Okay, So I Might Have a Problem

Today's review has two problems. The first is that it's a classic bar from a huge company (Cadbury), that I for some reason haven't reviewed till this point. I'm not sure why I've never reviewed it, but it's taken way too long. The second problem is it seems like as of late I've been reviewing way too many fruit and nut bars. I'll admit that even the reviews themselves are getting repetitive, but that's only because every single fruit and nut bar has one fatal flaw.

Check out my latest fruit and nut review, I'm sure you'll figure out the flaw I'm talking about.

Dairy Milk Is Just Good Chocolate

I've reviewed a lot of Dairy Milk bars on candycritic.org, almost 30 of them, but I'm probably going to continue to review more. The main reason I keep reviewing them is that there's one very important consistent, quality of chocolate. I know that if I eat a Dairy Milk bar, not matter what the extra ingredients might be, I know that the chocolate is likely not going to ruin it. It makes tasting these bars a little more fun, because I know that whatever they put into the bar, the chocolate is only going to make it better.

Check out my latest Dairy Milk bar review.

I Assume The Easter Bunny Works Here

He's probably the one shooting the footage, that's why he's not in any of the shots.

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Dairymilk Is Such Great Chocolate

And now you know how they make it.

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S'Mores In Candy

I feel like s'mores should be the easiest treat to reproduce in candy form, but frankly I don't know if I've ever found a treat that pulled off the perfect match. I've tried s'mores ice cream, candy bar, and even cookies, but nothing has been able to match the pure bliss that is biting into a warm s'mores fresh off the fire. I feel like it's a fools errand to try and recreate this treat, but I'm always happy to try out any candy companies attempt.

Click here to find out how Cadbury did in this difficult attempt.

Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, maybe I'll be making s'mores.

You can also follow me on Patreon for a whole bunch of extra content good times.

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Candy Critic Quick List - Top 5 Candies We've Reviewed From Oceania (That's Australia and New Zealand Mostly)

Dairy Milk "Chocolate" - Candy Critic Score 14.5

I'm not sure how this compares to the original British Dairy Milk, but it's worse I'd be surprised.

Click here to check out the full review.

Caramello Koala - Candy Critic Score 14

This is a treat that I had never tried till Allison told me about it, now I feel bad that I haven't been eating them my whole life.

Click here to check out the full review.

Fabulicious Sherbert Fizz - Candy Critic Score 14

This treat shouldn't be so great, but it is.

Click here to check out the full review.

33% Cocoa Hokey Pokey Milk Chocolate Bar - Candy Critic Score 13

Before I visited Australia, I had no idea what Hokey Pokey was, now I can't get enough of it.

Click here to check out the full review.

Pods "With Mars" - Candy Critic Score 13

There are more "Pods" out there, and if they're anything like these, I want to try them all.

Click here to check out the full review.

Bonus, the worst candy from Oceania that we've ever reviewed.

Cherry Ripe - Candy Critic Score 4

I get a lot of flak from Australians about how low I rank this bar, but I stand by it.

Click here to check out the full review.

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We're Starting Another Review-a-Thon All About Dairy Milk - Dairy Milk "Caramello"

I've gone on record on candycritic.org countless times saying that I believe that Cadbury is one of (if not the) best mass produced chocolate bar manufacturer in the world. The star chocolate bar in their selection is their Dairy Milk chocolate bars. This bar started as just a simple milk chocolate bar, but has now changed into something much bigger. Even when I was a kid there weren't too many versions of this bar, however today you'll find Dairy Milk chocolate with so many flavours and fillings, all over the world. In some ways this has improved this chocolate bar line, but sometimes they don't really get everything right.

All this week we're going to look at some of the variations we've discovered lately. We've already reviews so many versions  of this bar (check out our full list here), but there seems to be many more to try. We're also going to do something a little different this week, and we're going to include a bar that isn't made by Cadbury, but still claims to be a Dairy Milk.

