Tom's Look At The Visual Side Of Snacks And Candy - Ross’s Edinburgh Castle Rock

If you are new to this feature on Candy Critic, let me say, even though this piece is about a candy package with a retro look (last time was Lucky Elephant) it’s completely by chance. Non-retro packaging will feature again!

This particular item was found at “Paisley’s, the Wee British Shop” in Bowmanville, Ontario (Canada, for any international Candy Critic enthusiasts). I was immediately struck by the simple, yet effective design with it’s tartan pattern. A cut-out window shows the candy’s muted, pastel colours. It made me think of sticks of chalk, which may not be the best mental association for food. The name of the treat, Edinburgh Castle Rock, also might suggest an extremely hard, dense candy. I was assured by the clerk that neither was it chalk nor was it hard.

The package features a classic script text for  the possessive of the company name: “Ross’s”. The script name is printed red on a yellow background that fades like a sky behind a silhouette of the titular castle. A solid, simple sans serif typeface in one uniform size spells out the product’s name against the blue cliffside castle. A sense of depth is created with a dark, silhouetted tree scape in the foreground. The tartan design is created with careful overlaps of three of the basic printing ink colours to create several secondary colours. The cutaway window cleverly ties the candies’ colour into the overall colour design.

While a look at the company didn’t reveal how long the company had used this package design, it did reveal that Ross’s has been making candy since 1880! The clerk at Paisley’s said she had a relative who would bring a box to gift the family when she (the clerk) was a child. The company is still a family run operation that uses classic recipes as well as explores new candy creations. The range of “rock” stick candy flavours is extensive and includes some intriguing ones such as haggis, marmite, pizza and rhubarb. It seems the three flavours featured in this box only scratch the surface!

Tom

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A New Episode Of Junk Fud On The Road Is Online!

In this latest episode of Junk Fud On The Road, Allison and I talk about the UK.  Normally with Junk Fud On The Road we talk about particular countries, but this time we've expanded to a group of countries.  It's likely because they're close to each other, both in geography and in food selection, but it's also because a few of the countries (Wales in particular) we've only visited for a short time, and we didn't want them to be left out.

Click here to check out old episodes of Junk Fud On The Road, and click here to follow us on SoundCloud to keep up with all of the new episodes of the Junk Fud podcast.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Irn-Bru ice cream  - AG Barr - I love Irn-Bru, and I like things frozen, so I'm sure it works. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Awesome UK Food Finds

Whenever I go on a trip I always come across some amazing food finds.  Some of them have nothing to do with candy, others don't really merit a full blog post, but all of them are worth sharing.  So today I'm posting some of the random highlights (food wise) from my epic UK trip.  

While visiting several war museums in the UK, I came across this same box of chocolates.  Apparently it's been a long tradition in the UK to give soldiers sweet treats to help keep up moral.  They would give them the chocolate in a tin with a picture of the queen on the outside.  This particular exhibit was fascinating because not only did they have an example of the chocolate box, but they also had a couple of bars of  the chocolate as well.

If you love ice cream and Dr Who, this is pretty much the best thing you could possibly imagine.

Almost every time I travel, I develop a taste for a new food that I either haven't tried, or haven't given much thought.  This trips new food is clotted cream with jam on a scone.  I may stop eating butter all together.

I'm not sure what this is, and I don't really care to.

I have a pretty good idea what this is, and I don't really want to eat it.

I came across this candy store in Edinburgh called Honeydukes.  I'm not sure about the history of this shop, but it is important to note that J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book in Edinburgh.

If you're going to eat sticky toffee pudding, it's only right to pour hot sweet custard over the top... right?

If you want to know what keeps the Scottish people ticking, it's pretty obvious.

So many things wrong with Uncle Joe's Mint Balls.

I like old candy machines, I love old candy machines when they actually sell candy, and I'm totally in love with old candy machines that actually sell candy at the original price.

Nothing says tasty meal better than a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with beef and gravy.

Did you know that Scotland has a thing for shortbread.  Walkers short bread is made there, and it's some of the best packaged shortbread in the world.  But all over the place they really love these sticks of buttery goodness.

I hope this post wasn't too random, but I just need to get a few things off my mind.

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8 Days Of UK Treats - Day 8

If you're looking to explore one of the best places in the world to eat sweet treats, you might seriously want to consider a trip into the UK.  England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales all have an amazing selection of treats to choose from.  Many of the treats that North Americans are used to eating originated from this great cluster of islands, but they also have some very unique flavours of their own as well.

Click here to read the last instalment of our UK treats review-a-thon.

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8 Days Of UK Treats - Day 6

There are two things I found in abundance in Scotland and England, tea and sweet treats.  Strangely I never once found tea flavoured sweet treats.  Instead the UK seems to focus on sweet treats that go well with tea.  For them crossing the line and actually blending the two together seems like a no go zone.  Even the treats from today's review might have worked well with tea flavours, but it never seems to happen.  Actually, come to think of it, I did buy a bag of Sticky Toffee Pudding tea in Glasgow.  So maybe you can go one direction, but not the other.

Click here to read today's sweet Scottish review, it might go well with a cup of thistle tea.

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Deep Fried Scottish Specialty

When I travel, I rarely research what kinds of treats I might find at my destination.  I find that if I do too much research I'll start looking for particular treats, instead of just seeing what's around me.  That sometimes leads to novelty treats being featured more than the treats people actually might enjoy.  On my recent trip to Scotland I really didn't have much in mind, except a deep fried Mars bar.

