Popcorn Can Be Weird

 If you've ever wanted to see the weirdest stop motion short film on the subject of popcorn, then you're in luck.

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Is Carnival Food Too Much?

 I feel like the world of carnival food has changed a great deal over the last decade or so. As a person that gets sick on rides, the average carnival only offers me two things really. First of all it offers me a chance to look at life in the more rural areas of the world, secondly it offers me food. In particular carnivals offer me food that I can't really find outside of the carnival gate. I always have a great time visiting carnivals, and in particular tasting the food (despite my stomach aches afterwards).

Having said that, not all carnival food is equal. There are two categories of carnival food that I really love. The first is the local specialty. Often carnivals will offer food that is made local by people who may sell their treats and meals at around the area where the carnival takes place. These can be anything from baked goods to specialty meats, even some local restaurants might pop in now and again. Food trucks have also made their presence known in many carnivals, and it's great. It actually seems like the last place in the world where chain restaurants are not the leaders of the food industry. While I've seen a few chain restaurants with stalls at carnivals, most of them don't really have long lines. 

The other food I love from carnivals is the classic carnival treats. These are often simple treats that give zero interest in nutritional value. Most of these classic carnival foods focus on your primal instinct to consume carbs, sugar and fat. It could be a waffle ice cream sandwich.

A corn dog with mustard, an essential topping I might add.

Or the only essential thing for us to get every time we visit a carnival, the mini doughnuts (from Tiny Tom Donuts whenever possible). These classic carnival foods prove that dietary rules do not count at the fair, and any stomach ache you might have afterwards came from being in the sun too long or too many rides on the Gravitron and not the amazing amount of fat you just consumed.

There is one type of food however that always makes me nervous at carnivals. It's the over the top stunt food that seems like it just shouldn't work (above is a deep fried Twinkie that just didn't taste great).  While I like over the top food, I have a problem with the latest trends in this kind of food at carnivals. First of all I feel like many of the options are not going to surprise you in how good they actually are.

Take for example this recent treat available at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Ketchup and Mustard flavoured ice cream. I saw several videos and post of people trying it out, and almost all of them didn't really like it that much. It makes sense, it doesn't really seem like something people would like. The second problem with this is that unlike many carnival foods, stunt foods like these are often very expensive. I believe each cone costs around 12 dollars. It became a treat for social media influencers with a bit of extra money. I don't totally hate the idea of stunt food at carnivals, but I feel like some foods are a little bit outside the carnival spirit. Don't dare me to eat something at a carnival, make something so weird, yet so tempting that you have to dare me not to buy it.

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The Best VS The Worst

 I'm starting to creep up on 2000 reviews for candycritic.org. While most of those candies rank somewhere in the middle, there are two reviews that are on the far edge, and one is at each end.

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Reading Snack Facts - Issue 8

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 8 all about lollipops.

If you want to pick up your own copy of Snack Facts in either the micro edition or the full sized edition visit http://candycritic.org/snackfacts/

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A Little Pride In Your Ice Cream

This treat brings up an interesting debate that's been around for a few years. Is it positive for large brands to make a Pride version of their treats? On one side of the coin it's great that inclusivity is being celebrated, but on the other side of the coin one wonders if this is being used as a marketing ploy. Celebrations and holidays have been used to sell items for a very long time, but it seems like there are certain holidays and celebrations that are off limits. I don't really have an opinion on this particular treat, other than the fact that it's a new design and flavour combination that I've never seen or tasted before. While I endorse inclusivity in all its forms, I don't have an opinion on how others choose to celebrate Pride.

While I avoid a great deal of the politic, you can read my review and find out how I felt about the ice cream treat.

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The Best Spice Is Tree Bark

 Interesting where cinnamon comes from, and even interesting to watch them harvest it.

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Time To Mound On Some Science

 I'm not a huge fan of Mounds bars, but I thought that maybe I could improve them by adjusting their temperature. Turns out I was right.

Follow me on YouTube for all my videos as soon as they come out.

Also check out my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see what I'm working on right now.

While you're at it, check out my book called Treats and Beasts, it'll make you happy I'm sure.

Reading Snack Facts - Issue 7

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 7 all about Valentine's Day chocolates.

If you want to pick up your own copy of Snack Facts in either the micro edition or the full sized edition visit http://candycritic.org/snackfacts/

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Classics, But Not For Me

 

When I first started candycritic.org, there were a few classic treats that I thought I'd never review. These treats just weren't my cup of tea, and I figured if I wrote these reviews I'd only be slagging a candy that I knew I didn't like. This week's featured review is most certainly one of those treats, but as time has moved forward, my opinion on treats has changed. My sense of completionism makes me want to check every single candy check mark that I can, and my feelings about trying to like things that I used to hate has grown. So it may have taken me years, but I'm slowly starting to review classic candies that I never really liked. Sometimes I might change my mind, other times... well...

Find out if I changed my mind about mounds.

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How They Make Gelatin

 If you're squeamish you might not want to know.

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Is Choco Like, Like Better Than Nutella

I would say that curiosity was the reason I bought this jar of chocolate spread. I don't really understand the name, and most importantly I was curious if it actually contained any chocolate. The reason I wondered is because I wasn't sure if the word "like" meant that it was similar but not chocolate, or if it was just saying that it approved of chocolate. Considering it contains cocoa powder I'm guessing the latter. I probably could have answered that question in the grocery store by just looking at the package, but then I wouldn't have found out how it compares to Nutella. 

