Ube Love

 There are certain dessert and sweet ingredients that one associates with certain countries around the world. Turkish delight, Swiss chocolate, Thai Mango Sticky Rice just to name a few. The Philippines however has an ingredient that is not only popular there, but even grows there. In fact this ingredient was first discovered growing there and is considered the place of origin. This is actually fairly rare for treats to be native and still considered their native dish. I’m talking about ube, and it’s a pretty amazing sweet treat.

Ube translates to tuber, and as you might of guessed is a potato. It’s a sweet potato that has one amazing feature, it’s really purple. I don’t know if there is any other natural food in the world that is this purple. It’s such an amazing hue of purple that I’m surprised it’s not one of the most Instragramed foods in the world. It’s beautiful, and it keeps its colour no matter what application you use it.

This ingredient is everywhere in Filipino cooking, particularly in desserts. You won’t find a menu at any restaurant or bakery that doesn’t have something that’s bright purple in the Philippines. Whether you bake with it, or use it as a sauce, it has such a unique stamp that you know for sure what’s going on. The other advantage is that it actually tastes pretty good as well. On its own it has a fairly sweet flavour with a slight nuttiness. This makes it a great flavour for so many desserts and gives a bit of sweet that isn’t too overpowering.

Probably the most common way to enjoy ube is in a jam form. This jam is often used inside baked goods from croissant to mochi. You can also get the jam on its own, which I imagine you could even spread on toast if you like. Honestly I’m not sure what the traditional uses for ube jam are, because today it’s just used so many ways that it’s hard to pinpoint down an exact history.

While the jam is the most popular, there are many other uses for this purple potato. There are several different ice cream brands that offer an ube flavoured ice cream. There’s even one that makes a chocolate covered ice cream bar, but they also add ube to the chocolate to give it a nutty flavour and very purple colour. I also recently tried a rice porridge (like a rice pudding) that was ube flavoured. It was really great because the nutty flavour of the potato cut through the sweet flavour of the rice porridge really well. I feel like there are endless ways you could use this ingredient, and I think it’s about time Kit Kat came up with an ube bar.

When you first see this purple potato, it kind of shocks your system. It’s so bold and bright that you expect one of two things. You either expect it to blow your socks off with the flavour, or you expect it to be all show with no flavour. The good thing is it’s neither. Ube is a wonderful, slightly sweet flavour with a wonderful nutty kick. If you ever find yourself in the Philippines (or in the presence of a good Filipino cook) and they offer you something bright purple, go for it, you won’t regret it at all.

Quick List - The Worst Candies For Each Letter of the Alphabet - G-K

 A quick list of the worst candies from each letter of the alphabet. This time we're going to be checking out G through K.

Check out all my review for every letter of the alphabet right now at www.candycritic.org/alphareview.htm

Get Yourself Some Blue Orchid

 In case you didn't know, I'm currently writing and drawing a comic called Blue Orchid. It's a fun adventure filled with monsters and a kick ass heroine.

Get your copies of the latest issues at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/ or on Amazon.

Taffy, Is It Underrated

I don't really think that much about taffy. I'm not convinced that taffy is anyone's favourite candy. While it's not my favourite candy, I can't really think of every having a bad taffy experience. I've even had a few really good ones too. I'm not sure why, but for some reason taffy seems like a cheap candy. I'm not talking about inexpensive either, I don't think I've ever had fancy taffy before. It always seems like something that's cheaper. I'd like to try a fancy taffy one day, but honestly I'm not sure how you could improve it.

Check out my latest taffy review.

Junk Fud and You - Why I Turn My Back On Candy Stores

 You'd think I wouldn't miss a candy store if I ever came across one, but nothing could be further from the truth, and here's why.

Have You Got Treats and Beasts?

 If you love learning about treats and the beasts that love them in alphabetical order, do I have the perfect book for you.

