Monday, January 30, 2017

This Week In Candy

I've been working on the article all about winter themed candy ideas, and it lead to a new idea.  I was asking my friend Jess about some winter themed candy ideas when she started to get into the idea of Canadian candy ideas.  Since Canada is turning 150 years old this year, it sounds like designing some special edition Canadian candies would be a good idea.  I'm still at the early stages of this idea, however if you can think of some good ingredients, flavours or themes for Canadian candies, let me know.

Speaking of Canadian candies, not too many people seem to be interested in my campaign to get Tim Horton's to make a Beavertail style doughnut.  I'm still going to keep pushing it, but I really need your help too.  Call your local MP, write to the Prime Minister, at the very least make sure to post our fun little graphic (found here) on Facebook or Twitter.

This week on candycritic.org, we should be posting the latest episode of Junk Fud On The Road, all about the UK.  Hopefully we'll also post the special article all about winter themed candies that we've designed (as we mentioned above). We're also starting to think of fun future adventures later in the year, and gearing up for a big one (but we'll talk more about that later).

As for this week's review, it's a "new" variety of Sour Patch Kids, that I hope sticks around for a little while.  In fact I hope they keep trying new varieties as I think these gummies work really well with alternative flavours.  Click here to read the review.

CC

Friday, January 27, 2017

Candy In The Media


Watching people make mochi (a strange Japanese dessert) is both heart stopping and mesmerizing.

CC

Monday, January 23, 2017

This Week In Candy

I have a mission. Allison has recently inspired a mission that I feel the whole world (or at the very least Canada) must achieve. We as people of earth must convince Tim Horton's to make a Beaver Tail inspired doughnut.  This would achieve the greatest, and most, Canadian thing every accomplished and what could be better than that? The thing is I cannot achieve this mission alone, I need your help. I've posted an image (click here to see the image) that I encourage you to share, and make sure to include @BeaverTails and @TimHortons in the post. Tell them that you want a #BeaverTailDoughnut, and you want it now!

I don't want anything in return except the opportunity to sink my teeth in into a Beaver Tails Doughnut. Check our Facebook and Twitter for regular updates on our noble mission.

Speaking of doughnuts, we're still adding all kinds of doughnuts to our newest project, the Doughnut Project on Instagram. Our continuing goal to sample every doughnut Tim Horton's has to offer (and hopefully one day this will include a Beaver Tail doughnut) is going well, and we've now decided to include Timbits. This week we're also recording (and hopefully posting, the latest episode of Junk Fud On The Road, I believe this episode will be all about the UK.

This week's new candy review is a classic bar that I was so convinced I had already reviewed, I taped an episode of In Hindsight early this year about it.  As it turns out I hadn't even reviewed it yet, so looking back on the review was a little silly. Instead I decided to rectify the missing review and make sure it was well represented.  Click here to read about my favorite white chocolate bar.

CC

Friday, January 20, 2017

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

A Vending Machine Book Candy Thing


Learn something about those machines that give you a little joy by simply dropping a little pocket change.

CC

Monday, January 16, 2017

This Week In Candy

This past week I came across something that really rubbed me the wrong way. I posted a photo on our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and asked if people could figure out why the photo bothered me. Instantly everyone figured out what was wrong with these cookies (see the image here). You might at first think it's the pink colour of the cookies, while not really that appetizing, it wasn't the real problem. The real problem is very simple, mini Hershey's Kisses are just chocolate chips, calling them mini Hershey's Kisses sounds silly.  I'm sure Hershey would argue and say that these "Mini Kisses" are made of the same chocolate as Hershey's Kisses, so they are in fact not the same.  I would then argue that chocolate chips come in a huge variety of chocolate types. This might make me start calling regular Hershey's Kisses, giant chocolate chips.

What do you think about these mini Hershey's Kisses, are they just chocolate chips, or is there something different about them?

This week here at candycritic.org we're starting to work out our designs for winter candies. Last week we told you about our goal to create a few special winter candies that aren't Christmas or Valentine's candies. A few people have suggested some great ideas, but we're still looking for more, so send us any winter candy ideas to us via Facebook, Twitter, or just comment below. We're also still updating the Doughnut Project and Snack Facts regularly.  You can check out both of these projects on our Instagram feed (as well as our Facebook and Twitter feeds).

