Snack Facts For The Holidays

If you find that you're not getting enough Christmas cheer this year, why not pick up the latest issue of Snack Facts, my micro comic all about snacks and candy. This issue (special for the holidays) is all about candy canes. So come and join Sir Francis Sweetums and his little friend Barbara on an adventure though the sweet world of holiday treats. Best of all it features an awesome cover by the very talented Jeff Banks.

If you want to pick up your digital download for only 50 cents, make sure to check out candycritic.org/snackfacts.

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Amazing Christmas Candy/Junk Food Things That You Should Buy - Pickles And Pork

 

Not only will these candy canes show the world that you're an out of the box thinker, they're actually Christmas coloured, so no one will suspect anything.

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Learn About Candy Canes The Snack Facts Way

If you find that you're not getting enough Christmas cheer this year, why not pick up the latest issue of Snack Facts, my micro comic all about snacks and candy. This issue (special for the holidays) is all about candy canes. So come and join Sir Francis Sweetums and his little friend Barbara on an adventure though the sweet world of holiday treats. Best of all it features an awesome cover by the very talented Jeff Banks.

If you want to pick up your digital download for only 50 cents, make sure to check out candycritic.org/snackfacts.

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Amazing Christmas Candy/Junk Food Things That You Should Buy - Mushroom Candy Canes

 

I mean who wouldn't want a little umami in their candy canes?

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Celebrate Christmas The Snack Facts Way!!!

If you find that you're not getting enough Christmas cheer this year, why not pick up the latest issue of Snack Facts, my micro comic all about snacks and candy. This issue (special for the holidays) is all about candy canes. So come and join Sir Francis Sweetums and his little friend Barbara on an adventure though the sweet world of holiday treats. Best of all it features an awesome cover by the very talented Jeff Banks.

If you want to pick up your digital download for only 50 cents, make sure to check out candycritic.org/snackfacts.

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Unusual Candy For Your Tree - Krampus Candy Canes

Of all the candy canes we're featuring this month, this is the one I'm most afraid of. It says that it's cinnamon, however I assume that it's blazing hot cinnamon. If it's not super spicy then I don't really get the theme of this treat at all. The best way to eat this candy cane is with some cold milk.

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Unusual Candy For Your Tree - Dill Pickle Candy Canes

The thing about these dill pickle candy canes is that I want them to also be really garlic heavy, but I don't want them to be garlic heavy at the same time. I love pickles that are garlic heavy, and I find it's a flavour lacking in the candy world. Most pickle flavoured snacks are more on the dill and vinegar side with a hint of garlic. Why they don't do this is obvious, garlic candy likely won't taste very good.  Probably the best way to enjoy this candy cane is to suck one end into a spike and skewer several olives onto it.

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Unusual Candy For Your Tree - Clam Candy Canes

I'm just going to start right off with the candy cane I'd least like to eat. The only reason I'd want to try one of these is to see how much they actually taste like clams (then I'd like choke into a bucket). The only way I could see these working is as an accompaniment to your festive bloody mary cocktail.

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This Week In Candy

It's officially started, Christmas. Here at Candy Critic we're all ready for the holiday season. It all starts with putting up a few lights, and spirals out of control from there. This year we picked up some candy canes to decorate the living room but it was actually a second thought. I think that's because no one seems to eat them. Every year as I'm taking down the Christmas decorations I always find that almost every candy cane is still hung up where I left it. 

I'm not really sure why this happens either. Is it that people just don't like a cool candy cane? Maybe my guests are too polite and feel that taking a candy cane ruins my Christmas decorating? It could be that I feed my friends too many other sweet treats so they can't bear anything else. All I know is that when I take down the decorations, I have to come up with ways to use up candy canes.

This week on Candy Critic we're continuing our countdown to Christmas. We're also going to post a new episode of Junk Fud News looking back on all of the junk food news for the month of November. We may also start to post some random Christmas gift ideas on the blog here, for the sweet tooth on your Christmas list. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with all the Christmas stuff we're posting during the holidays.

This week's new review came from the wonderful folks at Ice Chips Candy. They sent us a bunch of boxes of Ice Chips to try, and I instantly gravitated to the Root Beer Float. I was particularly interested in seeing how they used the latest trendy sweetener, Xylithol. Click here to see what works and what doesn't.

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This Week In Candy

This week Allison and I taped our first episode of the Junk Fud podcast segment known as "Junk Fud on the Road".  Each month we're going to talk about a place we've visited (or maybe are visiting right then) and we're going to look at some of the food we tried.  Our first episode, coming out in January, will be all about Canadian snacks and junk food.  We thought we would start with a look at the food from our own country, although I have a feeling there will be followup episodes about Canada in the future.  We'll be posting our episodes on this blog, as well as our various social media sites.

This week on Snack Facts, our Instagram feed, we're going to be looking at candy canes.  Probably the candy most associated with the holiday season, it's a pretty fascinating subject.  Check our Instagram feed every day this week for a new fact about this striped candy.  If you don't use Instagram, don't worry, you can also follow Snack Facts on our Twitter feed and Facebook page as well.  Next week will also be the last Snack Facts installments until the New Year, we're taking a bit of a break over the holidays.

This week's new review comes to us from our good friend Candice.  She picked up these little golden packages of fun on a recent trip to Kuala Lumpur.  After eating them I'm not sure if she's really our friend, or just trying to torture us.  Click here to find out why this treat is so insane.