Picky up my illustrated book called Treats And Beasts right now at bewarethecheese.com/treatsnbeasts/ or on Amazon.

Saffron as a Candy Ingredient

There are a few flavours out in the world that I just don't understand, and saffron is one of them. It's a very popular and every expensive ingredient, but I really don't get the hype. The only thing I really enjoy with saffron is a raisin bread that my grandmother used to make, but she used so little of it (because it was expensive) that I'm convinced it barely made any difference to the flavour. Anything I've had that truly tastes like saffron is always a little off putting for me. I'm still going to continue to sample saffron based treats, but I have yet to have one that's wowed me.

Check out the latest saffron treat that I've reviewed right now.

For The Love Of Swensen's

Have you ever had something that you were sure was a memory shared by just about everyone, only to find that you’re one of the few? I feel like Swensen’s ice cream is that for me. This isn’t a recent memory either, this is a deep rooted childhood memory. It’s also a memory of something that no longer exists, at least in the way I remember it. Taste and smells are said to be one of the most important ways of connecting people to memories, and everything about Swensen’s fits that bill for me.

When I was a little kid, my father used to take me and my sister to Swensen’s in the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. We would either get a large sundae and share it, or we would get several small sundaes and have our own. I feel like it was a very regular occurrence, and it was most certainly something that would happen on your birthday. I was young enough that I never really thought about where this business originated. In my head it was either a special place just for us or it could have been all over the world (like McDonald’s). I frankly didn’t care, but it was a place I figured would be around forever, but it wasn’t.

In my early teens the Eaton Centre went through some major renovations, and in these renovations Swensen’s was lost. There were no other locations that I knew of, so my assumption was that I would never have a Swensen’s Sundae again. At the time the internet didn’t exist, so there was no looking it up to find out if other locations existed. It was just gone, and while I was sad at first, I eventually stopped pinning for it and let it rest in the back of my mind as a fond memory. In some ways the memories got so faded that I wasn’t sure how real any of them were.

Time went on, the internet became a thing, but I never even imagined that this distant memory could have actually been more than just a single location that was gone, but still held memories. Then I moved overseas and I went to South East Asia, and I learned that Swensen’s still existed. Best of all, the decorations for the newly discovered locations where filled with nostalgic touches. These bits of nostalgia matched my memories perfectly. The first time I saw one of these restaurants (in Thailand I believe), I may have actually shed a tear.

I got some ice cream with Allison, she thought it was fine, I was immediately brought back to my childhood. Now that I lived in South East Asia (where most of their locations are), I was even able to enjoy a birthday or two at Swensen’s. People say that reliving memories as an adult can be dangerous because they never live up to what you remember. With Swensen’s that just isn’t the case. Sure I’m not with my sister or father, but being with Allison is pretty great, and the ice cream treats are exactly what I remember.

The good thing is that I don’t actually remember the quality of the ice cream or toppings. I don’t remember any one particular item on the menu that I loved. I just remember the old fashioned light fixtures, the classic ice cream bowls and spoons and just enjoying ice cream the way it was served it its heyday. I could say that everything I want is back, but that’s only kind of true.

While I’m still living in South East Asia now, it wont be forever. Our plans are to retire back in Canada, and that means my access to Swensen’s will be little to none. Sure I know it still exists, and I can double check that on the internet, but it’s not easily accessible on my birthday (it’ll take a good 15 hours to fly). So what I would love is what I always wanted. I want Swensen’s back in Canada, at the Eaton Centre, right where it belongs.

A Candy Experiment With PopTarts

 There are two ways you're supposed to prepare a PopTart, I decided to experiment with 5.

All Those Snack Facts

Have you ever wondered who made the first scoop of ice cream? Or maybe you've wondered why theatres sell popcorn.

Well wonder no more, pick up my comic called Snack Facts and let all your snacking questions get answered.

You can pick up your very own copy right now at candycritic.org/snackfacts/ or on Amazon.