The trend of deep frying every and any unhealthy food really stemmed from the deep fried Mars bar, and the deep fried mars bar originated in Scotland.  I thought it would be silly not to sample this now famous treat in its country of origin.  Not that I thought it would be any better than the times I've sampled them at various fairs in North America, I just thought I would make sure I tried the original.

As it turns out, the deep fried Mars bar in Scotland has turned into a bit of a rare novelty. I was expecting to find it on the menu at every pub and fish and chips shop I came across, but in fact it was a little difficult to find.  In Edinburgh I decided to use the internet and search out any shops that might sell one.  This was already well into my fourth day in Scotland, after checking many menus.  I found one place that really seemed to be getting the lions share of attention for selling these gooey treats, the Clam Shell restaurant.

Fortunately it's located on the main street, not too far from Edinburgh Castle.  The place wasn't too fancy, which made me happy.  I'd hate the idea that I would sample a Scottish deep fried Mars bar at a place that was really selling it as a novelty.  The Clam Shell didn't even have any signs promoting this sweet treat, which surprised me a little bit since it's one of the few places I found online still selling them.  When I got into the restaurant, I walked up to the counter and asked if they still sold them, the lady said they did, and in no time I had one of the classic Scottish treats in my hand.

As far as treats go it was exactly what I expected.  It was also very similar to the others I had tried in the past, except this was the first time I've had one that wasn't cut up into little squares.  It melted in my mouth beautifully, and it was very rich and greasy.  If you've never tried one, and you're not sure if it's the treat for you, then it's simple to know if you'll like it.  If you're worried about the grease, sugar, and richness of this treat, a deep fried Mars bar is not for you.  This is a very unhealthy treat, it tastes unhealthy and it's makes you feel a little sick when you get to the end.

While I was very surprised at the lack of deep fried Mars bars, I'm glad I eventually found one.  I've heard from some websites that there was some kind of lawsuit from Mars about using their name, but I thought that it was settled.  I also don't know if a lawsuit could really shut down so many places that used to sell them.  I'm thinking that this idea was once trendy in Scotland, but that ship has past.  Since it didn't evolve the way it has in North America, deep frying everything, the trend died, and only a few places still keep it up.

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Friday Candy Video

I've tried several times to write something clever and witty about this commercial.  All I can think of is how sad I am that this cereal has not survived and how sad I am that this campaign hasn't continued to this day.  Sure it's a fairly politically incorrect concept, but I was really hoping to have myself a Bonny Breakfast.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I've always wondered what the connection between butterscotch and Scotland might be.  In North America at least, butterscotch is always advertised as a Scottish tradition.  You can't really find any kind of butterscotch candy or sweet without some kind of tartan wrapper or package.

I found this ad here.

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Friday Candy Video

I've discovered that many American's like to take credit for the idea of deep frying silly things like chocolate bars, and other sweet treats.  The thing you have to keep in mind is that this idea is a Scottish tradition that's been around for a really long time.  What's considered the new carnival food in the USA has actually been a traditional dessert in Scotland for many years.  I'll give the American's credit, they've run with the deep frying tradition and started to deep fry some pretty insane and tasty things.  But make sure to give credit where credit is due, the Scottish folks have been clogging their arteries long before it was cool in the USA.

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This Week In Candy

Hey gang... or whomever reads this weekly post, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm not going to be around that much over the next few weeks.  I'm heading out on an epic Northern England/Scotland adventure, full of fun surprises.  I hope to sample some of the world famous English/Scottish cuisine on my trip, and most importantly I hope to sample at least one deep fried Mars bar.

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting what I can on social media as I come across it, and I have a few posts for the blog ready to go as well.  There won't be any candy news this week or next week, and I'll probably be posting fewer news links on Twitter as well.  I also wont be posting any new reviews until I get back, but I think the review for Alex's Lemonade Stand Mike and Ikes is a nice thing to leave as our feature review for a few weeks.

I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about when I get back, so stay tuned to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, for any fun updates.

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This Week In Candy

Last week we started a new feature on the blog called "A Cool Candy Thing".  While I am a big fan of candy, even more I love the culture of candy, and all the candy related merchandise I find.  So I've decided to show you guys something cool, and candy related, that I've discovered lately.  Every week it'll be a new thing, and every week you can add something to my Christmas list, just in case you were going to get me anything.

In a few weeks I'm heading off on a Northern England/Scotland adventure.  I'm not sure what kind of sweet treats I'm going to come across, but I'm pretty sure that I'll eat at least one deep fried Mars bar.  I'm also interested in finding out how much the folks in Scotland like butterscotch.

My huge candy backlog for review is starting to thin out a bit lately.  About a month ago I posted a Vine video of all of the treats I've had to taste and review.  It's been a pretty big adventure, and I've been lucky enough to sample some pretty fine treats.  Having said that, the only thing I like more than taste testing new treats, is discovering new things that I have to taste.

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This Week In Candy

Our candy stash/collection of treats that need to be reviewed, is officially out of control.  It's pretty much the greatest problem one could ask for.  We're working hard to eat... I mean organize all of these candies and post reviews.  We will stagger many of them, but I think a few review-a-thons are in the near future.  Also, if you're a candy company that either has, or wants to, send us something to review, don't worry, you get priority.

We're planning a trip to Scotland and the Norther part of England later this summer, and we want suggestions on what's not to be missed as far as treats and meals go.  We have a rough idea about places we want to see, but we also have a lot of time to just wonder since we have a car.

Finally, this week is going to be a week of cleaning up some loose ends here at Candy Critic.  I've got a few articles I want to work on, and we have to organize all of these reviews that need to be finished.  Hopefully this week of cleaning up will pay off in the near future. I'll most likely post lots of pictures of this clean up experience on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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