Click here to check out our first entry in the Dairy Milk review-a-thon.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to keep up with all the new entries in this review-a-thon.

You can also follow us on Patreon to get even more fun stuff.

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I Discovered A New Kind Of Dessert - Dairy Milk "Tiffin"

I consider myself a pretty authoritative figure when it comes to sweets. It could be candy, snacks or desserts, but I think that I know a lot about anything with sugar. However, I still have lots to learn, and whenever I learn something new about sweet treats I'm super happy. While reviewing this chocolate bar, I learned that there's a dessert called  "Tiffin", and now I want to try it.

Click here to read the review that helped me discover a new kind of cake.

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Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and tell us about an unusual dessert you know about.

You can also follow us on Patreon, because it's just a decent thing to do.

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Today's Review Is Really A Classic Candy - Dairy Milk "Chocolate"

As you may or may not know, I've been working on an updated version of candycritic.org. The first of two main focuses of this update have been a new look, but I've also been looking at organizing and editing the hundreds of reviews that we have (as of writing this we have 1,343 reviews on the site). While organizing these reviews, I've noticed that there are many classic treats that I have not reviewed, and that I should. I've posted a blog in past highlighting a few of these, and I'll have another post going up soon with even more forgotten reviews.

The thing is, when I realized that I had not yet reviewed the classic Dairy Milk chocolate bar, I couldn't just let that one go. I've reviewed several other Dairy Milk bar variations, but I had yet to review the classic. This was so wrong, and I had to fix that immediately. So on my next candy run I set off to pick up a Dairy Milk bar, and here we are, I've righted that wrong.

Click here to read the review of one of the most classic chocolate bars in the world.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and let us know about other bars we may have forgotten.

Also be sure to check out our Patreon page for even more fun stuff.

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This Week In Candy

I'm feeling pretty ill today. Last week we had to live in "temporary" accommodations as our house was being work on.  Then we get home for about 2 days, and I get food poisoning.  It's one of those instances where there is no doubt in my mind that it's food poisoning.  The good news about having food poisoning is that it makes you think about what you eat.  I've been thinking about my diet, the world's diet, just food in general over the last few days.  For the most part it's been random thinking with little real substance, however I did come up with one question that I can't figure out.  Why don't we eat more acorns?

This week at candycritic.org we're continuing all kinds of projects.  My plans to put together podcasts has been more planning than executing, and I've found it difficult to organize.  So I've decided to try to record a few solo shows this week to see how it goes.  I've got two ideas I want to work on, so if all goes well I should have a show or two to post in the next week.  We're also still working out the bugs of our Periscope show called "VS".  Link up with us on Periscope by looking for "candycritic" to help us compare some classic treats.

This week on Snack Facts, our Instagram feed, we're looking at cereal. Some of you may argue that cereal is not really a snack, but I'm not feeling well and it seems to be the only thing I can eat right now.  So check out our feed and learn something new about the crunchy breakfast treat every day.  If you're not on Instagram, don't worry, you can also follow Snack Facts on our Twitter feed and Facebook page as well.

This week's review is proof positive that good candy companies can't always work well together.  Click here to read the review that disapointed me.

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This Week In Candy

This week Allison managed to win herself a Keurig machine in a raffle.  I've always had a bit of interest in trying one of these things out, but not enough to invest money into a machine.  I've met a few people who've owned them, but every time I've suggested buying pods and trying them out their machine, the people thought I was kidding.  So now that we have our own machine I've been able to sample the drinking sensation that's been taking over the world.  Later this week I'll post a review of my experiences so far.

Valentine's Day is coming up, it's one of the biggest holidays on the candy calendar.  While a great deal of candy is sold on this holiday, I find that the variety of candy is fairly limited.  Cinnamon hearts, heart shaped chocolate, and heart shaped candies are pretty much it.  It's been a while since someone has come up with a really unique sweet treat to celebrate this day of love.

Don't forget that we have a contest going on right now.  You could win yourself some free Mike and Ikes candies. Just click here to get more details, the contest closes next week so don't delay.