Lemon Wafer?

Fruit and wafers works, but you really have to chose the fruit wisely. Even if you pick a good fruit to match with a wafer bar, balancing the flavour is important as well. The problem I have with some fruit flavoured wafer bars is that the texture and flavour of the wafers seems to take away from the fruit flavour. If they work together it's a beautiful contrast, but it can be disastrous too. Fortunately the folk at Manner have been doing this kind of treat for decades, and they do a pretty good job at getting the balance just right.

Check out the full review of this lemon wafer bar right now.

Another 10 Second Kitchen

 Today we're seeing Japanese barbecue in the heart of Korea.

Blue Orchid Is Here!

If you like reading exciting stories filled with monsters, then I have the perfect comic for you.

Check out Blue Orchid right now at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/ or on Amazon.

Making Wafers Great

I truly have mixed feelings about wafer bars. Some of my favourite candy bars and cookies are wafer based bar, but some of my least favourite candy bars and cookies are also wafer based. It really is an ingredient that can go either direction. The weird thing is I'm not really sure what makes for a great wafer based bar, I just know a good one when I eat it. Fortunately the folks at Manner make a good bar, and that's what I have to eat today. While it's not as good as their regular bar, it's still pretty tasty.

Check out my latest wafer bar review.

The Many Flavours of Tang in the Philippines

On a recent trip to the Philippines, I discovered what might be the greatest collection of Tang flavours offered anywhere in the world. I’ve tasted some pretty fun flavours of Tang in my life, but most places that sell a lot of Tang tend to offer 2 or 3 standard flavours, and maybe one or two unique flavours. In the Philippines however, they sell no less than 10 or 15 flavours, and it seems like they sell them at all times.

Best of all, they offer these flavours in small single serving packages. One of the biggest problems I have in sampling new flavours of Tang is that I often have to buy a giant bag of the stuff, and if I don’t like this new flavour I’m stuck with a lot of leftovers.

I decided on my recent trip to try and pick up a whole bunch of different flavours and taste test each and every one of them. The original idea was to try them on the trip, but I quickly realised there are just too many flavours, and not enough time on my vacation. So I decided to drink as many flavours as I could there, but would allow myself to take a few home.

I didn’t get to taste each and every flavour offered in the Philippines, but I did taste a lot. I also avoided what I deemed as common flavours that I think I’ve seen in other countries. I’ll be honest, I’ve never drank so much Tang in my life in such a short time, but I’ve also never had some much fun drinking Tang in my life either.

Four Seasons (pineapple, orange, mango, guava)

Colour - An ungodly orange.

Flavour - Imagine a fruit punch, only without any fruit that would give it a red colour. We always associate fruit punch with red, but logically many tropical fruits aren’t actually red, so this makes more sense. The problem with this mix is that the guava flavour dominates, with the other fruits being almost indistinguishable.

Honey Lemon

Colour - A cloudy yellow.

Flavour - It kind of works. I say kind of because honey is a really hard flavour to get right in powdered drink form. Tang is already very sweet, and while the sweet of this is a little different than classic Tang, I’m not sure I’d call it honey. The lemon is your classic Tang lemon flavour, and it dominates. This basically tastes like a super sweet lemon drink, with an odd flavour I just can’t place, but I guess we can call it honey.

Melon

Colour - A murky orange.

Flavour - I’m not a big fan of melon flavoured candies and treats, with the biggest problem being that they don’t offer the refreshment that real melon provides. I thought that maybe in drink form it might work, but alas there’s one giant problem, it’s too sweet. This is coming from a guy who runs a fairly prolific candy review website too.

Guyabano 

Colour - A murky green/yellow white.

Flavour - I should start by saying that I have no recollection of ever eating or drinking anything called guyabano before tasting this. I have sampled many tropical fruits and juices in many parts of the world, so maybe I’ve tried it under a different name. However, based on the flavour of this Tang, I would say that a guyabano tastes kind of like an apple and pear combination. As Tangs go, this one’s not that bad.

