2000 Reviews

 This week I crossed a pretty big milestone, 2000 reviews on candycritic.org. That seems like a lot of candy for one person to have eaten in a lifetime. Since this is such a big moment, I thought that I would share a few statistics and facts about these reviews that I’ve written over the years.

How many people have written these reviews? - Basically one person, but there are a few side notes worth mentioning. I have had a few people contribute to some of these reviews, and on occasion you might even see people’s names being dropped. However I can safely tell you that I’ve tasted each and every candy reviewed on this site and my words are the ones describing them. 

First review - The first review I ever wrote for candycritic.org was for a gum called Sand Hill Bubblegum. It was kind of the inspiration for the site. I discovered this gum at a store near my art school. At the time we had an assignment in school to create a website on any topic we choose. I thought it would be fun to create a website where I talked about candies that I’ve tasted (because I had just tried this unique treat). After that I just kept adding more and more reviews.

Highest Review - This is probably the most common question I get when people find out I have a site dedicated to reviewing candy. The highest reviewed treat is a British Kit Kat bar. I could go on and explain why it has such a high review, but instead I’ll just let you read it yourself.

Lowest Review - What often follows when I tell people the highest ranked candy is what’s the worst candy I’ve ever reviewed. It should be noted that the worst candy isn’t the worst tasting thing I’ve ever had in my life. After all, flavour is just 1 of the 3 scores I give a candy. The worst candy I’ve ever reviewed scored so low because it was boring and bland, rather than gross.

Treat with the most versions - I almost feel like there would be no candycritic.org if there wasn’t a Kit Kat bar. Kit Kat is not only the highest reviewed treat, but it’s the treat that I’ve tasted the most varieties as well. As of the posting of this article, I’ve tasted 89 different versions of Kit Kat treats.

Continent with the most reviews - It only makes sense that the continent where I’ve reviewed the most treats is the continent where I was born and also where I started this site. Of the 2000 reviews 860 of them are treats from North America. A few people have also been wondering why I don’t separate candies by country instead of continent. The main reason is that there are several candies where it’s really hard to pin down where they originated. A few treats are claimed by several countries and the last thing I want is an argument on that subject.

Type of treat most reviewed - The most common type of treat that I’ve reviewed is candy bars with 623 reviews. One thing worth noting about the candy bar section is the fact that I use the words “candy bars” to describe them. I used to use the words “chocolate bars” but I found that there were a few bars, like Eat More, that didn’t fit that description since  they didn’t have any chocolate. I decided to update the name and it’s allowed for more treats to fit into that category, although most do have chocolate.

Writing 2000 reviews has actually changed the way I feel about some foods. It’s also taught me a few things about food, cultures and even science. Here’s a few random things I’ve learned or that have changed about me since starting this site.

I tolerate licorice a bit more, I don’t love it, but I understand why people love it.

I’m a little better with spicy foods, much like the licorice. I'm not a fan of spicy foods yet, but I’m no longer the total wimp that I was.

I’ve discovered that chocolate and onions don't really work together. I used to have a theory that everything can be improved with chocolate, then I tried the Tayto Milk Chocolate Bar "with Cheese & Onion Crisps" and realized that onions just don’t work. I’ve talked to a few chocolatier since making this discovery and each has suggested that they want to try and make it work. I have yet to hear from any of them.

The Best of the Best for 2023

 Here's the best treats I've reviewed in 2023. There are a few surprises along the way, but the number 1 review this year is actually fairly predictable.

Be sure to check out the top treats I've ever reviewed right here.

A Look Back At My Reviews In 2022

For the first time ever, I've decided to compile some statistics about all of the candy reviews that I posted in 2022. All together I managed to post 71 new reviews on candycritic.org. That's not bad considering my goal is to make sure that I post at least one new review a week. It's very good when one considers that there was an entire month when I could not post any new reviews due to technical problems.

I've already posted a video with a list of the highest rated and lowest rated candies I've reviewed this year, but below are some interesting bonus statistics about all the candy I discovered in 2022:

The brand I reviewed most: Hershey's with 8 reviews. It makes sense since we managed to visit the US twice this year, including one fairly long road trip.