On Snack Facts this week, we're featuring the wafer.  It's a staple ingredient in the candy world, and it's been around for a really long time.  I've only recently gained a true respect for this cookie, mostly because so many companies don't understand exactly how to use them properly.  If you're unfamiliar with Snack Facts, it's our Instagram feed that gives you a new and interesting snack fact every day.  If you're not on Instagram, you can also check out Snack Facts on our Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.

This week's review is proof that if I see a candy on television, I want to try it.  I can't tell you how easily I fall victim to candy commercials. I also can't tell you how many times I've fallen victim, only to be disappointed with the final product. Click here and see how the Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk held up.

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Candy In the Media

In an attempt to merge this week's two main themes, Cadbury and Christmas, I searched out Cadbury Christmas commercials.  What I found was pretty interesting.  As it turns out last year was the first time Cadbury had ever produced a commercial for the holiday season.  They've been using print advertising for Christmas for a very long time, as shown by this example:

But this was the first time that they ever produced a commercial for television with a Christmas theme in the more than 180 years that the Cadbury company has been in existence.  You have to give them some credit, television hasn't been around for 180 years.  The first television transmissions didn't start to happen until the 1930s, about 80 or 90 years ago.  Still, Christmas advertising has been a big thing on television for a long time, and it's taken Cadbury, one of the most important global candy brands, many years to come up with a Christmas advertisement.

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Cadbury Proof - Part 2

Photo by Adam Montpetit www.behance.net/amontpetit

Almost 5 years ago I posted a blog about the purchase of Cadbury by Kraft (You can read it here).  I said in this post that I would save a Dairy Milk wrapper that was purchased when Cadbury wasn't owned by Kraft, then in one year I would compare the bars and see if there were any changes made.  Life got in the way and I wasn't able to write the article in one year.  Then after having moved several times, I lost the wrapper.  However, after having moved again recently, I was going through my file drawer and I came across the Dairy Milk wrapper from almost 5 years ago.  It reminded me that I should check up on how Cadbury/Kraft was doing.  See if they've made any great advancements, as well as check to make sure they're not lowering their standards in any way.

Since I'm not living in Canada right now, the place where I bought the original bar, I had to ask around and see if anybody would be willing to help me out by purchasing and photographing a Dairy Milk bar for me in Canada.  Fortunately my friend Adam (check out his awesome photo website here) was happy to oblige.  Probably both to help, and also to have an excuse to eat some chocolate after his photo shoot.  The first picture on this post is of the current state of the Dairy Milk bar in Canada, the photo directly above is of the wrapper from almost 5 years ago.  The wrapper itself has gone through a bit of updating, but I must say not much.  The two glasses of milk are still there, and the logo is almost exactly the same.  The colour of the package may have changed a bit, but that could also be a lighting thing.  The Dairy Milk font has changed a little, and the biggest change is the addition of the giant chocolate jug.  So far this is fairly promising.

Photo by Adam Montpetit www.behance.net/amontpetit

Upon comparing the ingredients, I'm happy to report that the order that they appear is still the same, and there appears to be little or no change to the ingredients.  This doesn't mean that there is definitely no change at all.  Companies are required to list what ingredients are in a bar, not how much of each ingredient is in a bar.  That means that notionally they could lower the amount of cocoa in the bar, and keep the wrapper the same.  The only reason they would have to change the package is if the change affected the ratio of ingredients.  The ingredients are listed from most found in the bar to the least.  So the amount of cocoa would have to change to the point where there was either less cocoa than soy lecithin, or more cocoa than cocoa butter for a change to be required.

I'm also happy to report that they haven't changed the size of the bar either.  I've traveled around and seen "updated" Dairy Milk bars in the shapes of bubbles, and these bars were a few grams lighter than the Canadian Dairy Milk bar.  I was worried that the folks at Kraft had decided that this "new" shape would be the norm all over the world, and that they would shrink the size of the Dairy Milk bar.  But as the bar Adam purchased shows, 42 grams, is exactly the same weight as the one I purchased several years back. It would appear that Kraft is doing well and leaving this classic bar alone.