Apple Iced Tea

Colour - An appropriately reddish brown.

Flavour - I’m not sure that I’ve ever had a real apple iced tea in my life, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. What I can say is that this starts off with a hint of fake apple, but suddenly it’s stopped with something I can only describe and tea like. Neither flavour really dominates, but they also don’t really blend together very well. I’m thankful that it’s not just fake apple, but I'm not sure about the iced tea. It’s also very sweet for iced tea.

Mixed Berries Lemonade

Colour - A murky purple.

Flavour - I don’t think this really tastes like lemonade, but it does have a hint of berry. It also doesn’t just taste like a berry flavour drink either though. The best way I would describe it is that it tastes like a random berry lollipop made up of that compressed sugar candy. It’s very tasty, but I’m not sure I’d call it refreshing, mostly because it’s super sweet. I actually had to double check the directions to make sure I made it properly, because I was convinced I must have made it with too little water. It’s good, but it’s also a little odd.

Lychee

Colour - A murky white with a hint of pink.

Flavour - Before this day I had never even thought of Tang making a lychee flavoured drink before. Lychee (to someone who was brought up in North America) seemed like a flavour that was too exotic/fancy to make into a flavour of Tang. The thing is, it’s perfect. I’ve had lychee juice in the past, and flavour wise this is super close. The texture of the drink is a little different than lychee juice, but flavour wise it’s really close. It’s probably because lychee are super sweet already, so since Tang is a super sweet drink it just makes sense.

Apple

Colour - Surprisingly similar to real apple juice.

Flavour - In science fiction, food replicators are often described as making food that tastes similar to the real thing only just a little off, and not in the good way. That’s probably how I would describe this apple Tang. Your taste buds just keep hoping that it will taste like apple juice, but it just doesn’t get there.

Grape

Colour - Very, very purple… almost too purple.

Flavour - In the past I would describe the flavour of most Tang flavours to be sweet, maybe even too sweet. While this is a very sweet drink, it also has a slight (very slight) sourness to it as well. It’s very subtle, but it adds a nice counterbalance to the intense sweet flavour. The grape flavour itself tastes nothing like real grapes, but it has that fake grape flavour that I’m so used to by now that it doesn’t bother me that it’s fake.

Strawberry Lemonade

Colour - A murky pink colour, which is fine because it’s lemonade.

Flavour - Just before I took my first sip of this Tang, I wondered if this was going to taste more of lemonade or strawberry. As it turns out, kind of neither. I guess if I had a gun to my head I would say more lemonade, but lemonade with a really strong fruit like flavour that I wouldn’t really describe and strawberry. This is a tough flavour to get right since I’m a big fan of frozen strawberries in my lemonade, so I have some reference for what it should taste like.

Calamansi

Colour - A murky yellow.

Flavour - I have a bit of a beef with Tang, and it’s all about when they choose to make a flavour that’s orange adjacent. I’ve had a few flavours of Tang that are based on fruit that are very close to orange, but slightly different. For the most part I find that the flavour of these Tangs is very similar to their regular orange, only they’re dyed a different colour. This Calaminsi falls right into that category. I find it hard to believe that this is that much different than their regular orange flavour, except for the fact that it’s yellow instead of orange coloured.

Strawberry

Colour - A very bright pink.

Flavour - I’d probably say that this flavour is the least surprising of all the flavours I’ve tasted so far. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s also not a great thing either. It’s a perfectly fine fake strawberry flavour that works fairly well when it’s a really sweet drink. There’s nothing subtle about the flavour, even opening the package has a strong fake strawberry smell. It’s perfectly fine, but nothing unique about it at all.

Pomelo

Colour - A murky pink with a hint of orange (pretty close to the fruit to be honest).