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This Week In Candy

Christmas is certainly approaching.  We've got all of our decorations up, and we're now just trying to figure out what kind of candy we'll have around the house for this holiday season.  While I'm always a sucker for a candy cane (no pun intended), I do like chocolates too, in fact I like almost every holiday treat.  The two exceptions are figgy pudding and some fruit cakes.  We have lots of fun things planned for Candy Critic over the holidays, so stay tuned.

Not only is this month going to be full of holiday cheer, but every Wednesday we're also featuring some really cool jewelry from our friends at KanDi Jewelery.  They take the great shapes, colours, and designs of the candy world, and turn it into funky cool wearables.

We're also going to be posting a new entry of our dessert club.  For the holidays we've decided to make gingerbread cookies.  Later this week we'll post our recipe, as well as our experiences making this classic Christmas cookie.

This week on Snack Facts, our Instagram feed, we're looking at the history of cocoa.  It's one of the most prevalent ingredients in the candy world, second only to vanilla and sugar.  So check our Instagram feed every day for a new fact, if you don't use Instagram, you can also follow Snack Facts on our Facebook page and Twitter feed as well.

This week's new review was decided by you, the candycritic.org followers.  I asked you guys all week on our social media sites (including Periscope) which flavour of Fla-Vers you wanted me to review.  It was close, but lime chipotle won. So click here to find out what I thought.

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A Spicy Christmas Candy Thing

I probably should have waited until Christmas to post this Spicy Candy Thing, but I just couldn't wait.  I have to be honest, I don't know if I've ever tasted Sriracha, but it's pretty trendy right now, so I thought these candy canes were pretty neat.  Since Sriracha is also a pretty popular BBQ addition, I guess these candy canes could really be an all year treat if you wanted them to.  Come to think of it, why aren't candy canes popular all year round, and why don't they come in more flavours?  The hook shape makes them handy for storage all the time, and even the traditional mint flavour would be great for cooling you down on a hot summer's day.  When I first posted this, I thought it was silly to post about candy canes this time of year, now I think it's silly not to eat candy canes all year long.

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A Warm Candy Thing

After checking the weather reports for a great deal of the northern hemisphere, I thought that this week's "Candy Thing" should be something to warm people up. And what could be warmer than a nice steaming cup of hot cocoa?  The only problem you'll have after getting yourself a neat hot cocoa machine, is deciding what you want to ad to your cocoa.  Are you a marshmallow and cocoa person, or do you like melting in a candy cane, maybe you'd prefer a little bit of chilly powder. What's the best addition to your hot cocoa?

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Candy In The Media

I never thought of the guy from Hootie and the Blow fish as a Christmas crooner, but he really pulls it off.  Whenever I think about Christmas songs like this I gag a little, then when I'm sitting down on a cool December's night I can't help but feel a little warmer when they're playing.  There's just something so relaxing and warm about songs like this.  I personally can't wait to sit in my living room with a mug of hot cocoa, enjoying the smooth sounds of Christmas with the smell of a Christmas tree filling the room.  Good job Hootie guy, you made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. My only complaint, not enough mention of candy canes.

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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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A Cool Candy Thing - Halloween Costume Eddition

All this month we're going to look at a different candy related Halloween costume every week on our "A Cool Candy Thing" post.  This week I thought I would start with a costume that I might consider wearing, not because it looks particularly cool, but because it's kind of ironic.  To me there's something really interesting about wearing a costume that celebrates another holiday for Halloween. As a kid I'd always thought about dressing up as Santa Clause for Halloween, but if I was to go with a candy theme, this would work just as well.  I  have to admit that the costume itself is fairly uninspired artistically, but I'm sure you'd attract some attention, and a few questions.

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Candy News

I don't want to call these gingerbread houses, I'd rather call them gingerbread art.  Here's the first, and here's the second.

Just in case you want to make your own gingerbread art, here's how you can make a ginger D20.

Quick cookie tip, this is particularly good if you bake a lot of Christmas cookies this season.

I'm probably one of the worst food bloggers when it comes to typos, fortunately I'm not the only one.

The secret origin of candy canes.

How well do you know Yankee candle? I can only assume since you're reading this blog about candy that you know your Jelly Belly flavours.

Just when you thought all of the news this week would be happy, and be about Christmas, Mars has to go and shrink their bars, for profit.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Linkydoodles - Kencraft - I'm always a sucker for new candy cane designs. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Candy News

Mallomars are 100 years old... the cookies aren't, but the concept is.

Dorito bread and Dorito butter, two excellent ideas.

Here's some really nice photo work that simply looks at colour and candy.

With the holiday's coming, we're going to start seeing extreme gingerbread houses.  Here's the first, and here's the second so far.

People really like nuts in their chocolate, apparently plain old chocolate just isn't cool enough.

If you thought potato chips were simple, think again.

Just when you thought chocolate couldn't do any more, apparently it might help in the fight against E.coli.

Thinking about entertaining a fine night of dinning?  Don't forget to buy some chocolate.

Art inspired by gummy bears, they left out one particular piece, but I'm sure I'm a little biased.

The Telegraph compares the Hershey bar to the Dairy Milk bar, which do you prefer?

Disneyland is selling candy canes for 10 dollars each, and people are lining up to buy them.

That little Debbie has been making Sweet Rolls for 50 years now, she looks pretty good for her age.

Here's a great way to enjoy eating jelly beans, and also keep your life organized... It's really a win/win situation.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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A Cool Candy Thing

If you've ever wanted to wrap up Christmas gifts in a way that would not allow the person to open them with any ease at all, this is the stuff for you.  It might also be really useful if you wanted to dress up as some kind of Candy Cane for Halloween.  Then again, if you simply wanted to have the tastiest looking ducts in your whole neighbourhood, this would really be the way to go.

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