Place I got my candy this year: More than half of the candies I reviewed were from North America. This is likely because I was back in Canada for most of the year, as well as the above mentioned visits to the US.

Most common type of candy I reviewed: Candy bars were the most common type of candy I reviewed this year with 19 candy bar reviews added.

I ate mostly Kit Kat bars this year: I reviewed 5 Kit Kat bars this year, a big part of that was the discovery of a new Asian grocery store in Ottawa that had a decent selection of Japanese Kit Kat bars.

I feel like it was a great year for candy, and with my recent relocation to South East Asia and the fact that travel is starting to open up again, I really feel like 2023 is going to be an interesting year for candy reviews on candycritic.org. Let me know if there are any treats you'd like to see featured for review, even if you're the company that makes them.

Always keep up with all my new reviews by following me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

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The 5 Most Interesting and Strange Reviews I Wrote in 2020

I've decided to look back at 2020. Sure it's been a tough year for just about everybody around the world, but it's also been pretty interesting as well. For me it's been particularly fascinating since I moved from South-East Asia back to Canada during a pandemic. Just in case you're wondering, we didn't move back to Canada because of the pandemic. We had actually planned to move back this year from the start, it was just made a little more complicated with the pandemic. No matter, 2020 was a year filled with interesting treats, including a return home to see what had changed since I left.

So here's my list of the 5 most interesting/strange reviews that I posted this year on Candy Critic. Keep in mind that this list is in no order, it's just me randomly plucking reviews that I posted because I remembered something interesting about them. They are by no means the best candies I'd eaten this year, but they're candies I don't think I'll ever forget.

1 - Cola Spicy (Gum)

When I bought this gum I was pretty sure that it was going to be memorable. I figured that I was going to have a really weird combination of flavours including heat. I figured it would be particularly agonizing for me since it was a gum, and the flavours would sit in my mouth for a really long time. What happened was actually more memorable, somehow they actually kind of made it work.

Click here to find out why spicy cola gum isn't the worst idea in the world.

2 - Boran "Black Bean" (Ice Cream)

Sometimes when I get a treat I make assumptions. When I saw this ice cream treat, I thought there was no way that they would put black beans into an ice cream. I thought that maybe it was some kind of translation issue (since this is an Asian ice cream), or maybe they mistook black beans with red beans (a popular and tasty bean often used in Japanese desserts). It turns out I was wrong, they did just put black beans into an ice cream treat. Sure it wasn't the greatest treat in the world, but I can now safely say that I've eaten black beans in my ice cream.

Click here to find out why this back bean ice cream treat doesn't really work.

3 - Skittles "Dips"

This was a candy that I truly misjudged. I almost misjudged it so much that I wasn't going to review it. Then a reader posted something about it on their Facebook page and it intrigued me. As it turns out I misjudged everything about these Skittles, even how great they actually were. It's not often you get a company making a new version of a treat that works this well. It's something we should encourage, which is why it's worth mentioning on this list.

Click here to find out why I liked these Skittles "Dips".

4 - Smith's "Lamington" (Chips)

You wouldn't think that potatoes would go with so many desserts. But over the years I've learned that you should never underestimate the majestic potato. While I've eaten hundreds of different flavours of potato chips, these really stuck out to me. Most of all because they were not only weird, but they were also what I would expect a potato chip that's flavour with a coconut cake to taste like. I guess I also appreciate that novelty (for me as a North American) of eating a potato chip themed to a truly Australian dessert.

Click here to find out what happens when cakes and chips collide.

5 - Watermelon Bites

This treat surprised me in two ways. First of all the design of this candy is amazing. The level of detail to make this candy look fantastic was truly astonishing. Just to give you an example, you can peel each watermelon slice, and eat the two parts separately. The seeds are even made up of a different kind of candy than the flesh. The second thing that surprised me is that I believe it is the highest ranked watermelon candy on this site. That's a pretty big feat considering how much I generally hate eating watermelon flavoured candy.

Click here to marvel at this candies design. 

These may not be all the strange candies I've eaten this year, but these are truly the ones that stick out in my mind after going over my list of treats I've reviewed this year. I'm looking optimistically at 2021. While I'm starting this year in Canada, I'm taking the time to look at candies I had somehow forgotten to review. I'm also very interested in what candy makers are going to come up with. I feel like candy innovation is around the corner.