While I am very happy about the fact that the Dairy Milk bar hasn't changed in Canada, I'm not completely happy with the way Kraft has dealt with Cadbury products.  I was optimistic when the purchase happened that Kraft would try and make Cadbury products more universal.  I was hoping that they might try and move some Cadbury products into new markets and share the wealth.  Caramello Koalas should be available to everyone around the world, not just Australians, and Crunchy bars should be on every store shelf around the world.  Most importantly Cadbury should be available to my neighbors to the south, the Americans.  As far as I know Cadbury is still a specialty item in the US, and that's a shame.  It's about time Americans knew what great chocolate bars taste like, and maybe add a bit of competition into what I consider one of the weakest in quality of chocolate bar markets.

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This Week In Candy

Last week we were all about potato chips, this week we're going to look at one of our favorite chocolate bar manufacturers, Cadbury.  On Thursday we're posting the second part of our long await look at how the purchase of Cadbury by Kraft has affected the brand.  It was almost 5 years ago when Kraft bought the British company, so lets see if they've improved anything.  This week we're also featuring Cadbury in our Snack Facts feed on Instagram.  Check back daily for a new fun fact about how this company came to be a global powerhouse.  If you're not on Instagram you can also check out the feed on our Twitter, and Facebook feeds as well.

Speaking of Snack Facts, we've decided to try a new format for the feed for this week (and probably next week as well).  If you follow us and you love the new format, let us know, you can also let us know if you hate it as well.  We're also thinking about doing a special edition of Snack Facts in the new year with contributions from anybody that might follow us.  So if you know something interesting about a popular snack or fast food, send us a message.

On top of all of all of this Cadbury insanity, we're also going to start with some of our Christmas/Holiday Seasons stuff.  This week on our "Cool Candy Thing" post we're featuring gingerbread making things.  We're going to continue featuring gingerbread things until the end of Christmas, so strap in.  This week's "Candy In The Media" post features both Cadbury and Christmas.

Finally, in the next few days I'm off on another adventure.  If possible I'll post a few shots of any great snacks I find along the way (Check Facebook or Twitter).  I'll also post a round up of all the cool treats I discovered on this adventure, along with a few photographs, on this blog when I get back.

To go with our Cadbury theme week, this week's review is from one of Cadbury's most famous line of chocolate bars, the Dairy Milk bar.  The Dairy Milk bar rarely if ever completely fails, but some are better than others.  Click here to read our latest Dairy Milk review.

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Christmas Variations I Want To See

For the last 10 years candy companies have turned out hundreds of variations of classic candy treats.  These variations might be taking a bar like a Kit Kat, or Aero bar, and slapping a layer of caramel on top, or adding some orange flavour to the chocolate.  For the most part I look at these variations as being a little lazy creatively.  But sometimes there are variations for a reason, often these reasons are associated with holidays, and these variations can often be kind of fun.  So it made me think, what classic candies haven't had a Christmas variation but should?

Kit Kat - I'm very surprised that one, if not the, best selling candy bar in the world does not offer a Christmas edition.  You could easily dress this bar up with some eggnog flavoured chocolate, or mix some gingerbread into the wafers to create the perfect festive treat.  It's not like the Kit Kat bar hasn't offered variations in the past either.  In fact I'm pretty sure that the Kit Kat is the bar with the most variations ever, with all kinds of strange flavour combinations.  So why are they avoiding the Christmas holidays?

Dairy Milk bar - The Dairy Milk bar is another treat that has had many different varieties over the years. While most people associate Dairy Milk bars with having classic ingredients like nuts and dried fruit, they have on occasion done some pretty interesting varieties as well. Most recently they've had some bars featuring jellybeans, Pop Rocks, and other fun treats.  They've even made a Dairy Milk bar for Easter; it was filled with Cadbury Cream egg filling.  I just can't see why they wouldn't want to try something with a holiday theme, maybe some Christmas spices, or fruitcake.

