone online who will ship it, but I'll never be able to get ice cream treats sent to me.

Since I'm in Asia right now, I went on a bit of an ice cream buying frenzy last week. I was going to put a bunch of these reviews in the archives for release later on, but I just can't wait to share them with you guys.

Click here to read the first cool review, even though it didn't go very well.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with every Asian ice cream treat we review this week.

You can also keep up with the review-a-thon on Pinterest.

CC

Sunday, November 26, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Grilled Cheese Toaster

I love grilled cheese. I'm also a little lazy. So you can imagine how happy I'd be with this Grilled Cheese Toaster for Christmas.

CC

Saturday, November 25, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - Noir De Noir by Cote D'or

I'm going to shatter your brain a little, and maybe push the limits of what you know about the world when I say "This stuff is better than Nutella". Let that sink in and know that if I knew that this was potentially waiting under the tree this year, I would be on my best behavior all year long.

CC

Friday, November 24, 2017

My Candy/Junk Food Chrsitmas Wishlist - British Chocolate Bars

Are you thinking of getting me something for Christmas this year?  Are you worried it might not be the perfect gift?  Well every day for the next month we're going to post our Christmas wish list so you know exactly what we want. Sure you could use our suggestions to make the candy fanatic in your life happy, but what fun would that be (for us).

What kind of Candy Critic would I be if I didn't have British chocolate bars on my wish list for the holidays. If you've never had the opportunity to try a British chocolate bar, then you just haven't lived.

CC

Candy In The Media - A Tour Of a Japanese Convenience Store


If you've never been to Japan, here's a quick tour of a convenience store, and this should show you why they're so amazing.

CC

Thursday, November 23, 2017

This New Review Is A First For Us... Sort Of - Pocky "Choco Banana Flavour"

The reason it's a first for us is because it's the first time we've ever reviewed a candy twice. The only reason we did the second review is because the candy has changed, in a big way.  I know that candy changes all of the time, sometimes it's advertised as a new and improved version, sometimes the candy companies make slight alterations. When this happens we generally don't re-review the candy, this time however the difference was enough to warrant a new review.

Click here to read the new review for Choco Banana Flavour Pocky.

Are there other candies that you think have changed drastically over the years, let us know on Facebook and Twitter.

Also, follow us on Tumblr because it would make us very happy.

CC

Monday, November 20, 2017

It's Another PEZ Review - PEZ Grape

I told you last week that we would be posting another PEZ review online, and  here it is.  I'm not sure how exciting that is, but it's something we've had to get off our plate. We're still missing a few PEZ flavours, but that will have to wait for another time.

Note - I think next week we'll be having a review-a-thon, and I'm thinking Asian Ice Cream treats.

Click here to read our latest PEZ review.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more about next week's Asian Ice Cream review-a-thon.

Also, follow us on Instagram to keep up with all our Snack Facts.

CC

Friday, November 17, 2017

Candy In The Media - A DIY Gumball Mashine


Make your own gumball machine out of cardboard, then make enough money to buy a real gumball machine.

CC

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Do You Like PEZ? How About PEZ Reviews? - Lemon PEZ

I have to be honest, I wrote this review a few months back. I tell you this because I wanted to write a brand spanking new candy review for you guys, but I can't. I hurt my tongue. I hurt my tongue eating crab, and it sucks. I bit my tongue and it left a small scratch, well that scratch didn't do so well (most likely because I've been eating a lot of acidic foods lately) and it got worse.  It's nothing that won't go away, but frankly the idea of eating anything that isn't totally bland (no acids or salt) sounds awful right now. Fortunately I have a pretty big list of reviews ready to go for just such an occasion, so you guys don't miss out.

While digging through the list I came across this review for lemon PEZ, and it seemed appropriate that this review should go up ASAP. I also have a review for grape PEZ waiting to go up, and if my mouth doesn't heal by Monday, I think I'll post it then.  I should at some point make sure that I have every flavour of PEZ represented on candycritic.org, since it's truly one of the classic candies.