CC

All The Candy T-Shirt
by candycritic

This Tiny Candy Made Me Think Some Pretty Big Thoughts - Starburst "Minis Original"

There is the famous expression that "size doesn't matter", I do not believe that at all when it comes to candy. I think the size of a candy can make or break it for so many reasons. Health is the first thing that comes to mind, as you should really not eat an entire 5 pound Hershey bar by yourself. Next thing to think about is variety, better to have a few bites with varying flavours than eat a candy until you're sick of it (I call this the Costco effect). It also sucks to have too fleeting a taste of a candy. The last, and I argue most important thing to think about when the size of a treat changes is the ratio of ingredients. The biggest problem I find when I eat a candy treat that's had a size change is the ratio of ingredients changes and throws everything off. Strangely this treat had a problem of its own.

Click here to find out why I don't think these Starburst succeeded being mini Starburst.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to get even more fund candy stuff.

You should also check out our Micro Comic called Snack Facts, it's pretty sweet.

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Classic Candies I Haven’t Reviewed And Why

Mounds - Mounds is a classic American candy bar. It’s often associated with another classic American candy bar, the Almond Joy. The difference between these two bars is very simple, almonds. The mounds bar is a coconut bar covered in chocolate; the Almond Joy is exactly the same bar only with a couple of whole almonds on top. The reason I’ve only reviewed the Almond Joy, and not the mounds, is that I really don’t like coconut that much, but I’m pretty fond of almonds. Every time I’m in the USA and I see a Mounds bar, I always see something else better that I’d rather eat, something that isn’t just two lumps of sickly-sweet coconut with a thin layer of chocolate.



Jolly Ranchers - Jolly Ranchers are a fairly well known American hard candy that comes in several flavours. The flavours are very powerful, and the candy is a little sticky. There are several flavours of Jolly Rancher, but two of them stick to my mind, watermelon and cherry. Cherry sticks to my mind because I really like it, I’d go so far as to say that cherry Jolly Ranchers are my favourite cherry candy that I can think of. Watermelon comes to mind because I can hold it up as an example of why watermelon candies are the worst.  The reason I’ve never reviewed them is a geographical problem. Jolly Ranchers are fairly rare outside of the USA, they’re even hard to find in Canada. When I go to America, I often can’t find Jolly Ranchers in one particular flavour either, most notably I never find just cherry. I don’t want to review watermelon Jolly Ranchers before I review the cherry ones, that would seem just wrong. So, I’m waiting for the day when the stars align and I can get a bag of cherry only Jolly Ranchers.



Classic Juicy Fruit - Juicy Fruit is a classic gum that’s been around as long as I know. A while back they changed the format of their gum from a long chewy stick to something that resembles a Chicklet. When this new format came out, I decided that I would do a review, and it did okay, but it wasn’t spectacular. It tasted fine, but as was the same with the classic stick format, the flavour didn’t last very long. I mentioned this fact and then got an email from someone at Wrigley’s, they were not happy. In fact, they were downright mean to me. Since then I’ve seen that they’ve brought back the chewy stick format of the gum (a format that I actually prefer), but I still haven’t reviewed it. Every time I see it on the shelf, I think about that person telling me off, and I think that I don’t really want to go through that again. Sure, that person may not even work at Wrigley’s any more, but who knows.



Milka - Of all of the candies on this list, this is the one that's a little harder to explain why I haven’t done the review. Milka is a brand of milk chocolate bars from Europe, I'm not really sure where they originated from, but you can find them in many countries all over Europe. As the name would suggest, the chocolate is generally milk chocolate, and it seems to have a dairy theme. In fact, I've seen many an airport display of Milka chocolate bars displayed on giant purple cows (I can't explain why they're purple). To say that I've never tried any Milka bar is also not true, the thing is I have yet to review their classic milk chocolate, with nothing added. Of all of the other candy mentioned in this article, this is the only one that I can't even say that I've ever tried it. I've tasted it in combination with other ingredients, and used to flavour other things (like cream cheese), but I can't say that I've ever actually eaten a plain milk chocolate Milka bar. I'm not really sure why this is, likely because when the interesting variations present themselves, I become distracted. I guess I might eventually give this bar a try, but it's completely possible that it never happens.