Jelly belly - This treat seems like the most obvious candy to have a holiday version.  As far as I know I've never seen holiday themed Jelly Belly treats (correct me if you've seen them).  I just think that this treat has so much potential to take on Christmas flavours.  The good thing about these is you could go with classic Christmas flavours like candy cane, cinnamon, or shortbread, but you could also go with crazy flavours like pine tree, Christmas goose, or cranberry sauce.  It just seems like the perfect fit.

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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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Cadbury Is Choosing Style Over Substance

On February 15th 2010 I made a prediction of sorts.  More than a prediction, I gave a warning to Kraft; the new owners of Cadbury, that they shouldn't mess with these perfect products.  When I wrote the piece, I gave Kraft the benefit of the doubt, but I warned them not to change the Dairy Milk Bar, the flagship bar of the Cadbury line.  It's been a few years since I wrote that post on this blog, and now they've done it.

Cadbury recently changed the shape of the Dairy Milk Bar from squares to bubble-like shapes.  You may be thinking that this is only an aesthetic change, and doesn't really affect the bar that much at all.  But it's not true; with the change in shape, they've shaved 4 grams off the weight of the bar.  Now that might not seem like much to you, but when you're a company selling millions of bars a year it adds up.

According to some statistics, over 350 million Dairy Milk bars are sold a year. When you do the math, Cadbury is saving almost 1.5 billion grams of chocolate a year.  That totals more than 31 million bars worth of chocolate saved. At 59p per bar they're saving more than 18 million British pounds a year (29 million US dollars).  These little bubbles no longer seem so much of an aesthetic choice.  After sampling the bar myself, I can't say that the lack of corners improved my experience at all. If anything, I found that the new shape made it harder to break the bar apart.

Dairy Milk isn't the only bar that seems to be going this direction.  There's a trend in bars and other chocolate treats coming in new shapes, or filled with bubbles.  I'm not convinced that this is really what people want. I'm sure people don't want to pay the same amount for less chocolate per bar.  The reason I think the candy companies are doing this is the fact that cocoa and sugar prices have been fluctuating a lot lately.  The best way to keep the price of a chocolate bar down is to make it smaller. If you reduce the cocoa it can affect the taste, but a few grams shaved off is hardly noticeable.  I don't object to making bars smaller at all; I object to making them smaller and disguising it as a "fun" new promotion.

The best way for candy companies to deal with this problem is to ask the people what they want to eat.  If they want less cocoa in their bar with a cheap price tag, make a new bar that can fill this need.  If they want a better quality chocolate but smaller to keep the price down, make mini Dairy Milk bars.  I love the candy industry because of the variety available.  I like that there are big bars, little bars, cheap chocolate, fine chocolate, and everything in between.  If you make every bar the same by reducing the sizes and changing the recipes, you'll eventually put people like me out of business - all my reviews would just be exactly the same.

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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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International Retro Candy Commercials - Part 3 - Indai

I'm sure if I understood the basic rules of Cricket this commercial would make a little more sense... Well maybe not.  I must say it is both sweet, and really strange to me all at the same time, that's a pretty great accomplishment in my book.

All this week I'm posting videos featuring retro candy commercials from all over the world.

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Australia/New Zealand Review-A-Thon - Dairy Milk Marvellous Create!ons

If this bar is available anywhere else in the world besides Australia or New Zealand, then it's just wrong.  I say this because Australia and New Zealand food has a really strange way of taking random ingredients, putting them together, and making something magical.  Some countries have strange ingredients, but in Australia and New Zealand the ingredients aren't strange themselves, it's how they're presented that's strange.  Let me make it perfectly clear, it's not gross strange, most of the time it's extremely yummy strange.

Click here to read about this strange Dairy Milk bar.

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