Junk Fud and You - Candy Brands and Stores I Don't Mess With

 I answer the question, is there any candy brands or candy stores that I just won't deal with?

Junk Fud and You - Why I Turn My Back On Candy Stores

 You'd think I wouldn't miss a candy store if I ever came across one, but nothing could be further from the truth, and here's why.

I Sometimes Eat The Same Candy Twice

 Today I talk about the ways some stores trick me into reviewing the same candy twice.

Pops Sweets an Treats – A Local Candy Store in Michigan

Over the next little while we’re going to feature candy stores all over the world that are bringing a little bit of sweetness into the world right now. We’re going to start with our friends at Pops Sweets an Treats in Mt Clemens, Michigan (USA).

This fun retro candy store is not only a place to buy candy, but it’s a destination.

They not only have a huge selection of bulk treats, but they have regular visitors to entertain the kids.

Pops Sweets an Treats also knows that it’s important to support the community, and they do their best to make sure everyone in the area is a little happier, and they’re always trying to make the world a better place to be.

While the doors are closed right now, because they want to make sure they’re keeping their community safe and following the local guideline, they still offer sweet treats for sale on their website.

So, make sure to check out popssweetsantreat.com (or facebook.com/popssweetsantreats) to see what they have for sale, and help support a fun retro candy shop trying to make the world a little sweeter right now.

(ED – This is not a paid advertisement, we here at Candy Critic want to help the local candy shops in this very difficult time. If you’re feeling down, and you need a little sweet treat, make sure to visit the website of your local candy shop, and consider placing an order, many are still open for curbside pick up or delivery. If you run a small sweet, snack or dessert shop, let us know, we’ll be happy to feature you on this blog and on our social media to let people know you’re still open for business.)

Hey Everybody, It's A New Episode Of Junk Fud On The Road!

In this episode Chris and Allison talk about the very strange and very amazing country of the United Arab Emirates. It's a place that offers just about everything you might want when it comes to snacking, even Tim Horton's.

Click here to check out our past episodes of Junk Fud On The Road.

And make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook as well.

If you want an early preview of all our podcasts and videos make sure to follow us on Patreon.

CC

Candy In The Media

On my way home from Europe, I had a stop in Dubai.  While in Dubai I stopped at a candy store, it was a massive candy store with treats from all over the world.  I'm pretty sure I'll be writing about this store in the future.  While at this candy store I was offered a foreign (at least to the local Emirates) treat, an Almond Joy.  They gave me a piece and then went on to explain the bar to me, like I'd never heard of it before.  After describing the Almond Joy, the girl then went on to describe the Mounds Bar to me, just in case I didn't want the almond.  The conversation then went as follows:

Girl in store:  The Almond Joy has an almond in it, and the Mounds Bar does not.

Me: Cause sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't.

Girl in store: *Blank stare*

Me: *Walk away awkwardly*

This just proves that some cultural references don't cross all borders.

CC

British Adventures, The Candy Critic's Travel Guide

Last week I posted the first entry in our three part series about a recent trip to Europe.  Part one was all about the French leg of our journey, full of pastries, crepes, and Disney stuff.  Today I'm going to write about the British leg of our journey.  Most of this journey took place in England, however we did spend one day in Wales, that provided us with an interesting sweet surprise.

This was by no means our first trip to the UK, in fact the UK tends to be a regular stop for us whenever we travel in Europe.  It might just be a stop over with a day or two in London, or it could be a grand adventure through the British countryside.  This particular trip was more about the grand road trip, and we managed to stop in a few places both in the north and in the south west.

The thing that always appeals to me when I travel to the UK is the fact that the treats are fairly recognizable.  Some British sweets and foods are very common in Canada, so when I travel to the UK it gives us a little taste of home.  Treats that aren't available in Canada are still fairly comfortable to our palettes.  I'm rarely shocked by any British foods, but instead I'm filled with a certain feeling of comfort.  The other great thing about the British palette is their love of sweets and pub food, two of my favorite things.