This week's new review is not my favourite candy in the world, but it brings back fond memories.  It reminds me of the time I spent Christmas in Australia.  Not only was this a fun trip to remember, but it also reminds me that at least somewhere in the world there are people that aren't freezing. Click here to read this memory inducing review.

CC

Friday, January 13, 2017

Candy In The Media


This is likely the most progressive candy advertisement using sex to sell candy.

CC

Thursday, January 12, 2017

A New Episode Of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! Is Online!


For the first time ever, we have a guest on Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!. I'm not sure who was most afraid of doing this, my nephew Feroner, or me.  But we ended up having a really good time, and I think we might try another episode in the future.

CC

Monday, January 09, 2017

This Week In Candy

Boy is it cold out there. It's our first winter in six years (we've been living overseas) and it's been pretty extreme, in Canada where I live we've had more than 150 cm of snow, and as I write this the temperature is around -15 degrees. It got me thinking about winter candy, or the lack of it. Sure there are a huge range of candies for Christmas, but the day after Christmas Valentine's day and Easter candies start to appear on the shelf. What about January, and half of February, what are we supposed to eat then?

A great deal of candy in this world is really designed for summer. Anything you eat with your fingers can be cumbersome while wearing gloves or mitts. Mint flavours make your insides freeze along with your outsides. Most fruit flavours just remind me of warmer days, and that's depressing. And ice cream is just out of the question. So what kind of candy can we eat in the winter? Maybe I'll think about it and try and design some specialty winter treats. If you have any ideas, let me know on Facebook, Twitter, or comment below.

This week on Candy Critic we're going to post our latest episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! featuring a special guest, my nephew Feroner. We shot a two (maybe three) part candy tasting series over the holidays. The first episode is online at Feroner's YouTube channel right now, make sure to check it out here. Part two is going up on our YouTube channel later this week. It was a pretty intense episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! but we both survived.

To help me think about warmer days, I decided to review a classic African candy bar.  I figure that since it's summer there right now, maybe it'll make me feel better (nope). While this bar has brought back fond memories of the time I visited Africa, it really wasn't that impressive itself.  Click here to find out why.

CC

Friday, January 06, 2017

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Most Memorable Candies Reviewed In 2016

2016 has been a pretty big year of change for us at candycritic.org.  Actually it's been a return to lack of change, if you look at it technically.  This is the year we returned home after 6 years away.  The goal, to get back in touch with my Canadian roots, with a few stops in the US to make sure I haven't missed any other North American things.  Because of this change, our reviews have been pretty eclectic as well.  We've had candies from all over the world, but over the last few months, a focus on North America.

I feel like my palette has evolved with living abroad and I look at North American candy a little differently. Sometimes I think I see it as more nostalgic (particularly during the holidays) and sometimes I see it as so advanced and confusing.  It really depends on my mood, and the candy.

This post is all about looking back at old reviews.  I've picked 5 that are not the best or worst, but some of the most memorable reviews of 2016. They're each memorable for different reasons, some good, and some bad but all made me happy that I was a Candy Critic.

Worst Candy - Remember in that paragraph above where I said that this list does not contain the "best or worst" candies, well I kind of lied. This durian candy might be the worst tasting candy I'd eaten all year.  It was so bad that it was memorable, and that's why it's on this list.  If you're not familiar with durian, it's a fruit found in Asia.  This fruit smells so bad, that many airlines will not let you bring them aboard.  I can only describe the smell as being similar to sweaty gym socks, rotten onions, and burning tires.  The connoisseur of this fruit claims that although it smells really bad, the flavour is smooth and creamy. The problem is that the smell is so pungent that it's really hard to taste anything but the gross smell.  Needless to say, these candies while being very gross, pretty much match the fruit perfectly.

Click here to read the Durian Cream Filled Chocolate review.

Craziest Chip That Worked -There seems to be a trend these days of making sweet flavoured potato chips.  Sweet and savory in the potato chip world is nothing new.  When I was a kid I remember tasting my first chocolate covered potato chip, and although it was a delicacy, it was around.  Today we see chocolate covered pretzels and sweet flavoured potato chips at our local corner store.  The chocolate covered snacks work most of the time, the sweet flavoured chips aren't always as successful. These chips not only worked, but they worked in a very unique way.  They combined two flavours that worked together, butter and honey, then mixed them with potato chips.  The butter works with potatoes as well, but this is the first time I've seen it matched with chips, and it works. These chips not only tasted great, but they made me think about new possibilities in potato chip flavours.