Flavour - As with the colour, the flavour of this pomelo drink is pretty close to the original. The main difference is the sour/bitter flavour that sometimes happens with some pomelos is totally gone. They got the sweet flavour right, and the basic flavour is there, but I always feel like if I eat too many wedges of pomelo that my tongue might go numb, but I doubt that would happen with this drink. Having said that, this might be the winner for flavour I’d most like to try again in the future.

Orange and Carrot

Colour - Really bright orange.

Flavour - This Tang flavour unfortunately falls into the same category as many other orange based flavours of Tang, in that it generally just tastes like regular orange tang. There might be a slight difference, but I wouldn’t call that difference carrot flavoured. It could be that they’ve added real carrots to this drink, but I doubt it. I’ve only recently discovered carrot juice as a mixer with vegetable juice and one thing carrot juice gives fruit juice is a balance. The balance comes from the fact that carrot juice is not sweet. This Tang as usual is super sweet, so there really isn’t that balance.

Quick List - The Worst Candies For Each Letter of the Alphabet - A-F

 A quick list of the worst candies from each letter of the alphabet. This time we're going to be checking out A through F.

Check out all my review for every letter of the alphabet right now at www.candycritic.org/alphareview.htm

Those Beasts and Their Treats

 Did you know that some beasts really love to snack on some treats (not in real life, please don't actually feed beasts any treats).

Check out my fun alphabet book called Treats And Beasts right now at bewarethecheese.com/treatsnbeasts/ or on Amazon.

So Many Wafers

 

I think wafers might be the most popular cookie that's put into candy bars. There are just so many of them out there, with some doing really well, and others... well. It's weird because some of my least favourite candy bars use wafers and some of my favourite bars also use wafers. It seems like such a simple ingredient to use, so it makes me wonder what makes for a good wafer based candy bar and what makes for a horrible wafer based bar. My guess is it's not just one thing, it's probably a lot of factors that go into making a great wafer bar.

Check out my latest review that features one of those great wafer based bars.

Junk Fud in London

 In this episode Allison and Chris talk about a recent trip to London (and only London) where they bought some special tea and ate a lot of sandwiches.

Pick Up Some Snack Facts

It’s about time that you brushed up on your snack facts. The best way to do that is to pick up my comic series all about that very subject (and even the name is the same).

Pick up Snack Facts right now at candycritic.org/snackfacts/ or on Amazon.

This Post Isn't So Much About Candy

I'm sick, and it's food poisoning. In the candy world it's very rare to get food poisoning, but I often travel/live in places where food hygiene isn't the best. That means that I suffer from fairly regular bouts of food poisoning. The reason I mention this here is that I wanted to point out that I'm still posting a new review, even though I'm not really eating solid foods. I can do this because the truth is I have a pretty big collection of pre-written reviews. There are many advantages to having this list of reviews, one of them being that I can still post a new review when I'm not even eating solid foods.  I'm at the point where things are getting better, but I think it's going to be a while till I write a new review.

Check out this new review, from my archives?

What is a Big Mac?

There’s a global trend that’s changing the landscape of fast food, and it’s chicken. Sure chicken’s been a part of fast food for ages, probably for as long as fast food has existed. However, when most people think of fast food, they think of hamburgers or pizza. This is changing though, and more and more fast food restaurants are becoming chicken experts. There are many competing theories about why this is happening. Some people suggest that global food prices are making beef too expensive, others suggest that it’s a choice people are making for health, some even suggest that it’s just a trend that people prefer eating.

What that’s lead to is many fast food chains adding more chicken to their menu, and McDonald’s is no exception. They’ve not only added many new chicken options to their menu, they’ve started to offer chicken variations of their classic burgers. One such item is the Chicken Mac. I decided to give one of these a try and it really made me think about how one defines “what is a Big Mac”.