This trip started out at a friend of ours' wedding.  The great thing about this friend (and his family), is they have the traditional British love of sweets.  The dessert table at this wedding was filled with all kinds of amazing treats, many of them were even homemade.  I could go one for hours about how much I loved this food, but that's not really fair to you since many of treats aren't available to you unless you're friendly with a local British family.  I'll tell you this much, the meringues were fantastic.

The second part of our British experience was all about driving around exploring the countryside.  Food wise the two themes seemed to be cheese and Scones with clotted cream.  In some cases we were lucky enough to experience both at the same time.  One of our great stops was in the beautiful city of Cheddar.  There I learned that real cheddar is not about being orange, but instead it's about being aged in the caves of the Cheddar Gorge.  It's not only a beautiful place naturally, but there are plenty of places in the area to have a cheese sandwich (made with real cheddar) and some scones with clotted cream.

Our obsession with clotted cream comes from a past experience we had in Scotland where we sampled the best scones with clotted cream we've ever had in our entire lives.  It came from a fairly unlikely place, a cafeteria on the shores of Loch Ness.  Since then, every time we go out in the UK countryside, we always get a craving for scones with clotted cream.  This was no different, and I'm sure we managed to fill our cravings at least 6 or 7 times on this journey.

While Cheddar is a great all around place to enjoy some British food in a beautiful setting, on our second day we visited a large ice cream shop in a town with a really strange name, Mumbles, in Wales.  The place has a very simple name "Joe's", but it serves up what might be the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had in my entire life.  If you're not convinced by one Candy Critic's opinion, just check out the Tripadvisor page for this ice cream place.  You can ask just about anybody in the town what to visit, and before they suggest the seaside, or the castle, they'll ask if you've had ice cream at Joe's yet.

If you go, I recommend getting the plain vanilla, if you want you can ad some sprinkles or nuts, but don't go for the flavours.  It's not that the flavours are bad that I know of, it's just the vanilla is so good.  It's smooth, creamy, and has a beautiful texture.  This was one of the best food finds of this trip, and I can't recommend it any more.  After eating Cheddar in Cheddar, and with a belly filled with Joe's ice cream, we headed to London.  London is always a great place for anybody with a sweet tooth, however it's not really perfect.

I've noticed a trend in London of these places selling import candy, most of which is American, Canadian, and Australian.  While I love the fact that they're exposing candies from around the world to the folks in the UK, I do have a beef with their prices and policies.  The shop above in particular is a prime example of this problem.  When I went into this shop I found that the only person to even look my direction was the large security guard.  Most of the staff was either wondering or too busy to talk to anybody.  The prices were extremely high (I can kind of accept that because of shipping costs), but they had many policies about buying a minimal number of each candy.  When I travel I like to sample small amounts of each candy, but this place refused to sell me a candy that I was interested in and told me I had to buy a minimum of 4.  I don't mind big candy stores, and I accept the price increase because of the imports, but I don't accept stupid policies, and I hate it when I find local candies in these stores at jacked up prices (to get the tourists).  Worst of all, the woman I spoke to (who I assume was the manager or owner) was very rude to me, and wore a constant scowl.  There, rant over.

So I don't end this post on a bad note, I wanted to share with you guys something I noticed on one of the Tube trains in London.  It appears that the chair cover design, may have been inspired by one of the UKs more famous candies, Licorice Allsorts. You be the judge.

CC

This Week In Candy

What does the candy counter look like in your country?  My good friend Brent sent me a photo of what I believe to be a Kurdish candy stand.  It got me thinking, I travel around a lot, and I never really think to take pictures of candy stands wherever I visit.  So from now on I'm going to try and take pictures of candy stands from places I visit all over the world.  I also invite you to do the same. If you're on a trip, or even in your home town, it would be great if you could take a picture of your local candy stand or candy shop and send it my way.  I'll post them on Facebook and Twitter as I get them, and I'll ad them to the new and improved candy map (so make sure to let me know where it is).