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We Are Back From Japan And We're Eating Bugs - Zircca

First things first, this week's new  review is not from Japan,we're still organizing all of our haul and photographing it. This review is from our last episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! where I ate a bug filled candy bar. It was not a great bar, and strangely it had nothing to do with the bugs.

Click here to read about the review that didn't "bug" me at all.


The best way I thought to look at our triumphant return from Japan was with a video, and since it's Tuesday and we're always late, why not make it an episode of Chris's Monday (Tuesday) Morning Breakfast Thoughts.

Make sure to check out our posts from Japan on Twitter and Facebook.

You can also follow us on Instagram, because I'm told it's hip.

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This Last Weekend We Thought We Could Defeat Licorice, We Did Not - Salt Larkrits and Larkits Roten

For the last few years I've spend a great deal of time trying to like licorice. My biggest attempt was to buy a whole bag of Dutch droop and eat one every day for a few weeks. I made it through that experiment with a feeling that I might have lost my hatred of licorice and turned it into a tolerance. Since then I've tried to be more open about eating licorice and on occasion I've found licorice treats that I don't hate. This weekend I thought it would be fun to push the envelope with some pretty serious Swedish licorice treats. I pushed, and licorice pushed back pretty hard.

Here's the two licorice reviews that defeated me:

Our Salt Larkrits review and our Larkits Roten review.

We're posting all kinds of reviews on the weekend (we're including Fridays in the equation), so if you want to read all  of the reviews as they come out, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

We're asking our Patreon followers for suggestions all the time, make sure to check out our site find out how you can suggest bad candy ideas to us.

Finally, follow us on Tumblr won't you.

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We Just Posted A New Candy Review, And Apparently It's Made (Or Owned) By a Guy Named Roger

I'm always intrigued when I eat a candy that's attached to a name, Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, M&M's (the "M"s stand for the name of the creators) and now Roger's Chocolates.  I wonder who these people really were, and why did they attach their name to their candy. I've never had the foresight to look up these people before I eat their candy, but maybe I should.  Maybe one day I should look up this guy "Reece", while I'm eating a Peanut Butter Cup.

Click here to find out what we thought of Roger's Chocolate.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and feel free to suggest candies that we should eat.

You can also follow us on Tumblr as well, you know, if that's the kind of thing you might do.

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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

This Week In Candy

What does the candy counter look like in your country?  My good friend Brent sent me a photo of what I believe to be a Kurdish candy stand.  It got me thinking, I travel around a lot, and I never really think to take pictures of candy stands wherever I visit.  So from now on I'm going to try and take pictures of candy stands from places I visit all over the world.  I also invite you to do the same. If you're on a trip, or even in your home town, it would be great if you could take a picture of your local candy stand or candy shop and send it my way.  I'll post them on Facebook and Twitter as I get them, and I'll ad them to the new and improved candy map (so make sure to let me know where it is).

Now that we're in the New Year, I've started to think about what kind of candies I've sampled over the last year.  Later this week I'm going to post a list of my favorite, least favorite, and most memorable treats I've reviewed this year.

This week on Snack Facts we're featuring one of the oldest snack foods ever, popcorn.  Every day on our Instagram feed we'll be featuring a new fact about our favorite salty (and sometimes sweet) treat that goes pop.  If you're not on Instagram, you can also see the latest Snack Facts on our Facebook page and Twitter feed as well.

This week's review is a classic chocolate that I'm really surprised I haven't reviewed before.  I can honestly say that I've eaten at least a dozen of these in the last year or so, but I've never thought about writing a review.  So click here to see what I thought of the classic Ferrero Rocher.

CC

This Week In Candy

Today is the first day in a few weeks that I feel like myself.  I had a two week long cold that didn't knock me out, but it made me feel pretty tired every day.  But candy news and fun waits for no cold, and I spent the two weeks working on all kinds of fun things.  First of all, I had a quick 4 day weekend in Dubai, I took lots of pictures, and sampled a few fun candies.  I'll have a full write up on the trip later this week.

