Amazing Candy/Junk Food Things That You Should Buy For Me For Christmas - Candy Chemistry

I like science, and I like candy, so this is pretty much perfect.

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Candy In The Media - Ernie Buys Some Ice Cream

I think I'm on some kind of Sesame Street nostalgia kick, last week it was the Sesame Street video about a bubble gum factory, this week I found a great video featuring Ernie buying Ice Cream. There might be a few more Sesame Street videos on the way as well.

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Candy In The Media - Sesame Street Classic, Making Gum

This video is both nostalgic and fascinating.  First of all it reminds of the days when I was a regular Sesame Street viewer, and these kinds of videos would blow my mind. It's fascinating because watching candy getting made is always interesting.

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An Educational Candy Thing

Probably the most important thing anyone can do to become a candy expert is to learn the craft.  Even if you don't actually make candy, reading candy recipes can really open your eyes to the candy world.  When you read candy recipes you'll not only respect some of the work that goes into candy, you'll understand why some candy works, and others don't.  This was one of the first candy cookbooks that I ever read, and I still use it regularly for reference.

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A Cool Candy Thing

What could be more fun for kids than pretending to make ice cream cones?  How about making ice cream cones?  Maybe you could use this as a training tool for your kids if you want them to work up to a career at a malt shop.

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Friday Candy Video

On these warm summer days I'm sure you're the sound of the ice cream man coming cools you down.  Ice cream is a pretty amazing treat we all enjoy, but I'm not sure how many of us really understand the science of what's going on.  Well this video is a great teaching tool so you can appreciate all that goes into the perfect summer snack.

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Friday Candy Video

It's cookie math!

Found this video here.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - How to Blow a Bubble

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 look back at a classic advertisement that taught me how to blow bubbles.

Online auctions - they can be your best friend or your worst enemy. They can make you rich, or more often make you realize how worthless most of your junk is. Sometimes, however, a piece of junk can turn into something else. It doesn't make you any money, but it teaches you something about life, about love, or most importantly, about candy. Nestled in this Fantasy Masterpieces Number 1, circa 1979 I found a little educational tidbit that will either bring back memories or teach the old ways of candy.

Looking through this gem…

Past the shots of Spiderman selling Twinkies...

Sexy iron-ons...

Even past the skinny guy that's going to get strong and get his girl back....

Looking past all of this I found it...

"Gumfighting do's and dont’s." Back in the day, Hubba Bubba wasn't just about selling gum. No, they were also about educating the world on how, you too, could blow bigger bubbles. Now you can benefit from the wise old ways of the gum chewers of the 1970s. You can blow bubbles that'll make your mother cry. You, my friends, can be further educated in the lost art of giant bubble blowing.

First of all, stance is important. Make sure you bring tools to measure the angle of your arms. And akimbo, darn it! Keep the elbows akimbo!

Keeping the knees slightly bent helps with balance. With large bubbles you never know what might happen. Keeping the feet planted is also important for the same reason.

Size doesn't matter when it comes to bubble blowing. Young or old, small or huge, the big bubble is no longer something you can only dream about... It's a reality that you, too, can achieve no matter what your stature.

We all know the embarrassment of having gum stick to your face, and we know it is less embarrassing to wear a paper bag over the head.

I hope this lesson helps you improve your bubble gum experience and I'm sure you'll notice great improvement and better bubble abilities in no time.

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Tuesday's Candy Links

Buzzfeeds has a great list of 20 interesting SkyMall products, which includes Protein Ketchup.

What kind of education do you have, how about a degree as a "Dessert Enthusiasts", yup it exists.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Can the Candy Critic Walk the Walk?

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 look at a fun filled day when Allison taught me how to make chocolates.

So who am I? I'm a guy that eats a whole lot of candy and complains whenever it's not spectacular. I'm the guy that told the world that I don't really care for the Big Turk. I'm the guy who started out as a regular candy fanatic and has maybe crossed the line into candy snobbery. So how can I overcome? How can I maybe take a look at the other side? I figure I'll make some chocolates for Christmas. Well, I'll help Allison make chocolates – someone who's done it before. That way I don't have to buy any gifts this year. It's like that time you made your mom a card in kindergarten and she said it's the thought that counts.