Now that we're in the New Year, I've started to think about what kind of candies I've sampled over the last year.  Later this week I'm going to post a list of my favorite, least favorite, and most memorable treats I've reviewed this year.

This week on Snack Facts we're featuring one of the oldest snack foods ever, popcorn.  Every day on our Instagram feed we'll be featuring a new fact about our favorite salty (and sometimes sweet) treat that goes pop.  If you're not on Instagram, you can also see the latest Snack Facts on our Facebook page and Twitter feed as well.

This week's review is a classic chocolate that I'm really surprised I haven't reviewed before.  I can honestly say that I've eaten at least a dozen of these in the last year or so, but I've never thought about writing a review.  So click here to see what I thought of the classic Ferrero Rocher.

CC

Sweet Treats Of Turkey

On my recent trip through the Mediterranean I made a stop in Istanbul.  I haven't been to Istanbul since I was a child, and I have only vague recollections of that trip.  The one thing I do remember however is how this trip ruined Turkish delight for me.  When I got back to Canada and sampled other Turkish Delights, they never held up to the stuff I tried in Istanbul.  It wasn't until a recently that I've learned that many Mediterranean and Middle East countries also make a fine "Delight", but for some reason North America gets it all wrong.  So even as a child, this city had a huge impact of my candy taste testing life, it was my first step towards being a candy snob.

The thing that I was most excited about on this return trip was to see if Istanbul still held up as a unique and tasty place to get sweet treats.  As it turns out, it is, in fact I might say that Turkey rivals Japan for unique and tasty treats.  As a Westerner many of the treats, and the way they're delivered are pretty strange, but if you get by your bias you'll discover flavours and textures like nothing you've ever tried before.

Living in Greece and having traveled around this area a lot lately, I found many similar treats in Istanbul, but for some reason there's a bit more authenticity to them.  In many European countries you start to find a great deal of influence from the French, German, and other Western European countries in sweet treats.  In Istanbul it seems like they avoid this, the places I visited didn't offer many Western baked goods at all, they focused almost completely on their own.  Even the grocery stores I visited had very few Western treats, there where several bars available with Pistachios, and other Turkish/Mediterranean ingredients, and very few M& Ms, Twix, or Mars bars.

The treats from the traditional Turkish stores and market stalls were exactly what you might expect.  First of all there where many bulk stores, particularly in the Bazaars, selling candy in bulk.  The candy they sold was nougats, delights, and nut filled baklavas.  There was not a French pastry to be seen anywhere. Even the coffee shops offered some uniquely Turkish drinks (I sampled something called Sahlep that is now favourite hot drink).

I only scratch the surface in my exploration of Turkish treats, so I could be missing something entirely.  I did however find that the treats available truly reflected the Turkish culture, that meant that there was little variety, but it also meant that the local treats where in abundance.  Keep in mind that when I say there's little variety, I don't mean little selection or even evolution in their treats.  I found so many flavours and formats of Turkish delight it would blow your mind.  In particular I came across a really creative way to serve sweet treats, in Donair form (they would shave the candy off a giant hunk of candy on a spit).

This city, and this country, offers unique flavours and a glimpse into the tradition that comes from their culinary history.  It gives you a great example of a culture that hasn't had a Western influence into its sweet treats, and how this sweet treat culture has evolved.  I'm sure I could spend a whole year learning about the many varieties of sweets available, and I'm sure I'll be back to sample again.

CC

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.

CC

This Week In Candy

Last week I had the privilege to taste the worst chocolate bar I've ever tasted in my entire life.  I posted the review this morning, but nothing can take the memory away of biting into a bar and being filled with such disappointment   People often ask me what I look for in a candy, it's not an easy question to answer because I look for so much in a treat.  The only thing I can tell you is that I'm most certainly not looking for disappointment   Fortunately for me, the candy world often doesn't disappoint, and I'm often blessed with great treats to taste.

