Being Objective Is Hard

Probably the hardest part of doing a site dedicated to reviewing candy is staying objective. After all I have likes and dislikes, licorice and spicy foods is a prime dislike that I run across regularly. I also have childhood memories of eating certain candies. This is a hard one to put aside since it's not uncommon for me to taste these treats and instantly be flooded with great childhood memories. This week's featured review is just such a treat. It's been years since I've eaten a Zingy Zap, but the minute I bit into one I instantly had fond memories of being a kid and visiting my local corner store with my friends.

Check out my attempt at objectively reviewing this classic treat.

Are All Classic Candy Objectively Great?

I always have a hard time writing reviews for treats that I would call classic. I know that not everyone has the same classic treats as everyone else, but for me SweetTarts were a treat that's been part of my life for as long as I can remember. The problem is that I have a bit of nostalgia for this classic (North American?) treat. So when I want to write a review, no matter how good or bad this treat might actually be, I have a certain amount of nostalgia for it. I want it to be great, but I'm not entirely sure that's actually the case. Worse yet, what if I manage to convince myself it's not that great, that might ruin my entire childhood.

Read my full review of this classic treat, and let me know if you think nostalgia got in the way.

The Classics

While I'm sure not everyone in the world would agree, Wine Gums are a classic candy where I come from. I think just about every person my age or younger has not lived in a world where this candy has not existed. How much you like it may vary (I like them a lot), but it's no doubt that it's been around. It makes me think about younger an older generations than myself. For the older generations, what's a candy that's not a classic to you, but seems like a classic now. To the younger generations, what's a candy that's truly a classic, that's not a classic for me.

Read my latest review of a classic treat I should have reviewed a long time ago.

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Can Retro Candy Be Too Retro

 

There's the common idea that all retro candy is great, but I'm not sure that I completely agree. In fact I have several reviews on this site for retro candies that are nowhere near the best candy ever. There is the fact that some candies that where made a really long time ago, may not be much more than burnt sugar. These candies did not have the technology that we have now, or even the technology that's been around for the last 40 years to make something great. I will however admit that I am as guilty as anyone for loving a candy not because it's objectively good, but because it takes me back to my childhood. Sure I try and point that out in my reviews, but I'm sure some nostalgia slips through the cracks.

Check out my latest review of a truly retro/nostalgic treat.

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Time To Check Off A Few Classics

I've decided that this week I'm going to have a review-a-thon. Normally I post a new review once a week, however during review-a-thons I tend to review more treats in a week. Most of the time the review-a-thons have a theme and this week is no exception. This week I'm going to look at classic flavours of Lay's potato chips that I probably already should have reviewed but haven't. I'm always surprised at some of the classic treats that I've not reviewed yet, and this week's assortment of potato chips is a great example. After all I've tasted more than 30 different flavours of Lay's potato chips already.  I'm starting off with the official classic Lay's flavour, and later in the week I'm going to review BBQ and ketchup flavoured chips as well.

Click here to check out the first very classic variety of Lay's potato chips.

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It Depends Where You Are

One of the questions I get from people about doing a website where I review candy is, "Won't you run out of candies to review?". There's an assumption that everything we see on our grocery store shelves is all the candies available in the entire world. This week's review reminded me that even when you have the "same candy" it's not always exactly the same. There are plenty of candies to taste, and even those classic candies might not be the same from place to place. So don't worry, I don't see myself running out of candies to review anytime soon.

Click here to find out if M&Ms are the same everywhere.

Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with all my new candy finds.

You can also follow me on Patreon to if you want to sample a few yourself.

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It's Time To Look Back At The Kraft Caramel

In this new episode of In Hindsight I look back at the simple yet classic Kraft Caramel. This is a candy that's been around as long as I can remember. It's nothing special, but it's also very special all at the same time.

Click here to read the review I wrote about it before.

If you have a classic treat that you think I should look at again, let me know on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Also be sure to follow me on YouTube to keep up with all these crazy videos.

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Making Sure I Don't Forget The Classics

 

I've been writing candy reviews for longer than I care to say. When I first started this site, and even today, one of the most common comments I get from people is, how many candies are out there to review? People assume that I'm going to run out of treats to review, I even worry about it myself sometimes. Then occasionally, I make a list of all the candies that I used to eat as a kid that I have not yet reviewed on candycritic.org, and those lists are always immensely long. I also realize that my list is Canadian centric, and people all over the world have huge lists of candies they consider to be classics that I've never even heard of. I have noticed over the last few years that I'm going into shops and finding more treats that I have reviewed, but between those snacks are new snacks that I've never even heard of.

Click here to read a review of one of the candies on my list of classic from when I was a kid.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see me discover new treats.