The problem I ran into is that McDonald’s made more than one change to this classic sandwich. The most obvious change is that they went with two deep fried chicken patties instead of the beef. However, the other change they made is that the Big Mac sauce was changed to just regular mayonnaise. The rest of the sandwich was pretty much the same, lettuce, cheese, re-hydrated onion, pickles and the three layer bun. I didn’t actually research any of this before getting the Chicken Mac, and was kind of shocked by the lack of the Big Mac sauce.

It made me wonder, is it still a Big Mac (or any kind of “Mac” sandwich at all)? I suggested to Allison that I don’t think that this could be considered in the same family of sandwiches, and she argued that it could because it still had that unique bun and the same toppings. She also suggested that the rest of the burger still seemed Mac like. I’m not sure if I agree, but this is actually something that comes up a lot in fast food and candy.

When a candy company makes a different variation of a candy bar, can it still be in the same family. A great example is if we compare the Kit Kat bar with the Kit Kat Chunky (or Big as some call it). While a Kit Kat Chunky kind of looks like a finger of a Kit Kat bar, it’s really only one finger. The ratio of chocolate to wafers is different, and the size of the wafers is different as well. When you think about it, most chocolate bars are really just one finger as well. So does that mean a Kit Kat chunky really isn’t a Kit Kat bar? How far can you stray and how many ingredients can you change while still keeping a snack or junk food item in the same family?

Are all fast food sandwiches that have Big Mac sauce on them, a Big Mac? Can you put Big Mac sauce on a Quarter Pounder and call it a Quarter Pounder Mac? Or do you need that unique bun too? In the last 10 or 20 years it’s become really popular to make variations on popular snack and fast food items, but how far is too far? I argue that the Chicken Mac is not a Big Mac anymore.

The Super In Super Sour Means Business

 For the longest time I've believed that the Super Sour from Japan was the most sour candy I'd ever reviewed. I finally go my hand on another bag of them and after many years it's time to find out if the sour still holds up.

See what I'm up to right now on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

You can also read my fun book about candy and animals right now by picking up Treats and Beasts.

CC

That Blue Orchid Is Amazing!

 She’s going to kick some ass.

Make sure to pick up all the Blue Orchid comics and mech right now at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/.

A Lot Of Kit Kat Bars

One of the things I've started to do on candycritic.org is collect Kit Kat bars. In particular I've started to collect reviews of milk chocolate Kit Kat bars from different parts of the world. It's been long thought that the British, Canadian and American Kit Kat bars while being similar, have some slight differences. I've also noticed that a few other countries around the world make their own version, and in some cases they to are different. Sometimes it's really hard to pinpoint the exact differences, but sometimes (like with this new review) it's really easy.

Check out this fairly unique milk chocolate Kit Kat bar.

Korean Barbecue in 10 Seconds

 Watching the meat rotate is so hypnotic.

A Beastly and Treatly Book

 If you love reading about snacks and candy, as well as interesting beasts in alphabetical order, do I have a book for you.

Pick up Treats and Beasts right now at bewarethecheese.com/treatsnbeasts/ or on Amazon.

So Many Pocky

I think Pocky probably ranks as number 2 on my list of candies with the most varieties, number 1 being Kit Kat. You wouldn't imagine that there could be so many varieties of a cookie stick covered in chocolate, but here we are. As of this moment I've reviewed 19 different variety of Pocky, and there are still a few out there I haven't tried, as well as new versions coming out all the time. I can't say that I've loved each and every version, but they have yet to make a real gross out version (like wasabi Kit Kat).

Check out my latest Pock review.

That Jolly Bee

This isn’t my first Jollibee experience, but it’s my first at a Jollibee in the Philippines, and I think that can be important. My first Jollibee experience was in the Middle East, and it was okay, but not great. There were two problems with that visit that were completely eliminated this time around. The first issue was my own, I didn’t know what to order. It seems like a silly problem, you should be able to order anything on a menu at a fast food restaurant and enjoy it. The reality is that it’s not the case. Fast food restaurants offer different items for different tastes, and some items are more popular than others. The popular (or better) items may not be intuitive to people unfamiliar with the restaurant or the culture where that restaurant originated. In other words, I ordered a burger at Jollibee the first time I went and it wasn’t great.

