Snack on Some Facts!

 

I bet you’d like to know a little more about those awesome treats you shove in your mouth. Well now you finally have the opportunity.

Check out Snack Facts right now at candycritic.org/snackfacts/ or on Amazon.

About The Candy Critic

 

Every so often I realize that people don’t really know much about me. People first of all assume that I have a huge team of people working on this site, but I don’t. I do have a few friends that help out regularly, but that’s about it. They also often assume that I’m a girl, while I take no insult at all, it’s just not the case. I’ve decided to spend a blog post and tell you a few facts about me that may or may not be relevant to candycritic.org

Born in Canada – I was born in Toronto to be specific, although I haven’t lived there in a while.

Lived in several countries including Greece, Pakistan, Cambodia and Myanmar (and a short stay in Japan) – I move around a lot, particularly in the last few years. While I still call Canada home, I tend to live in other parts of the world.

Is a writer and artist by trade – Reviewing candy is fun, but bills have to be paid. I work freelance and occasionally on contract with all kinds of companies making videos, animation, illustrations, comics and all kinds of stuff. If you want to learn more about that side of my life you can check out my other site bewarethecheese.com.

Love reading and writing comic books (even does a podcast about it) – I love comic books, I write and draw a comic called Blue Orchid as well as contribute to many other comics. My friend Chetan and I even have a podcast all about making comics called Geek Shop.

Favourite hobby is walking – While I love making things and reviewing candy, the thing that really charges my batteries is walking. I love urban exploration and travelling to new places to explore. I don’t mind hiking through forests and jungles, but I much prefer wandering through urban jungles.

Has visited many countries and counting – I travel a lot. Since I’ve lived in so many countries in different parts of the world, it’s allowed me to visit many different places. 

Food allergies -  While I’m not allergic to any foods in particular, too much milk or eggs aren’t great for me. I’ve also had problems with coconuts, but only when I eat too many. I could say the same for mangoes, but the real problem is that I eat so many mangoes when given the chance, that it would make just about anyone kind of sick.

Foods I don’t like - The thing about being the Candy Critic is that some people assume that I love all kinds of foods. It’s just not true, in fact I don’t know anyone who actually likes every kind of food. Here’s a list of foods I don’t really like:

Raw onions

Really spicy foods

Lamb

Licorice

Strong cheese

Many sea foods

Cilantro (tastes like soap)

Junk Fud on the Road - Vietnam

In this episode of Junk Fud on the Road Allison and Chris talk about their recent trip to Vietnam. They traveled (on the ground) from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi and ate all kinds of amazing treats. 

Beasts and Treats

 

There are some #beasts that really love to #snack on #treats.

Learn all about these amazing creatures from my book called #TreatsAndBeasts right now at bewarethecheese.com/treatsnbeasts/.

Milk Chocolate Is So Hard To Review

 

The more candies I review, the more challenging it is to review milk chocolate bars. In particular it's getting difficult to review the really good milk chocolate bars. I can generally talk a little bit about where a particular milk chocolate bar might work, for example it might be creamier or more cocoa filled than other bars, but honestly the differences between the best milk chocolate bars out there is so minimal. There are a few brands out there doing great things with this and when they do I'm overjoyed. That is until I have to write 3 or 4 paragraphs explaining why I am once again happy to be eating this bar, but honestly it's very similar to many other milk chocolate bars.

Check out my latest milk chocolate bar review.

How Loud is a Dorito?

 Doritos are notoriously loud, but how loud are they? It also got me wondering how loud other snacks might be, and are Doritos the loudest?

CC

Check Out Blue Orchid!

 If you love adventure, #monsters and a kick ass #hero, check out my #comic called #BlueOrchid.

You can pick up everything Blue Orchid right now at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/.

Candy From Around The World

Recently a friend of mine commented about how many times I've tasted a Kit Kat bar, in particular a milk chocolate Kit Kat bar. The difference between these Kit Kat bars is the fact that they were made in different parts of the world. I feel like most people believe that a milk chocolate Kit Kat bar is the same no matter where you buy it. I used to think that myself, but as I've become more and more experienced eating treats from different parts of the world, I've started to realize that it's just not true. So if you see the same treat reviewed several times on candycritic.org, it's not a mistake, it just means I've been traveling a bit.

Check out my latest international snack version, Cheetos from Thailand.

Coconut Candy Making

One of the benefits of doing a website about candy is the number of times I’ve been invited/gone to candy making facilities. Some of the places I’ve visited are giant factories while other times it’s a place that’s smaller than my kitchen. I can’t say I’ve ever had a bad experience at a candy makers domain, so when given the opportunity I never turn it down. On a recent trip to Vietnam I was given the opportunity to visit a really fascinating place that makes coconut candy.

The most interesting part of this factory is that it’s not very big, yet they do so much. They literally start with whole coconuts, with the husks and all and finish with a packaged candy. The first step in making these coconut candies is getting the coconut out of husks. You often hear about candy makers using local ingredients, these local ingredients are literally grown just outside the factory, harvested and brought in to be husked. Best of all, they use each and every part afterwards as well.

After clearing out the meat of the coconut they send it to this machine that basically gives you ground coconut on one end and coconut milk on the other. This is the kind of machine I could watch all day, and frankly I’m not entirely sure how it performs it’s magic.

The other good thing about a candy making facility like this is that there’s no secrets. The ingredient list is two things, coconut and malt (for sweetening). The malt is brought in separately, they don’t have a facility to make that, but the coconut and malt are mixed together and heated up. One of the sources for the fire to heat the candy mixture is actually the coconut husks.

After the coconut and malt mixture is cooked and has turned into a taffy like consistency, it’s spread out on a table, flattened and cut into strips. The strips are then cut into small squares using the most intense large knife I’ve ever seen in a candy kitchen.

As a note, this is the best time to sample this candy, fresh off the line.

After it’s cooled a bit, it’s sorted and sent off to the packaging machine. Fortunately the candies that don’t fit the right size and shape are also available as more samples.

Watching people make candy from the raw ingredients until they’re packed in a bag is pretty amazing. It not only shows great skill, but also great care. If you every find yourself on Unicorn Island in the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam, why not watch them make some coconut candy.

Quick Street Pancake

 A quick pancake made on the street in downtown Yangon, Myanmar.

CC

When I Can't Read The Package

I'm always nervous about treats when I can't read the package, but it's not a fear kind of nervous. It's more like that nervous you get before going on a roller coaster. While you're pretty sure everything will be alright, there is a chance that things could go wrong. I'm not often worried about things like food poisoning or anything, in fact I'm more nervous about the treat being really boring. That actually happens more than you might think.

Check out my latest mysterious review.

Quick List - The Worst Candies For Each Letter of the Alphabet - Q-U

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

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

Time For Some Blue Orchid

Did you know that I'm making a comic book? It's called Blue Orchid and you can pick up your own copy right now!

Pick up every issue and even some merch at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/ or on Amazon.

Unfair Advantage

There are some snacks and treats that really get an unfair advantage when it comes to reviews on candycritic.org. A great example of this is salt and vinegar potato chips. I love salt and vinegar potato chips so much that I'm always happy to eat a bag. I've tasted many brands, and for the most part I've loved them all. It would (and has) take a lot to ruin this flavour combination for for me. Even an average bag of these chips puts a smile on my face. So I guess if you make salt and vinegar potato chips, and you want a positive review on the site, just send me a bag and I'm pretty sure it will work out fine.

Check out my latest salt and vinegar potato chip review.