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Amazing Candy/Junk Food Thing That You Should Buy - Crazy Candy Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle

What better way to pass the time then making this really cool candy jigsaw puzzle. Some of the candies on this puzzle are true classics from my childhood too.

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Candy In The Media - Starburst Of My Memories

This is the commercial that made me want to eat Starbursts when I was a kid, I so wanted the feeling of going down a water slide made of fruit.

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Candy In The Media - Did You Forget?

I don't think there's one candy in this list (or any of their follow up lists) that I've forgotten, having said that I do have some insight into the subject.

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It's Our Christmas Candy Review - Mint Candy Canes

It's amazing to think that I've been writing candy reviews for so many years, yet I have yet to write a full on review for candy canes. I spent a good part of last week wondering why I don't eat these more over the holidays, and why it's taken me so long to write a review. Then I realized that not very many people actually eat candy canes anymore. I'm not sure if people ate them more in the past, but my experience is that people really don't eat them that often. I think they function more as a decoration than an actually candy treat.

Click here to find out what I think of candy canes, as a candy.

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Christmas Candy In The Media - Best Christmas Commercial Ever?

I think this might be the best Christmas candy commercial ever made. It's very simple, understood in any language, and it's got staying power. All this and it's also really cute.

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Candy In The Media - The Kit Kat I Remember

This is the commercial that sold me on Kit Kat when I was a kid/teenager. Objectively it's not a great commercial, but that song is still stuck in my head so many years later.

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Classic Candies I Haven’t Reviewed And Why - Part 2

Lucky Elephant Popcorn - I've always been a little bit nervous about reviewing Lucky Elephant Popcorn. I've always had fond childhood memories of this treat, but I'm not sure it actually holds up on its own. I'm thinking that if I break down Lucky Elephant Popcorn, and look at it objectively, it's just sweet, bland popcorn. Sure it's bright pink, but is that enough?


Regular Lays or Ruffles, or Pringles - Every time I find myself in a store, facing the wall of potato chips, I always seem to find a flavour so interesting, or weird that I have to try it. I do eat regular potato chips, but only at parties, and almost always with some kind of dip. Some day I might have to go out and specifically buy plain potato chips to review, but only after I've exhausted all the other amazing flavours available.


Hot Tamales - I don't like spicy food. I see Hot Tamales as the quintessential spicy candy. It's not the hottest candy out there, but it's really the grandfather of hot candies. I actually think candies that are hotter than Hot Tamales are more interesting to me because I'm curious as to how hot they really are. Hot Tamales are hot enough that I'm scared to eat them, but not hot enough to make me interested.


Cherry PEZ - I've reviewed three flavours of PEZ so far, orange, grape and lemon. I've enjoyed each one of these flavours, but cherry has been my favourite flavour since childhood. The reason I've never reviewed cherry PEZ is because I've haven't selected the flavour of a package of PEZ for as long as I've been doing this site. Any PEZ candies that I've reviewed on this site came with a PEZ dispenser. I guess it's just been my luck so far (or maybe they never package PEZ dispensers with cherry PEZ), but I have not tasted cherry PEZ in years.

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Classic Candies I Haven’t Reviewed And Why

Mounds - Mounds is a classic American candy bar. It’s often associated with another classic American candy bar, the Almond Joy. The difference between these two bars is very simple, almonds. The mounds bar is a coconut bar covered in chocolate; the Almond Joy is exactly the same bar only with a couple of whole almonds on top. The reason I’ve only reviewed the Almond Joy, and not the mounds, is that I really don’t like coconut that much, but I’m pretty fond of almonds. Every time I’m in the USA and I see a Mounds bar, I always see something else better that I’d rather eat, something that isn’t just two lumps of sickly-sweet coconut with a thin layer of chocolate.



Jolly Ranchers - Jolly Ranchers are a fairly well known American hard candy that comes in several flavours. The flavours are very powerful, and the candy is a little sticky. There are several flavours of Jolly Rancher, but two of them stick to my mind, watermelon and cherry. Cherry sticks to my mind because I really like it, I’d go so far as to say that cherry Jolly Ranchers are my favourite cherry candy that I can think of. Watermelon comes to mind because I can hold it up as an example of why watermelon candies are the worst.  The reason I’ve never reviewed them is a geographical problem. Jolly Ranchers are fairly rare outside of the USA, they’re even hard to find in Canada. When I go to America, I often can’t find Jolly Ranchers in one particular flavour either, most notably I never find just cherry. I don’t want to review watermelon Jolly Ranchers before I review the cherry ones, that would seem just wrong. So, I’m waiting for the day when the stars align and I can get a bag of cherry only Jolly Ranchers.



