How Would You Like Some Free Mike & Ikes?

This week we've started a new contest, brought to you by our friends at Just Born (the folks that make Mike & Ikes and Peeps).  They have some new/retro flavours of Mike and Ikes coming out soon, and they want to share some with one of our readers.  To win this prize pack, all you have to do is send an email or message explaining what your favorite flavour of candy is.  Tell us why this flavour is your favorite and whomever can convince us the most will get the new Mike and Ikes sent to their house (You must be a resident of the USA to enter, sorry rest of the world). You can submit your answer in the comments here, or send us a message on Facebook, Twitter, or here. Make sure include some way for us to contact you back (email always works), and the contest will end in two weeks (February 9th a midnight Eastern).

I mean who doesn't like free candy delivered to their front door? I like it so much that I built this site.

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This Week In Candy

This last week was really a pizza filled week for me.  First of all I was invited to a BBQ potluck pizza party, and it was fantastic.  The idea was that each person was supposed to bring ingredients for a pizza.  The dough was provided, so all you needed to bring was the toppings.  Then, one at a time, a pizza was put onto the BBQ, and each person that brought ingredients would have to top their pizza.  After the pizza was cooked, it was sliced up, and everybody got to have a slice.  I think by the time the night was over dozens of pizzas were made, including 3 dessert pizzas.  I brought one of those dessert pizzas, which consisted of marshmallows, grated milk chocolate (Dairymilk to be exact), and crushed graham crackers. S'Mores pizza!

Also this weekend, I recorded a new episode of the Junk Fud podcast.  This episodes theme was pizza.  Mark, who has been a guest on the Junk Fud podcast in the past had some great stories and insights into the world of pizza.  Hopelly this episode will be online later this week. Mark being such a great guest in the past and this time, is now going to be a regular on the Junk Fud podcast.  For now we're looking to post a new episode of Junk Fud featuring Mark every month.  We're still working out the details, so stay tuned.

This week we're also starting out a contest, brought to you by our friends at Just Born (the folks that make Mike & Ikes and Peeps).  They have some new/retro flavours of Mike and Ikes coming out soon, and they want to share some with one of our readers.  To win this prize pack, all you have to do is send an email or message explaining what your favorite flavour of candy is.  Tell us why this flavour is your favorite and whomever can convince us the most will get the new Mike and Ikes sent to their house (You must be a resident of the USA to enter, sorry rest of the world). You can submit your answer in the comments here, or send us a message on Facebook, Twitter, or here. Make sure include some way for us to contact you back (email always works), and the contest will end in two weeks (February 9th a midnight Eastern).

This week's Snack Facts we're looking at one of the best selling drinks in the world, Coca-Cola.  Every day we'll be posting a new fun fact on Instagram all about this soft drink giant.  If you don't have Instagram you can also follow Snack Facts on our Twitter feed, or Facebook page.

Our new review this week is from a chocolate shop in my home country.  Not only does the fact that they're Canadian make them awesome, but they also have the best name I've ever heard for a chocolate shop, Beanermunky.  Click here to read the Beanermunky's chocolate review.

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This Week In Candy

This last week the big news was the change of recipe for the Cadbury Creme Egg.  It appears that Cadbury, now owned by Kraft, has decided to change the chocolate used for the outside shell of the egg, as well as change the number of eggs sold in bulk packages (this can only be confirmed in some countries). The one place that is apparently not being affected by the changes is the USA, but everywhere else they're now no longer using Dairy Milk chocolate for their eggs.  This has rocked the candy world, and many have taken to social media to complain about this.  We here at Candy Critic are at the very least skeptical about the new shell, but we plan on getting our hands on one of these new eggs and giving them a try.

Stay tuned this week as we'll be starting a contest that could get you some free Mike & Ike's candies.  They're introducing a couple of new flavours and they've graciously offered to send some to me and to some of my followers.  I'm still working out the details of the contest, but I'll be sure to announce it on Facebook and Twitter the minute I have everything worked out.

This week on Snack Facts, our very fun and informative Instagram feed, we're looking at the French Fry.  It's going to be a week filled with greasy, starchy and salty information about one of the most popular fast foods in the world.  You can follow Snack Facts on Instagram, or you don't use Instagram, you can also follow it on our Twitter feed and our Facebook page.

This week's review is a fun little treat that I picked up in Turkey.  I wasn't sure if I should put this under European candy or Asian, since I bought it in Istanbul (it's the city that stretches over two continents).  I finally decided on Europe only because I actually bought it on the European side of the Bosphorus. Click here to read about this bar I bought in Turkey.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Mike And Ike, Hot Tamales Jelly Beans - Just Born - I always thought that Mike & Ikes and Hot Tamales looked like disfigured jelly beans already. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Halloween Link-O-Rama Part 1

The folks at Mike and Ike told me that they have some new special edition Mike and Ikes for Halloween.  While I haven't tried them (yet?), I can tell you that mixing candies with monsters is almost always a good idea.