Recently, we also posted a question on Twitter to a few famous chefs, we asked them "What's the best candy to cook with?".  Overwhelmingly chocolate and cocoa ranked number one on the list.  Many of the chefs commented on how well chocolate works in both sweet and savory dishes.  Second favorite seemed to be candied fruit, which can also be used for many different savory and sweet dishes as well.  Probably the most surprising answer I got was the suggestion of using Red Hots candy in savory cooking.  I could see how it might work, but I think it would be a really tough challenge.

Also, all this week and last week we've been telling you guys about some of the cool candy themed t-shirts and greeting cards we have available at our store.  They make a great gift for any candy fan in your family, and all the profits go to keep this site up and free.

This week on Snack Facts, we're looking at the most famous of all Christmas candies, the candy cane.  We have a new candy cane fact going up every day on our Instagram feed.  If you don't use Instagram, you can also find the snack facts on our Twitter and Facebook feeds as well.

Finally, in continuing our line of holiday themed candies this month, today's new review is of a classic holiday chocolate that I would often find under the tree this time of year.  While the chocolates themselves don't really have a holiday theme, they're very much tied to the holidays for me.  Click here to read our Quality Street review.

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This Week In Candy

Last week we were all about potato chips, this week we're going to look at one of our favorite chocolate bar manufacturers, Cadbury.  On Thursday we're posting the second part of our long await look at how the purchase of Cadbury by Kraft has affected the brand.  It was almost 5 years ago when Kraft bought the British company, so lets see if they've improved anything.  This week we're also featuring Cadbury in our Snack Facts feed on Instagram.  Check back daily for a new fun fact about how this company came to be a global powerhouse.  If you're not on Instagram you can also check out the feed on our Twitter, and Facebook feeds as well.

Speaking of Snack Facts, we've decided to try a new format for the feed for this week (and probably next week as well).  If you follow us and you love the new format, let us know, you can also let us know if you hate it as well.  We're also thinking about doing a special edition of Snack Facts in the new year with contributions from anybody that might follow us.  So if you know something interesting about a popular snack or fast food, send us a message.

On top of all of all of this Cadbury insanity, we're also going to start with some of our Christmas/Holiday Seasons stuff.  This week on our "Cool Candy Thing" post we're featuring gingerbread making things.  We're going to continue featuring gingerbread things until the end of Christmas, so strap in.  This week's "Candy In The Media" post features both Cadbury and Christmas.

Finally, in the next few days I'm off on another adventure.  If possible I'll post a few shots of any great snacks I find along the way (Check Facebook or Twitter).  I'll also post a round up of all the cool treats I discovered on this adventure, along with a few photographs, on this blog when I get back.

To go with our Cadbury theme week, this week's review is from one of Cadbury's most famous line of chocolate bars, the Dairy Milk bar.  The Dairy Milk bar rarely if ever completely fails, but some are better than others.  Click here to read our latest Dairy Milk review.

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This Week In Candy

It's chip week here at candycritic.org.  To start things off, we're having a potato chip review-a-thon.  That means that instead of just one review (posted today), you're getting a review ever day this week.  Best of all, each of these reviews will be a potato chip review.  We'll feature flavours from all over the world, some are great, some are horrible, but all make me want to drink copious amounts of cola (because that's what chips do).

Along with our potato chips review-a-thon, we're also featuring the glorious potato chip on our Intstagram feed Snack Facts.  That means that not only will you get a new chip review every day, but you'll also get a fun potato chip fact as well. If you're not on Instagram, then you can check out Snack Facts on our Facebook and Twitter feeds as well.

As far as projects that we're still working on: You can keep up with our Giant Jaw Breaker challenge on our Twitter, and Facebook feeds.  We're also finishing up a long  time second part of an article we wrote over 4 years ago about the Cadbury/Kraft merger, which should be posted next week.

To start off this week's review-a-thon, we have a potato chip from Greece, it's a typical Greek flavour, but it's a little cheesy.  We'll be posting new chip reviews all week, make sure to follow our Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter feeds to keep up with the latest reviews. Click here to read today's chips review.