Click here to read all about Lemon PEZ.

Let us know you're favourite flavour of PEZ on Facebook or Twitter.

Also, make sure to please follow us  on Tumblr, because we'd follow you if you asked us nicely.

CC

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

It's A New Episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That!!!


I've decided that Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! needs a bit of sprucing up. After editing this episode I realized it's just the same thing over and over again.  Next month's episode is already recorded, but the new year hopes to bring a new theme to the show.  I'm still working on the details, but hopefully it'll be a little more dynamic and fun, while still watching me eat questionable things.

Either way, I hope you still had fun watching me drink this horrible drink, as noted we discovered later that it did in fact have chunks of grass jelly in it.

Click here to check out old episodes of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!

Also, check here to find old and current episodes of our podcast Junk Fud.

CC

Monday, November 13, 2017

I Was Inspired About Today's New Candy Review - Raspberry Licorice Fudge

I wasn't inspired by the candy itself, in fact if you read the review it's pretty much a failure. What inspired me was a friend with whom we had dinner this weekend. Our friend is from Sweden and she asked me about what kind of Swedish candies I liked. We were talking, and I remembered some of the Swedish candies I've reviewed, in particular a red licorice fudge that I had sitting in my archive to be published. I decided that today would be the perfect day to pull out this review, even though it wasn't that great.

Click here to find out why this raspberry licorice fudge didn't really work.

And make sure to let us know about any treats you find on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

You can also follow us on Pinterest and keep up with all our new candy reviews.

CC

Friday, November 10, 2017

Candy In The Media - Crushing A Coke... Literally


If you like Coca-Cola you can know that the bottle survived much long than expected, if you hate Coca-Cola you can know that it eventually dies a horrible death.

CC

Monday, November 06, 2017

Another Apple Treat To Review - Johnny Apple Treats

Last week we posted a review of a very disappointing Hostess Apple Pie, this week we thought we'd start off with another apple review. I thought that the idea of doing a whole month themed around apple reviews would be fun, but then I realized that I don't really like apple flavoured candies. My next move was to check our archive, to see if there were any old unpublished apple candy reviews, but there wasn't anything. So I guess that means this is not going  to be a month filled with apple themed treats, but two new reviews in a row with an apple theme.

Click here to read this OK apple candy review.

Do you like fake apple flavours? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

You can also follow our Instagram feed because this week we're featuring Snack Facts about Dragron Fruit.

CC

Thursday, November 02, 2017

It's Time For An Apple Candy Review... To Keep The Doctor Away?


Seeing as I'm presently in a place that's really warm, I don't really feel like summer is over. This means that I didn't really feel the fall.  That was until today. Today I was online looking at pictures of friends, and children of friends going out trick-or-treating, and I saw all of the amazing fall colours all around them. This made me nostalgic for fall, and instantly made me think of apples. That's why this review is perfect... except for the fact that it kind of sucked. I guess I'll have to look around for more fall themed candy to review, at least before Christmas starts up.

Click here to read the disappointing fall candy review.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and let us know what your favourite fall treat is.

We're also going to be posting some great new facts on our Instagram feed called Snack Facts.

CC

Wednesday, November 01, 2017

It's A New Episode Of Junk Fud On The Road All About Hong Kong!


Strangely, it's not often that we actually record an episode of Junk Fud on the Road in the place that it's about. This is an exception because on our last day we got caught in a Tsunami and had to stay indoors.  We figured it was the perfect opportunity to get our podcast on.

Click here to find old episodes of  Junk Fud On The Road.

You can also keep up with all of the episodes by following us on Sound Cloud or You Tube.

CC

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Special Halloween Candy In The Media - Featuring Epic Meal Time


The guys at Epic Meal Time not only made one of the most insane Halloween candy abominations, they did it with a strange Juggalos theme. This mix of themes is strange, but somehow they made it work.