Of all of the spreads I've tried since starting this series of blogs, I would say that this spread is the closest to Nutella. Maybe not in quality or at the very least how much I like it, but as far as being a simple chocolate hazelnut spread. I feel like it's not as good as Nutella, but it's also not bad at all. In a pinch I would certainly recommend this if you're really craving some hazelnut spread and Nutella isn't available.

While the spread is just fine, the name is bold and a little weird, and I like that. Now that I know it contains cocoa, and is in fact made with chocolate like ingredients, I'll read the words "Choco Like" in a 1980s valley girl voice.

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Reading Snack Facts - Issue 6

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 6 all about theaters snacks.

If you want to pick up your own copy of Snack Facts in either the micro edition or the full sized edition visit http://candycritic.org/snackfacts/

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Candy Critic's Monthly Review-A-Thon Starts Today

 I think I mentioned this earlier, but I've decided that I'm going to have a review-a-thon every month on candycritic.org. For those unfamiliar, instead of just posting two reviews this week, I'm going to post a new review every day. This week I've got some neat new treats, including a treat with the best cookie design I've seen in a long time. I also have a Pocky variety that confused me a little, and a bag of chips that was missing a few crucial elements. So make sure to follow us on social media so you can keep up with each and every new review.

To start us off, I've decided to look at a piece of chocolate, from a place that really knows their chocolate.

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Where Pineapples Grow

 I've seen pineapples grown, but I've never been to a pineapple farm.

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Reading Snack Facts - Issue 5

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 5 all about candy canes.

If you want to pick up your own copy of Snack Facts in either the micro edition or the full sized edition visit http://candycritic.org/snackfacts/

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Can Retro Candy Be Too Retro

 

There's the common idea that all retro candy is great, but I'm not sure that I completely agree. In fact I have several reviews on this site for retro candies that are nowhere near the best candy ever. There is the fact that some candies that where made a really long time ago, may not be much more than burnt sugar. These candies did not have the technology that we have now, or even the technology that's been around for the last 40 years to make something great. I will however admit that I am as guilty as anyone for loving a candy not because it's objectively good, but because it takes me back to my childhood. Sure I try and point that out in my reviews, but I'm sure some nostalgia slips through the cracks.

Check out my latest review of a truly retro/nostalgic treat.

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A Deep Dive Into Turkish Ice Cream

 One might argue that it's not technically ice cream, but there's a good argument to say it is too.

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Making a Chocolate Dinosaur

If you're unfamiliar with Kracie Pop 'n' Kitchen, it's a series of do it yourself candy making kits from Japan. The theme of most of these kits is to make miniature candy/snack versions of popular Japanese meals. The process to make these kits is can be very complicated, but also a lot of fun. I recently came across a new kind of kit from Kracie, one that focuses on learning, as opposed to eating, and it's also a bit less labour intensive. I picked up one of these kits that teaches you something (?) about dinosaurs.

The aim of the kit is to have you make several chocolate dinosaur parts out of chocolate, then using the handy placemat that also happens to be the bag holding everything together, figure out which dinosaur(s) you got and learn something about them. I did not learn anything about my dinosaurs, but that's only because I can't read Japanese. Fortunately for me my focus is on making the chocolates.

The instructions on how to make your kit are half illustrations and half in Japanese. I might have been able to figure out most of this without Google translate, but I may have had a few challenges figuring out the timing for letting the chocolate melt and set.

Speaking of melting the chocolate, that was the first step towards making these chocolaty dino shapes. It was surprisingly easy, and I can only assume I did it right. All you have to do is take the two bags of chocolate chips and put them in a cup of boiling water for 5 minutes. This was the part that I had the most guess work as even the translated instructions didn't make much sense. Fortunately it seemed to work fairly well.

After the 5 minutes I tested to see if the chocolate had melted by squishing the bags. I was pretty amazed at how quickly and smoothly the chocolate had melted, but I probably shouldn't be as the folks at Kracie are masters of candy chemistry. After melting the chocolate I folded it as shown on the package and cut the tip off.

The next step is probably the one that requires the most patience and steady hand of this entire project. Having said that, compared to the other Kracie kits I've done (see video here), it's still pretty easy. I had to carefully squirt the chocolate into the mould. One of the tricks on the package suggests that you tap the mould after you've filled it in order to let the chocolate settle better.

Before the chocolate sets, you're supposed to add the cookie crumbs. I'm not really sure what this adds to the aesthetics of the dinosaur, but it did add a little crunch to the chocolate. After the cookies were added it was into the freezer for 10 minutes (apparently you can also use your refrigerator for 20 minutes instead).

The next part was really the moment of truth. This would be the moment when I discovered if I made any mistakes, or if the kit had any flaws. It was time to pop the set chocolate dinosaur parts onto my plate. Fortunately for me, neither Kracie nor myself had any problems.

It did take a little work to shake out the pieces, some of the shapes were more challenging than others. In general I was pretty happy with the results, and while I had a few small bubbles in a few places, I felt like I, and the team from Kracie, did a great job making these dinosaurs.

The next stage was to sort out my pieces and construct my dinosaurs.

I had two complete dinosaurs.

A footprint and a shell.

I looked up my dinosaurs on the placemat, and I did find them, however I didn't really learn anything due to the language barrier. I didn't mind though because I always have Google to look up information on dinosaurs, and while I'm doing that, I have some tasty dinosaurs to eat.

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