Halloween isn't all about candy you know, it's also about making sure you have a great bag to carry your candy.

If you own a candy store, or are a candy maker, and you're doing something for Halloween, let us know and we'll be glad to include you in a future Halloween Link-O-Rama.

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Friday Candy Video

So with all of this Mike and Ike fun we've been having this week, you're probably asking yourself, "Does Mike and Ike have a hip hop rap video?"  I'm glad you asked, and I'm even more glad that we have an answer for you that includes cheerleaders and a man bathing in a giant tub of Strawberry Mike and Ikes.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon Part 5

Well, this is my last Mike and Ikes review for this weeks review-a-thon.  This might also be the first time I've ever posted a review-a-thon based on one particular brand of candy.  Allison commented about this last night, and she asked me why I chose to do this.  I think the key reason I chose these as the subject of a review-a-thon is because I really didn't even know that so many varieties of Mike and Ike's existed.  I knew that they had a few special editions, and I knew that Hot Tamales were like hot Mike and Ikes, but I really wasn't aware of this huge range that is apparently available all the time.  Apparently I'm not the only one either, I've received a few messages from friends surprised that Mike and Ikes came in more than just one or two flavours.  So I end this week having sampled some good, and some bad, Mike and Ikes, but I come away knowing that there are options.

Click here to read our last entry into the Mike and Ikes review-a-thon.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

So your campaign is going to be the separation of the two characters that represent your product.  You could go off and create packages that represent each character.  You could try and get fancy with new package designs, new type, and new graphics.  How about instead you just get a marker and scratch out one of the names... It's so simple, but it's so creative, and so much fun.

I found this ad here.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon Part 4

Sour candies really started to take off in the 1980s.  At that time candy went through a kind of renaissance that lead to the popularization of gummy bears, pop rocks, and many other strange candy.  At the time there were sour candies, but they weren't extremely sour.  From the 1980s and into the 1990s candy companies became creative with the use of certain candy characteristics, and the sour candy bloomed.  Fortunately many of the trends from this time period have not vanished, and you can find many of them still available.  I'll argue that the candy industry isn't as creative as it used to be, but they are still using these great innovative candy trends.

Click here to read today's sour Mike and Ike candy review.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon - Part 3

Not only am I reviewing a whole bunch of Mike and Ike's flavours this week, but the folks at Just Born (makers of Mike and Ike) have announced a fun contest as well.  You can win everything from a home entertainment system to free candy (I mean how awesome is free candy), and all you have to do is visit their site mikeandike.com and fill out an entry form.  This may be your best chance to sample as many Mike and Ike's flavours as I've sampled, and you may even get them for free.

Click here to read today's Mike and Ike review.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon - Part 2

According to scientific studies, red is said to be the best colour one can make a candy package.  They say that psychologically people respond to red packages and are more likely to buy them.  Assuming that science is true, the idea of making a red candy in a red package, featuring flavours we associate with red, seems like the ultimate psychological gimmick.

Click here to read today's very red Mike and Ike review.

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Mike and Ike Review-a-Thon - Part 1

While posting today's review this morning, I realized that there's a good chunk of the world that has no idea what a Mike and Ike is.  Since this week is going to be full of Mike and Ike reviews, I thought I would share the description given on the official Mike and Ike's website "chewy flavored candies with real fruit juice".  That description is fine, if you have a handful of them right in front of you, however if you don't it might be a little vague.  The best way I can describe them is to say that they're like elongated jelly beans, with more fruity flavour choices, and no black ones.  I hope that helps you out a little, and better yet, I hope you get the chance to try them some day.

Click here to read the first entry in our Mike and Ike review-a-thon.

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This Week In Candy

This week we're starting a new feature on the blog.  Every Wednesday we'll be reviewing a new Asian treat graciously donated to us from our friends at oyatsucafe.com.  Some might say that our goal is to make sure we have the widest variety of treats reviewed on the site, but I'm pretty sure that the goal is to make sure I eat something really strange on a regular basis.  No matter what the reasons, not only will we have a new Asian review every week, but you (our loyal readers) are entitled to a discount from oyatsucafe.com and all you have to do is enter "candy critic" in the discount section of their online form.

Last week we also received a whole bunch of South African treats from our friend CJ, and we're going through it and setting up some awesome reviews.  I'm thinking a South African review-a-thon might be in our near future.

Finally, I've been thinking about classic treats that I have not yet reviewed.  I realized recently that I never reviewed original Mike and Ikes (as you can see from this weeks review that has changed), but if you see a classic treat that I've missed, make sure to let me know about it.

