The Ice Cream Business

 A fascinating look at what goes into making Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

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Does The Kit Kat Store Sell Kit Kat Bars?

 

On my most recent trip to Toronto I decided to check out the KITKAT Chocolatory at Yorkdale mall. When I decided to go all I knew about the place was that it was a Kit Kat store. I had a few assumptions about the place, but all I knew for sure is that one thing they offered was custom Kit Kat bars. I don't like to brag, but I've taste tested a few variety of Kit Kat bars in my life (you can see all my reviews here), so I was expecting a lot out of this store.

One of my assumptions was that they would sell a selection of Kit Kat bars from around the world. In particular I thought they might have a few of the Japanese variety. This was not the case at all, they don't even sell a variety of Kit Kat bars from North America. It appears that every single Kit Kat bar they sell is made in house.

I will say that the house (the store) they built is very fancy. Many of the different variety of custom Kit Kat bars they sell were beautifully displayed in these glass display cloches. The fanciness does come at a price, as these might be the most expensive non-imported Kit Kat bars I've ever seen.

Even the packages display them as more of a fine chocolate than a simple candy bar. This leads me to the a few of the problems I had with this place.

First of all, it's very expensive, I walked out of this place with nothing because I just didn't feel like it was worth the price. My bigger problem comes from how they make the different "varieties" of Kit Kat bars. Most varieties of Kit Kat bars sold in stores around the world incorporate every aspect of the Kit Kat bar. Meaning the chocolate, the wafers and the cream between the wafers are often different in the various varieties of Kit Kat bars sold in regular stores. The bars at this store are just three variety of Kit Kat bars, white, milk chocolate and dark chocolate, with random ingredients stuck to the top. The random ingredients available where also fairly standard in the chocolate making world. While I'm sure they tasted fine, it really didn't feel that adventurous, particularly for the very steep price tag. 

This with the fact that they didn't offer any of the hundreds of imports available, really turned me off of this place. If I was describe this store, I would say it's a Kit Kat themed fancy chocolate store. While Kit Kat is there, the true spirit of the brand is not. I don't blame you if you want to try this place out, as I'm sure the treats taste great, I was just hoping for a little more adventure than what was on offer.

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Junk Fud on the Road in Qatar

This is the second part of our journey to the Middle East. In the first episode we visited Oman, this time we went to Qatar, although the focus is really on Doha,

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Reading Snack Facts - Issue 12

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 12 all about cookies.

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

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Simply Beautiful Desserts

 This truly blurs the line between art and desserts.

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Time To Try Something... Well I'm Not Really Sure What It Is

 I always get nervous if I have no idea what I'm doing.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to see all the strange stuff I might be eating.

Also be sure to follow me on Patreon for extra stuff too.

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Reading Snack Facts - Issue 11

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 11 all about ice cream.

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

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Defining Candy Is Hard

I think I would call myself a candy expert, I've been eating a writing about candy for a very long time. The thing is, I don't know everything, in fact I know a very small percentage about candy, snacks and treats. I don't think there's anyone who knows everything, and even more important, I feel like people have different knowledge depending on where and how you were brought up. This might seem frustrating to some, but for me it's one of the things I love most about candy. I was reminded about how little I know when I was writing this latest review. It's for a praline, and it's a praline that feels different than other pralines I've had in the past, yet I don't feel like I'm expert enough to say if it's a real praline or not.

Check out the full review and let me know if you think this is a praline or not.

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Another Willy Wonka

 My general opinion of this trailer is that it's very weird, having said that, I feel that any movie featuring Willy Wonka should be weird. The question is if this movie is weird enough.

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The Violence Of Popcorn

 

I’ve just been doing a doodle to celebrate National popcorn day (see above) and while doing a little research I made a horrifying discovery. Popcorn might be the most violent and disturbing snack in the world. While it’s very tasty, and one of the most versatile sacks out there, it has a very violent birth and destruction. It even looks like it’s in totally agony when it’s sitting in a bowl. After looking at close up pictures of popcorn, and then drawing my doodle, I was a little horrified.

I guess while it’s corn it’s not that violent a life, although I know almost nothing about the harvest and production of popcorn. Come to think of it, a tour of a popcorn farm and factory might be fun. I’ll be sure to put that on my list of future adventures. The thing about popcorn is the first thing people do to it is put it in a really hot environment until it explodes. However popcorn is designed not to explode all the way.

Instead, popcorn is designed to almost pause in time, at that moment after exploding, but before it splits apart into millions of pieces. This is likely why I feel like popcorn looks like it’s in agony. It looks like the slow motion close up on a villains face during the climax of an action movie. Twisted in a way that looks impossible. Then, after you’ve frozen your popcorn in the middle of a large explosion, you often pour hot oil (or sometimes molten sugar) on it. It’s final demise is when it’ finally crushed in your mouth.

If I was to ever write a movie about the life of a kernel of popcorn, people would find it super disturbing. It would be interesting to make that movie as the people likely to be watching it would actually be eating popcorn at the time.

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Reading Snack Facts - Issue 10

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 10 all about marshmallows.

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

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Chicken Wings Start A Review-a-thon

 I feel like starting this week's candy review-a-thon with a gummy chicken wing is perfect. It's a great way to show how strange and beautiful gummies or any candies can be. One of my biggest complaints about candy is the lack of creativity, but every so often I'm pleasantly proven wrong. This gummy is so strange, but its weirdness doesn't get in the way of it being a candy. When I started candycritic.org, I had a sweet tooth, but the longer I've been doing it, the more I want to discover really creative treats. At times like this I'm greatly rewarded.

Make sure to read this full chicken wing review.

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Cookie Flute?

 I mean what else would you expect with a video featuring Cookie Monster and Lizzo?

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Reading Snack Facts - Issue 9

Sit back and relax while I read you every issue of Snack Facts. Today I'm reading issue number 9 all about chocolate Easter bunnies.

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

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It's Not The Snack, It's About What I Was Promised

 

Sometimes a middle of the road snack can get a much lower review than it normally would. This is the case when a snack calls itself something, but doesn't deliver. I'm not talking about a snack that claims to be the best, but instead it's when a snack promises something very specific, like a flavour or a texture, then it doesn't deliver. If a gum claimed to be the chewiest gum in the world, and it was just average bubble gum, then it's not holding up its end of the bargain. For something like this I'd likely knock points off the review not only for novelty, but also texture. This is the case with my latest featured review, the chips are okay (not great), but what they promised is nothing like what they delivered.

Check out the full review to find out why these chips didn't deliver.

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