CC

Monday, October 30, 2017

It's Time For Our Halloween Candy Review!!!

Since I'm not in North America right now, I was fairly certain that I wasn't going to have a review up for Halloween this year. As it turns out, Halloween has turned into an event here in Asia. I think it's wrapped up in the whole Asian cosplay world, but what that meant for me was the chance to pick up a Halloween treat. Sure it wasn't that impressive, but it was nice to have anyway.

Click here to read our spooky review of Halloween themed Koalas.

Make sure to keep up with our Facebook and Twitter feeds too... if you dare!

We're also posting regularly on Tumblr, so make sure to keep up with what we're doing.

CC

Thursday, October 26, 2017

This New Candy Review Is Just Not Good At All

I'm just getting over a cold, so I've dug into the archive of unpublished reviews for this post.  This review is one I should have published a while back, since it was a topic of an episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! that has been up for a while.  Needless to say, it was awful, it might even be the worst candy I've ever eaten.

Click here to read about this very horrible candy.

You can watch the episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! below.


Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and tell us what your least favourite candy is.

CC

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

I Don't Like Mystery Flavours Anymore

I'd like to call an end to "mystery flavoured", "guess the flavour", and "name that flavour" candies and snacks.  It's not an original concept, and frankly it's very lazy.  For those unfamiliar, this is a trend that started about 10 years ago,  and has gone on strong ever since.  It's most common in potato chips, but I've seen it in other snacks and candy as well.  What this mystery flavour trend is, is a snack in a package, often covered in question marks, with no flavour listed anywhere. Instead of a named flavour the company labels the snack a "mystery" flavour, and sometimes offers the purchaser of the snack the opportunity to name the flavour themselves.  What you're getting is a flavour that the snack companies research and development team found tasty, but couldn't put a finger on what exact flavour it was.

What they do instead is get you to figure that out.  While I'm sure the marketing people at these snack companies would say that they're being "interactive", to me it just comes off as lazy.  There's a very interesting and challenging part of creating a new flavour, and it's about recognition.  If you eat a candy that's supposed to taste like apple, but instead it tastes like blueberry, your brain is going to set off some harsh warning signals.  Your brain may even go so far as to tell you that this apple has gone bad because it doesn't taste like an apple. Even if you like blueberry, and this is the best blueberry candy ever, your brain might tell you that it's gross because of  the expectation of apple flavouring.

This is something that marketing departments at snack companies have to get perfectly right every single time.  If they market a snack with a particular theme, and the flavour doesn't match in our heads with that theme, then it could lead to a complete failure of the snack. New Coke might have worked out perfectly if they didn't market it as a "better" version of Coke. If they had sold it as a different cola instead of a Coke replacement, we might still be drinking it today.  Flavour, and smell (which are very connected in our brains) are connected to our memories in a very strong way. If you smell cinnamon it might evoke memories of Christmas, if you smell pumpkin spice, you immediately think of fall no matter what the season.

This is why it's so important for these snack companies to get the theme and the flavour to match perfectly. When you read a package, your brain is preparing itself before you even take one bite.  If the description on the package does not match at all, then you could be in for a horrible experience no matter how "good" the snack actually is.  There are a few cases where candy companies will actually use this for their own benefit.  Some snack companies make treats that are purposefully the wrong colour for the flavour, to mess with our heads.  Why these snacks don't affect us as negatively is that they advertise it on the package, they warn our brains that something is going to be wrong.

Snack companies are making treats, and rather than taking the risk of labeling them a particular flavour, they're intentionally telling us that they don't have one in mind.  They're taking the easy way out of a very difficult and expensive part of the snack making process.  While this may seem like a clever idea, the problem I have is that every company seems to have a new "mystery" flavour every year.  It's a trend that grew old imediately after the first time it was done.

I don't eat snacks to solve a mystery, I eat snacks to satisfy my craving for whatever flavour I've been offered.  Sometimes I'm interested in trying new things, but I want to try new things that have a name, not a question mark.

CC