Classic Juicy Fruit - Juicy Fruit is a classic gum that’s been around as long as I know. A while back they changed the format of their gum from a long chewy stick to something that resembles a Chicklet. When this new format came out, I decided that I would do a review, and it did okay, but it wasn’t spectacular. It tasted fine, but as was the same with the classic stick format, the flavour didn’t last very long. I mentioned this fact and then got an email from someone at Wrigley’s, they were not happy. In fact, they were downright mean to me. Since then I’ve seen that they’ve brought back the chewy stick format of the gum (a format that I actually prefer), but I still haven’t reviewed it. Every time I see it on the shelf, I think about that person telling me off, and I think that I don’t really want to go through that again. Sure, that person may not even work at Wrigley’s any more, but who knows.



Milka - Of all of the candies on this list, this is the one that's a little harder to explain why I haven’t done the review. Milka is a brand of milk chocolate bars from Europe, I'm not really sure where they originated from, but you can find them in many countries all over Europe. As the name would suggest, the chocolate is generally milk chocolate, and it seems to have a dairy theme. In fact, I've seen many an airport display of Milka chocolate bars displayed on giant purple cows (I can't explain why they're purple). To say that I've never tried any Milka bar is also not true, the thing is I have yet to review their classic milk chocolate, with nothing added. Of all of the other candy mentioned in this article, this is the only one that I can't even say that I've ever tried it. I've tasted it in combination with other ingredients, and used to flavour other things (like cream cheese), but I can't say that I've ever actually eaten a plain milk chocolate Milka bar. I'm not really sure why this is, likely because when the interesting variations present themselves, I become distracted. I guess I might eventually give this bar a try, but it's completely possible that it never happens.

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Canadian Candy That I Love - Part 2 - Crispy Crunch

This classic Canadian candy bar can best be described as similar to a Butterfinger, only much, much better. It's also the candy bar that my dad would pick up every time we'd go out to get some treats (which was often). This is a candy bar that brings me back to my childhood every time I taste it.

Click here to check out my review.



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Has Anybody Ever Reviewed This Candy? - Rainbow Lollipops

This is probably the most ignored candy in the world when it comes to getting hyped on the internet. Sure the broad range of Kit Kat flavours is fascinating, as are the retro candies from our childhood, but these lollipops always seem to fall through the cracks. They must still be popular since you can find them all over the place, it's just that no one seems to be talking about them.

While I can't turn the tide of internet interest, I'm going to spend this short blog to remind people to show a little love to the lollipop that we've all probably enjoyed at one point in our lives.

Click here to read the review of this beautifully simple lollipop.

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We're also making all kinds of videos that you can check out on our YouTube channel.

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My favourite Pocky - Part 1 - Classic Pocky

All this week (while we're in Japan), we're going to look back at our favourite Japanese cookie treat, Pocky.  Pocky has become so popular all over the world that some people might not even know that it got its start in Japan in 1966.  By Japanese standards it's a new candy, it really ushered in a new trend of candy from Japan being distributed all over the world.

The first Pocky we're going to look at is the classic Pocky, the one that started it all. The great thing about this treat is while it's very simple, it really works. Better yet is that they really haven't changed it that much over the years. Even though we'll be looking at different Pockys all week, the classic Pocky has everything that makes this treat great. The thin layer of chocolate and a cookie stick that has probably one of the most unique and satisfying textures of any cookie treat.

This classic treat has become so popular all over the world, that it's started to become manufactured outside of Japan. The good thing is that it seems that the other factories/manufactures are getting it right.. I've had Pocky in a few places around the world, and each version seem to hold up to the standards of the classic Japanese variety.

So all this week we'll be looking at different Pocky treats that we've reviewed (and maybe while we're here in Japan we might find a few new ones to taste), but it's important to note that the origin of all of these varieties is very solid. Not many treats can pull off so many varieties. It takes a simple yet well executed treat to spawn so many great versions.

Click here to read our classic Pocky review (it was one of our first reviews that we posted, so it a little short).

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see if we come across any new Pocky on our Japanese adventure this week.

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It's Labor Day, But We Still Posted A New Candy Review - Necco Wafers

This new review is a classic, but according to the news (candy news) it's not going to be around for very long. It appears that after hundreds of years this classic candy might be going away. There are people all over the internet trying to get their hands on one last taste of Necco wafers. Some might save them for posterity, others might want to ceremoniously eat one last bite. We just wanted to make sure we had the review covered in our collection.

Click here to read the review that might be impossible to find.

We don't have a new episode of Chris's Monday Morning Breakfast Thoughts because it's labor day and that means we're taking the day off. We will however have a special video tomorrow that we're cleverly calling Chris's Tuesday Morning Breakfast Thoughts.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to complain about the lack of  MMBT.

Also follow us on Tumblr to get the new reviews as soon as they come out.

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