We've just put together a deal with a Japanese candy store called Oyatsu Cafe.  They're going to be sending us a whole bunch of awesome treats to try out and review, but that's not all.  If you happen to want to sample one of the Japanese treats we review, Oyatsu Cafe will give you 15% off your purchase if you enter the code "CANDYCRITIC" in your shopping cart page.  They've got a pretty good selection of treats, and they'll ship anywhere in the world.

I also want to remind you about the photography show happening this Thursday in Athens at the Finnish Institute at Athens for our sister site bewarethecheese.com.  If you want to come down and say hello that would be very awesome.  Not to be outdone by the folks at Oyatsu Cafe, if you find me there, tell me the words "CANDY CRITIC" and I'll give you something cool.

CC

OZ/NZ Epic Trip Roundup - Part 5 - Disappointing Candy Stores

I had a great time traveling through New Zealand and Australia.  It was a great place to visit, explore, and sample great food.  I managed to sample so many sweet treats and junk food bites that I just couldn't find anywhere else in the world, but I was really disappointed about one thing, candy stores.

It's not that there wasn't any candy stores in either of these countries, in fact there were many.  Small towns, large cities, malls, main streets, there were plenty of candy shops to choose from.  The problem I had with most of them was the selection of treats.  These stores were full of imported candy, mostly from places like the UK or USA.  Don't get me wrong, I love UK and US treats, but not when I'm in Australia or New Zealand.  When travel, the candy I want is the stuff I can't find anywhere else, or at the very least the stuff they make better than anywhere else.

In North America and the UK they too have candy stores, and these stores also supply imports, but they have more.  Many have a supply of classic and retro candy from their own area.  Candies that are local, but that you're not likely to find on the shelf of a grocery store.  Most candy stores, the good ones at least, also have staff that weren't such candy snobs that they could recommend a local treat, even if it was "pedestrian" to them.  I didn't walk into any candy stores in either country feeling like I learned something about Australia or New Zealand candy.  Instead I walked out with a feeling that most of these candy shop owners and employees just wanted to show off how much they new about treats from other places.

CC

OZ/NZ Epic Trip Roundup - Part 4 - No Darrel Lea

With a great deal of European influence, Australia and New Zealand really have a handle on fine chocolates. Not only do they import many high quality brands, but they also have several chocolate makers of their own. Many of these chocolate makers have their own shops, as well as selling in stores all over both countries.  While the selection was fantastic, I had my sites set on one brand in particular Darrel Lea.

When I think about Australian chocolate, Darrel Lea is the first name that pops into my head.  It's not a very well known brand around the world, but my Australian friends and co-candy fanatics sing its praises regularly.  I was really excited at the idea of sampling some of this chocolate.  However, a few month before I left, I read that Darrel Lea was filing for bankruptsy, and there was a question about whether or not they would remain in business.  I was worried that because of bad management, I wouldn't get to sample this Australian institution.  As time went on I read more on the company and it appeared that they would survive this problem, and with the encouragement from my Australian friends, I was assured that I would be able to find some Darrel Lea chocolate on my adventure.  After all, you can't just wipe out a huge candy institution like that in such a short time... or so I thought

As it turns out, you can pretty much wipe out a huge candy company in a matter of months.  I did come across one tourist shop selling Darrel Lea chocolate,  near the beginning of my journey, and that was it.  I thought, stupidly, that I could look around and see what other Darrel Lea treats I could find before buying, and ended up not being able to sample any.  The store in these photographs is no longer a Darrel Lea store, instead it's a money exchange/variety store.  I can't believe that in such a short time a candy company known all over the world could be zapped into nothingness.  I'm a little sad that I never got to sample this classic Australian chocolate, but fortunately there were many other treats to be had, and I assure you I sampled plenty of them.

CC

Friday's Candy Links

I'm really digging the new M&M's world site, in particular I love that you can buy things based on your favorite M&M's character.

Speaking of M&M's, Mars anounced that they will be releasing some limited edition colours of M&Ms.  The colours were selected by fans.