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This Week In Candy

We just finished up the new and improved Candy Critic Map.  The map is made up of two parts (and hopefully soon a third).  The first section lists some of our favorite candy shops and must see places (these are marked with the blue pins).  I've personally visited every single one of these places, and if you're anywhere near them I highly recommend checking them out.  The second section (marked with red markers) are countries around the world that I've visited, with a suggestion for the must taste candy, must try fast food, best food description in one word, and worst food description in one word.  You'll notice that the markers are on the capital city, but it's supposed to represent the whole country.  The next phase we hope to start will consist of your favorite places to get candies and sweet treats.  We're asking all of you to suggest sweet places people cannot miss.

You also may have noticed that we've officially started up the Giant Jawbreaker Challenge.  It's been a little slow going, but we're working on getting through that giant red jawbreaker one hour at a time.  I'm thinking of starting a betting pool as to how many hours it will take for me to get through it.  You can keep up with the day to day progress of  the Giant Jawbreaker challenge on Facebook, and Twitter.

Don't forget to check out our Instagram feed with our daily Snack Facts.  This week we've decided to give you a potpourri of facts featuring a whole assortment of treats.  You'll learn what's so unique about a Schweppes can, and how many years it took to put the holes in a fruit flavoured Life Savers candy.  Instagram is the main place to check this out, but you can also see our snack facts on our Twitter and Facebook feeds as well.

Next week we're going to have another review-a-thon.  That means that instead of just having one new candy review posted on Monday, there will be a new candy review posted every day.  For this review-a-thon we'll be looking at potato chips.  It's a controversial topic since many people have told me that chips aren't candy, and I shouldn't be reviewing them.  I tell these people, if you don't like it, start your own candy reviewing site, and don't review chips.

This week's review was from our good friends at Torie and Howard.  They make some fine hard candies, and we're always happy when they want to send us some new treats to review.  You can read this week's review of their Meyer Lemon and Raspberry candies right here.

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This Week In Candy

Welcome back to another fun week here at the Candy Critic blog.  There's lots to bite into this week, so let's get right to it.  First of all, Thursday we'll be publishing a blog about army rations.  I had the opportunity to sample a Canadian military ration pack, and I documented my whole experience.  I can tell you that the ration pack was surprising, both in the good and bad way.

Secondly, I've ironed out the details of the Giant Jawbreaker Challenge, and this week we're going forward with it.  I'm going to attempt to consume a giant jawbreaker, and I'm going to time how long it's going to take me to go through it.  I know that this is the kind of challenge that will have to be done in stages, so I have a plan.  I will suck the jawbreaker in 1 hour stages, after each hour I will photograph it, weigh it, and post a photo on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.  I imagine that at first I'll have to take longer breaks between each hour, but once it starts to fit comfortably in my mouth, I should be able to get through it faster.  Once the jawbreaker is gone, I'll post a blog recapping the whole experience right here on the Candy Critic blog.  So this week is going to be a tough one on my jaw.

This week on Snack Facts, available on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, we'll be looking at Pepsi cola.  It's not really my go to drink, and I really didn't know that much about it.  So all this week you and I can learn a little something about Cokes biggest rival.

This week's new review is a re-working of a classic Canadian chocolate bar, the Oh Henry.  I'm often not a big fan of variations of classic chocolate bars, but this one might be the exception, make sure to click here to read the full review.

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This Week In Candy

Well Halloween is over, and hope you guys are enjoying all of your spoils.  Some of you are probably too old to trick or treat, but don't feel too sad.  After a few more years you'll start thinking about families of your own, and when you do just remember, you'll have a little child that will go trick or treating for you. Some of you might even have more than one kid, that means twice the trick or treating loot.  I call it the circle of Halloween life, and it moves us all.

Now that Halloween is over we're working on a few articles to keep you guys entertained while the weather gets cold outside.  We have our jaw breaker challenge that was called off on account of me getting a flu, but it's going to be starting for sure this week.  We're also finishing up an article all about army rations, I assure you it involves eating at least one horrible food.  I'm also working out the details for a sexy chocolate smelling challenge, but I need to find some local volunteers to help me out.

This week on our Instagram feed known as "Snack Facts", we're looking at PEZ.  We got a little help from our friends @PezNewsletter and we learned a little bit about this square shaped treat.  You don't have to be on Instagram to follow this feed, you can also follow "Snack Facts" on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Finally this week's new review is of a treat that's trying to change the way we think about ingredients in candy.  The concept is can we make classic candies, without "fake" ingredients.  You can read about how well I thought they achieved this goal right here.

