No Better Book to Read Right Now Than Treats and Beasts

 Make sure to pick up your own copy of Treats and Beasts.

You can also get all kinds of fun Treats and Beasts merch.

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Milk Chocolate By Definition

I find that the definition of milk chocolate is a little complicated to nail down. Many dark chocolates contain milk, white chocolate also often contains milk. One might even argue that some white chocolates contain more milk than milk chocolates. Some milk chocolates are very cocoa forward, in fact I would argue that most milk chocolates, should be called chocolate with milk. This Milka bar that I reviewed this week is probably one of the best examples of a chocolate bar that really celebrates the milk part of milk chocolate. 

Check out the full review right here.

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Do The Twist

 You can watch them put the twist into Twizzlers.

You can also unwind and read my comic called Snack Facts.

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Chocolate Spread From Myanmar - Is It Better Than Nutella Part 1

 

I'm a big fan of chocolate spreads. While I was brought up on Nutella, I don't know if it's truly the best on out there. It's probably the most famous of them all, and I've written about it many times on this blog. Nutella has become so popular that many people refer to all chocolate spreads as "Nutella". A few times on this blog I've also pointed out some alternatives to Nutella, some better and some not so great. The thing that most people don't realize is that there are many chocolate spreads that are different than Nutella. In particular some great chocolate spreads that don't use the same ingredients, like some with no hazelnuts at all.

Today for example I tried a really interesting chocolate spread from Myanmar. As you can see by the giant sticker on the jar, they're very proud of the fact that it's made locally. I learned recently that Myanmar actually grows their own cocoa beans, and there's a budding chocolate business here. Interestingly, because it's such a small crop in Myanmar, most of the chocolate products made with Myanamar chocolate are made by local companies. The great thing about these local companies is that they really think about the ingredients they use. This chocolate spread for example contains few ingredients, and doesn't use palm oil at all. I'm also pretty certain there's no nuts added to it either, so unlike Nutella it's just a chocolate spread and not a chocolate hazelnut spread.

The best way I can describe this spread is that it's a coconut oil spread with a chocolate flavour. It took me a little while to get used to the coconut oil flavour, as it's a lot more powerful than a palm oil, but after a little while I really started to enjoy it. It's not as sweet tasting as Nutella, but it is very unique. While I don't know if I like it more than Nutella, I love that it's around and that they offer something so different. I would recommend that anyone with the means to give it a try, even if just to have something different.

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Now You're Cooking with Junk Fud on the Road

 In this episode of Junk Fud on the Road, Allison and Chris talk about cooking while on the road.

Check out what Chris and Allison are up to right now on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Also be sure to follow them on Patreon for all kinds of bonus content.

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Many Fun Creatures in Treats and Beasts

 Make sure to pick up your own copy of Treats and Beasts.

You can also get all kinds of fun Treats and Beasts merch.

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I Don't Really Like Coffee

 

When I was younger, even a teenager, I hated coffee. Today I can drink it if it's offered, to be polite, but I would never choose it. I'd prefer tea any day, and hot chocolate every day. I feel the same way about most coffee candies too. While I'll eat them, it's rare for me to hunt them out. When I do appreciate them, I tend to look for ways that it doesn't really taste like coffee. It could be that it's nice and creamy, or in some cases it kind of tastes like chocolate.

Check out this coffee review, that I bought kind of by accident.

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Tarantino Knows His Food

 I love to see how pop culture and food work together. Many artists use food to help tell their story.

If you want to check out my story, pick up a copy of Treats and Beasts right now.

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Rip Into What?

 I've always thought of a Slim Jim as being a very masculine snack. There's a lot of ripping going on. Today I try to look at the Slim Jim objectively, and find out how weird it actually is.

Make sure to follow me on YouTube if you want to keep up with all my new videos.

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Look At Treats and Beasts

 Make sure to pick up your own copy of Treats and Beasts.

You can also get all kinds of fun Treats and Beasts merch.

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I Expect A Lot Of Complaints About This Review

I have to be honest, I'm not even sure if a Slim Jim qualifies to be reviewed on this site, so don't send me any messages complaining. I'm going to keep it up for now, but who knows, maybe I'll pull it off later because I just don't feel like a stick of meat is candy. I will argue that if we take the food category of meat, and look at where Slim Jim's fit, I think one could say that the Slim Jim is the candy of the meat world.

Read this new review, it might not stay online forever.

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Making Bubble Gum

 Apparently the song we used to sing in grade school about how bubble gum was made is completely false.

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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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Kicking Things Off With Treats and Beasts

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You can also get all kinds of fun Treats and Beasts merch.

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Is a Buckeye Supposed to be a Buck's Eye?

I keep wanting to tell myself that this treat I just reviewed has nothing to do with hunting. More to the point, that it has nothing to do with scooping the eyeball out of a dead animals head. It's funny, but if this was sold as a Halloween candy, with the whole scooping an eyeball out of an animal, I'd be okay with it. I'm not against hunting, I do realize where meat comes from, but I feel like scooping out an animals eye is a little gross for a theme for a candy. I know that there is also an American university called the Buckeyes, but I don't know where that came from either. I just can't get over at how much a buckeye candy can actually look like a buck's eye without using too much imagination.

Check out my family friendly review of these buckeyes without any mention of scooping animals eyes out.

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Popcorn Popping

 This is a great video to not only watch popcorn pop, but you might learn a little something about popcorn as well.

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Jump For Joy, It's Treats And Beasts!

 Make sure to pick up your own copy of Treats and Beasts.

You can also get all kinds of fun Treats and Beasts merch.

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A Week's Worth Of Squish

All this week I'm featuring gummy candies from a Canadian candy maker called Squish. They specialize in gummy candies, which is something I would have never thought I would ever see. When I was a kid the concept of a candy only store was rare, unless it was a fancy chocolate shop. Then as a teenager the candy store started to creep up in popularity, until the retro candy store started to become fairly common all over the place. Today it seems we might be heading into a new era, where we don't just have candy stores, but stores dedicated to one particular kind of candy. As a kid this would have totally blown my mind.

Check out the first Squish candy review, it's pretty amazing.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see all of the Squish reviews that I'll be posting later this week.

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