After reading this article about the best sweets in Istanbul, I'm starting to see a lot of similarities between Greece and Turkey.

And if you happen to be visiting Europe, why not make a stop over in Berlin and check out "Main Street Sweets"

12 interesting quotes from Wikipedia, including information on McDonalds, Cookie Puss, and Tater Tots.

CC

Tuesday's Candy Links

The new ultimate goal in the candy industry is to develop a chocolate that tastes and acts like regular chocolate, yet it contains less chocolate and fat.  I'm convinced it can't be done.

If you head over to your local M&M's World stores this holiday season, you'll enjoy a winter wonder land filled with multi-coloured treats.

The folks that make Luck Charms are starting to market it towards adults, the thing is, adults already like it the way it is, so why change your marketing plan?

CC

Thursday's Candy Links

If you happen to find yourself in Tinsel Town, you might want to check out "Sweet! Hollywood"

Here's more about the shrinking problem that's happening in the British candy industry.  I think I'll call it the candy impotence effect.

Fluff in your sweet potatoes, do you have an opinion, have you ever tried it?

CC

Old Candy Critic Articles - Food Network and the Candy Critic

I've decided to take down several old articles from the candycritic.org and re-post them here on the Candy Critic blog.  This week I recount my story of filming a segment for the Food Network a few years back.

Here's Joe Pedalino the camera man, who claims he didn't want to eat any candy, I changed that.

What's the coolest thing that has ever happened to the Candy Critic? Well the Chicago Candy Expo was pretty cool, and finding a cool treat in a strange land is always a kick. Well here I am to add yet another notch in the belt of cool candy things. Recently a production company contacted me asking if I wanted to be on a Food Network show called, "What America Eats". They're taping a show all about candy and they thought I would make a good subject for a segment. I was a little skeptical at first, then they told me they would take me to a candy store and let me go nuts, I was sold. So off to New York I went, to tape a fun little segment for the Food Network, and to run amuck through a candy store causing more candy mayhem than ever before.

This is what the outside of a great hidden treasure looks like.

My day started out pretty simple, we sat down in a downtown office and talked about candy. They asked me what I like to eat and what I don't. It seemed pretty simple at this point but in the back of my mind all I wanted was to check out this candy store and go nuts.

This is a good example of how much candy I had to choose from. Here is one wall, there were four more just like this.

Soon we were off, our destination a little shop called 'The Sweet Life' in lower Manhattan. I had no idea the adventure that was about to take place, but I did know that I wouldn't stop eating until I was sick.

Candy stores are great, but it's even better if they offer some homemade treats as well.

This place was so full of candy delights and I was going to make it my very own candy devouring paradise.

Here's Joe shooting some crazy candy store type shots, soon I'd get between  the candy and camera and create some serious chaos.

All you need is a camera, a TV show, and a dental plan then you too could go completely nuts in a candy store with total disregard for your own health and well being.

More candy than the average man should have to endure. Well I'm not the average man, so I went for it.

Well you'll have to see how it went when you check it out on the Food Network in March (ED: As you can imagine it’s already aired and it was awesome), but you can check out more shots of my candy experience below.

One of my favourite things in the world is British candy, and one of my favourite treats is a "Kit Kat". It took only seconds for me to grab this British treat, and I would recommend the same for anyone who comes across one.

It looks like cheese with nuts but in fact its an interesting treat called Halva.

Chocolate pansies and chocolate fish. No it's not you, this has got to be one of the weirder combinations in history.

Among many of the other treats you can find around the world, Australian Licorice is a must have.

How cute baby "M&M's". Does it make them any harder to eat? Not a chance.

Gummies are good!

A little behind the scenes from the shoot. I thought it would be fun to put one of these on at the beginning of the shoot. They don't come in adult sizes, and pretty soon I lost all feeling in my finger.

What can I say, I eat candy. This is candy, I ate some.

That's a lot of candy.

CC