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What?!!! I Haven't Reviewed These Before?

There are a great deal of "famous" and well known candy in the world.  It's a group of candies that most people might call classic candies.  These are the staples of any candy fans collection of treats they've sampled.  In many ways these are the treats that I try to base my reviews upon.  The problem is, sometimes I don't actually get around to reviewing them.  Sometimes they slip through the cracks, I've tasted them, I've just never put pen to paper and actually written a review.  Mike and Ike's "Original Fruits" is just such a candy, but no more is it un-reviewed.

Click here to read this classic review.

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This Week In Candy

What a week we've had here at Candy Critic.  Our jaws are recovering from a week of eating all kinds of gummy treats in our Gummy review-a-thon.  Our friends at sugarfina.com sent us an awesome selection of gummy treats that tested our palettes with all kinds of strange and wonderful flavours.  Some we loved, others we didn't really care for, but the adventure was always a lot of fun.

Last week we also received many packages in the mail from candy makers and candy stores.  This means that our candy stash is full of sweet treats that need to be reviewed... and quick.  Our friends at Mike and Ike sent us a huge selection of different varieties of Mike and Ikes. They also sent us a package of their original flavour and I'm glad, I felt it was sorely missing from our review collection until now.  We also got a package from the fine folks at oyatsucafe.com full of cool Japanese snacks that we'd never tried before.  Best of all, if you guys want to get some Japanese treats yourself, visit oyatsucafe.com and put in the code "candy critic" for 15% off your order.  Finally Vanessa from A Secret Forest Patisserie (www.etsy.com/shop/asecretforest) sent me what I can only describe as some of the most beautiful lollipops I've ever seen in my entire life.  These treats will not last long around here, I can tell you that.

Beyond listening to us stuffing our faces with all kinds of candy, this week you can see some more pictures from our latest adventures.  This week we're posting a few treats that we came across in Crete.  This place is really a great place to eat, and the desserts and sweet treats are no exception.

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Mike and Ike Names (A New Review Too)

One of the interesting things I learned while writing this review is the crazy naming convention that some Mike and Ike candies have.  I could be wrong about this, but I believe that "Mike" is represented by either the green or red candy, "Ike" by which ever one Mike is not.  So the candies from today's review are represented by "Cherri" the dark red candy, and "Bubb" the pink candy.  Is this a common trend with the Mike and Ike's family?  I've had a few other Mike and Ike treats, and I don't remember this naming format, is this new?  If it is new, then keep it up Just Born, it's a really good idea.  If it's an old idea, then I need some back story here, because this is really great.

Click here to read the review about Cherri and Bubb.

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Retro Mike and Ikes

I just got 4 boxes of Retro Mike and Ikes in the mail today.  Two of the packages have watermelon and lemon, and the other two have cherry and bubble gum.  My favorite thing about these packages has to be the characters.  In particularly I love the fact that the artwork isn't 3D or overly rendered.  To me, a simple cheesy drawing is the perfect thing to adorn your candy package.  My favorite character has to be the drunk looking bubble gum guy.

Now before I taste test these, I want to pick which flavour I'm going to review this weekend.  Should I make my choice based on the coolest characters, the flavour I think I'll most like, or should I just let the first person who sends me a message on Twitter or Facebook decide.
  

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Stuff I Want To Try

Peeps, Mike and Ike Christmas candies - Just Born - Christmas is coming, and so are the holiday treats. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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This Week In Candy

Candy News - Candy companies are really starting to sell their characters as much as their treats.  From the break up of Mike from Ike, to the continued conflicts and stories of the various M&M's.  I think it's interesting for candy companies to try this kind of marketing in candy, as long as it improves the treat and doesn't change them for the worse.

What's Happening At Candy Critic -  All this week we'll be looking at varieties.  In particular we'll be looking at treats that have spawned new versions of themselves with different flavours, additions, and textures.  Sometimes these varieties work out, more often they don't. Interestingly though, some treats today are so invested in creating varieties that they seem to purposely try and make "bad" choices, because these extremely strange varieties can bring a lot of publicity to certain treats.

Rant - Sometimes candy companies tick me off.  I don't want to get into specifics, but sometimes candy companies aren't very nice to the people who eat their products.  Very often, fans of these candy companies are exceptionally nice and always willing to share information and promote each other, but some candy, and food companies, can be jerks.  I know they're trying to appear more open and contactable by having a Facebook page or a Twitter account, but they pretty much ignore most of the people that like their food.

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Monday's Candy Links

Did you know that the OREO cookie and Life Savers are both 100 years old this year?

Here are "12 Fascinating Food Facts", included is an interesting experiment one can do with Altoids and hot peppers.

Would you eat a Mike, or how about an Ike?  It appears you may soon have that option.

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