The second problem when I visited Jollibee in the Middle East is an issue with importation. One of the balancing acts fast food places must do when expanding outside of their original country of origin is authenticity versus adaptation. Authenticity is the attempt to offer customers at their new restaurants the same thing that they had at their original restaurants. Adaptation is the barriers you have in this new country, which could include limited ingredients, staff that may not have experience cooking and serving that food and dinners who may not like all of the aspects of the food you're serving. It can be very complicated and can lead to the experience I had at the Middle Eastern Jollibee.

This time however I was not only prepared (I know the fried chicken is the thing to eat), but being in the Philippines I know I’m getting the real deal. My experience this time was totally better. First of all the chicken is amazing, juicy on the inside and a nice crunchy coating. We had 3 pieces of chicken between the two of us and there wasn’t a bad one.

The spaghetti is the one item I ordered from both the Middle East Jollibee and the one in the Philippines. The difference was pretty significant. I remember the spaghetti in the Middle East being sticky and over cooked. The cheese was also not as plentiful and I could be wrong but I don’t think it was the same kind of cheese. It could be the quality of the cooking, or just my imagination, but the sauce this time didn’t seem as sweet. Don’t get me wrong, Filipino spaghetti sauce is very sweet compared to western spaghetti sauce, but this didn’t feel like I was eating sugar glazed spaghetti.

We also decided to try out the desserts this time, since I heard the pies are amazing. We also got a cookie sundae as well. The sundae was good, but the pie was excellent. While Allison actually preferred the sundae, I thought the sundae was fairly average with the two improvements being the quality of the cookie bits and the fact that they used a hard shell chocolate sauce. The pie on the other hand was perfect. The filling tasted a bit more like peach than mango, but frankly I really enjoyed that. The crust was crunchy and deep fried (seriously why did McDonald's start baking their pies in some countries), delicious!

It was a fine meal, and as of writing this we still have a few days left here in the Philippines and another stop at Jollibee is completely possible. I’m not sure how I feel about attempting another Jollibee outside of the Philippines, because of my previous experience. This did however make me think about a few of the other fast food and restaurant chains I’ve tried outside of their country of origin, particularly the ones that I didn’t really like that much… I’m looking at you Hardee’s.

Quick List - The Best Candies For Each Letter of the Alphabet - V-Z plus Numbers

 A quick list of the best candies from each letter of the alphabet. This time we're going to be checking out V through Z as well as numbers.

Snack On Some Facts

 

If you’ve ever wondered where potato chips were invented or how Haribo got its name, make sure to check out Snack Facts.

Get your copy of this fun comic series right now at candycritic.org/snackfacts/buy.htm or on Amazon.

It Looks Cool I Guess

One of the problems I have with candy is also one of the things I love about candy. In many cases how a candy or snack looks is as (or more) important than how it tastes. We can all agree that the visual esthetics of candy is important, but should it really be as or more important than taste. I feel like there's always a chance to make a candy taste great, but I also feel like tasting great isn't as important to many candy makers. I would even argue that some candy fans might choose a candy that looks great over tasting great. Just look at Instagram famous foods, so many are just not that tasty to eat.

Check out this latest candy review that really tasted okay, but it looks fantastic.

A Little Dark

 So let me get this straight. The little rice crisps spend time constructing a bar and will eventually be trapped on that bar, only to be consumed by you.

Time for Junk Fud on the Road From Iceland

 Allison and I took a drive around the entire island of Iceland taking in the nature, restaurants, grocery stores and truck stops.

Blue Orchid Is Fun!

If you haven't picked up the latest issue of Blue Orchid, then you're missing out!

Pick up your copy and any other merch right now at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/