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This Week In Candy

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!  To me Canadian Thanksgiving is really the first official day of fall.  Fall in Canada is truly a beautiful time of year, the harvest is in, leaves are changing colour, and Tim Horton's is offering pumpkin everything (as pictured above with the pumpkin pie donut).

This week on the blog we're going to continue looking at some awesome Halloween costumes, as well as review another candy related tablet game.  On our Instagram feed "Snack Facts", all this week we're going tell you some fun facts about artificial flavours.  As always you can keep up with the latest candy news by following our Twitter feed, also this week we're going to start sharing the latest news on our Facebook page as well.

This week's review is a classic Canadian treat, the Caramilk Bar.  I figured since it's a Canadian holiday I might as well  go with a Canadian review.  Click here to read this week's review.

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This Week In Candy

Things are really getting back to a routine here at Candy Critic.  Our Instagram feed called "Snack Facts" is once again posting regularly.  This week we'll be looking at fun facts about gummies.  We're still posting regularly on the blog, and even irregularly with some new long format posts dealing with projects, editorials, and all kinds of fun candy stuff (including last week's post about how we shoot candy on the go).  This week we hope to start a new project that will eventually lead to a post all about the trials and tribulations of trying to eat a giant jaw breaker.  We'll be posting regularly on Twitter and Facebook with our daily progress, and once it's all done we'll post the full blog article.

We're also considering re-working the way we use Facebook.  Right now we post a few articles and pictures there, but in the future we're thinking of posting even more articles, similar to our Twitter feed.  I'm not sure if 4 or 5 link posts a day to candy related news articles would be considered obtrusive on Faebook or not.  I'll think about it some more before I go ahead.

This week's review comes to us from a stopover flight in Germany.   I couldn't resist picking up a few bags of gummy treats, and this week's review is one of them.  Click here to read this week's review of Haribo gummy turtles.

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Canadian Candy List - Part 2 - Worst Treats

Over the last few years I've been living away from my home country, Canada.  I've been traveling the world exploring all kinds of snack foods, junk foods, and sweets, but my heart is still in Canada.  I'm going to be back home for an extended period, and I've decided to compile various lists on the theme of Canadian candy and snacks.  Each week, for the next several weeks, I'll be posting a different list of Canadian candies I've reviewed in various categories.  Some of these treats may be available in other parts of the world, some are exclusive to the Great White North, but in my mind all of them are Canadian.

Canada is not perfect, more specifically, not every Canadian treat is perfect.  There are some Canadian treats that I really haven't missed at all while I've been away.  In fact being as far away as possible from these treats makes me happy that I get to travel so much.  Now I know I'm going to raise some ire with these treats, since some of them may be your favorites. While each one of these treats represent the land I love, they're just not for me.

Of all the treats I'm putting on this list, the Big Turk is probably the one that most people would object to being one of the "Worst Treats" in Canada.  There are those who love this bar, and those who can't stand this bar, I am one that can't stand it.

Click here to read our Big Turk review. 

 Bridge Mixture is a hit or miss snack.  One bite could lead to you getting the perfect combination of chocolate and nuts, and then another bite could lead you to getting a mouthful of gross chocolate covered random fruit.  While I always like adventure in candy, I don't like this gamble.

Click here to read our Bridge Mixture review.

 This treat has a fatal flaw right off the bat, coconut and caramel rarely go well together.  What makes this treat even worse, is that there isn't any real caramel to speak of, only a caramel flavour.  It's just not a good idea, and even a poorer execution.

Click here to read our Butterscotch Macaroon review.

 When I was a kid there was only one kind of Oh Henry! bar.  Then, about 10 years ago they started playing with the recipe and created a whole bunch of alternative flavours.  Some worked fairly well, others ended up like the Oh Henry! Pro.

Click here to read the Oh Henry! Pro review.

Miss Vickies chips are fantastic, in fact they're one of my staples when it comes to potato chips.  A few years back, Miss Vickie's had the idea to "expand their brand".  This lead to disasters like these chocolate chip cookies.

Click here to read the Miss Vickie's Chocolate Chip Cookie review.

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