Click here to read the Lay's "Honey Butter" review.

Strange And Memorable Candy - I don't know how much I liked, or disliked this candy, but I seem to remember about the adventure of trying to find it.  This candy was bought as a result of me trying to find candy in India.  It was one of our last adventures when we were living abroad, and I wanted to find something that represented our trip to India.  These stick out to me because they remind me of our secondary mission in India, to eat as many different varieties of mango as possible.  That mission was a great success, even thought this candy wasn't.

Click here to read the Mango Papdams review.


Candy Most Likely To Make Me Enjoy Licorice - This candy represents two things for me.  First of all it's a step towards me trying to gain a taste for licorice.  In the last few years, living abroad, I decided to try and change my palette in two ways, one to gain a taste for licorice, and secondly to try and tolerate hotter foods.  Both of these have been fairly successful so far, and I felt that the fact that I kind of liked these chocolate covered licorice candies was proof.  The second thing these candies represented to me was those chance meetings where things go really well.  Allison was in New York at some meetings (I tagged along), and there was a small reception.  I talked to a few people at this reception, often about candy.  I met one man who was from Iceland, and I mentioned to him that I'd never eaten candy from Iceland before.  He mentioned that he happened to have a giant bag of Icelandic candy with him to share with anybody who might be interested.  I ended up leaving with a big bag of puffin eggs and a great story.

Click here to read the Freyju Djupur Sukkuladihjupadur Lakkris (Also known as Puffin Eggs) review.

Most Surprising Variety - It's very rare that a "normal" candy makes my list of most memorable, but these Skittles really worked well.  First of all I first tried them in the fall, actually I first tried them while walking through Gatineau park in Quebec while walking a trail during the fall.  Gatineau park is world famous for the beautiful fall colours, and this day did not fail.  I was walking along eating these Skittles and the flavour just worked so perfectly.  Even though a few of them aren't orchard fruit from where I live. The fruit choice was perfect, and the timing was perfect.  This doesn't always happen when I'm eating candy, but when it does it's truly magical.

Click here to read the Skittles "Orchards" review.

CC


Monday, January 02, 2017

This Week In Candy

Well it's the new year and that means there's going to be a few changes here at candycritic.org. The first change has already started and that's with our Instagram feed, formerly known as Snack Facts. From now on our Instagram feed will feature both Snack Facts (but on a reduced schedule) and the Doughnut Project. The Doughnut Project is an attempt by me to taste as many different Tim Horton's doughnuts as I can. At this point there is no end date to this project, and I'm not likely going to actually get through all of them as Tim Horton's keep coming up with new flavours all the time. The Doughnut Project is also featured on our Candy Map where we mark each location where I bought the doughnuts.

The other project that is going to change is our podcast Junk Fud. At this point we are retiring Junk Fud News. It was a project that took a lot of time and frankly everything on it is available on our Twitter and Facebook feeds. We still plan on continuing Junk Fud On The Road monthly, as well as our not so regular Junk Fud And You podcasts. Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!, our video show will also continue.

There has been some thought of discontinuing our weekly Candy Thing blog post, and instead featuring Candy Things during some holidays and special events. We had hoped that people would find these things interesting, but it doesn't look like anybody cares.

Our goal in doing this is to focus on  other things, mainly reviews and original articles on this blog. Some of the fun was lost on this blog for us, and we want it back.

This all leads us to this week. Having shrunk down some of the content here on candycritic.org, we had time to put together a fun little article collecting our most memorable reviews of 2016. We should have that ready to go online tomorrow for you to check out.


As usual, we have a new candy review online, in fact we're going to start the new year off with a bang and we have a review-a-thon going up all this week. We figured why not start the year right with a Kat Kat review-a-thon. Our first entry is from Japan, one of the best places to get Kit Kats in the world.  You can read that review right here. But make sure to keep up with the whole review-a-thon this week by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or check here daily.

CC