We started by prepping all of the ingredients, because as any cook should know, preparation is the key to a successful food creation experience. We were ambitiously going to make several types of chocolates on this day, so there was a lot of prep work. We had to chop cherries and make almond sauce for the cherry blossoms and split almonds for the caramel and almond turtles. I'd show how we made the caramel (we didn't just melt cubes) but I've been sworn to secrecy. The final task was to start the chocolate. This part is what started to make the kitchen smell great. It's funny though, it was a great smell at first, but about 3 hours into making chocolates it wasn't so good. Is it possible? Can you have too much of a good thing? I know – I'm shocked too.

Melting chocolate is truly an art. Of all the times I've talked to chocolatiers, they always tell me that temperature is what separates the great from the good. Chocolate has so many different textures under different heat settings and one degree seems to really make a difference. We were constantly adjusting to try and get it just right. I particularly found that near the beginning the chocolate was particularly unruly, and no one likes unruly chocolate.

Now we decided to go with the mold technique, mainly because fun shapes are cool. You start by coating the molds with a very thin layer of chocolate. This is what apparently makes the chocolates shiny and easy to get out of the molds. I learned this because with the first few molds I did, I didn't exactly coat them well and the chocolate came out all white and gross.

So after the first coating has set you can do one of two things, either fill it up all the way, or fill it up only a little bit and then add something inside. I should mention at this point I was really amazed at the skill it takes to do this; it may seem easy but just knowing when the chocolate has set and how much filling to add is really a skill. I don't think you could ever read about it; it's really something you have to try and fail at a few times.

The final step is to top up the filled chocolates and put them in the freezer. This apparently speeds up drying time, and since we only had so many molds and lots of chocolates to make it was important. I’m not sure if everybody puts them in the freezer, but it didn't seem to do anything bad to the chocolates. So what did I learn in this chocolate-making day-o-fun?

Well, first of all, making chocolate takes a lot of time and patience, something I don't really have. Sure I can fake it for a day, but Allison would attest that I get pretty grumpy when it comes to things that require more than 3 minutes of attention.

Secondly, chocolate-making is something that you really have to pay attention to. This is good for those of us that like to sneak off and steal a treat, while the person in charge is busy checking on the chocolate melting results.

Finally I learned a lesson. If you make chocolates you probably want to make a lot because the prep work is insane and it takes a good hour to even get rolling. At that point you might as well just spend the whole day and be done with it. If you’re making chocolates this year, I recommend making a whole bunch, and if you make too many and have lots of leftovers, you can always send a nice Christmas package to your friendly Candy Critic.

 

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Monday's Candy Links

If you're thinking of starting your own candy creation, think a little bit before you give it a name.

According to science, not only is chocolate yummy, but it might also protect you from the sun.

Lindt is teaming up with the Culinary Institute of America to help make the future of chocolate tastier and more creative.

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Friday Candy Video - Cookie Monster Sings... Maybe?

This is a great example as to why the Muppets (Sesame Street included) are some of the most entertaining characters ever.  Me want cookie now.

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Wednesday's Candy Links

Here are three facts you may not have known about Girl Scout Cookies, now stop reading and go buy some.

Here's a desperate attempt to claim that all candy bars are in fact named after sports figures.  Sure some are, but many are not.

Use candy to educate, it's pretty much the best idea to fix one of the worlds problems ever thought up.

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Choosing a School for Next Year

I don't want to influence your decision but you might want to read this list of College Town Ice Cream Parlors.  Sure a good school is important, high standard of education, good library, and great facilities.  But really you know as well as I do that a good ice cream parlor is a must.

Click here to see the list.

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School in Wisconsin

It appears that several candy lobby groups have decided to team up and create the first ever official school of candy.  It appears that the goal is to create a fully accredited university program that focuses on candy and sweets.  Now I just finished my BA a little while ago, and I'm thinking that maybe a Masters Degree in candy is just what I need.

Click here to read more about the plan.

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Get a Chocolate Education

I just read an interesting article about a couple of people that decided to open the first ever Chocolate University.  It's a pretty clever idea and the folks that created the coarse seem to have the right credentials to teach on the subject.  I'm slightly tempted to give it a try myself.

Click here to read the article.

Click here to check out Choco-U

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Chocolate Tasting In Indiana

If you happen to be at the Bloomington campus of IU (it's a nice place, I've been) then I highly recommend you check out the "Art of Chocolate" event taking place right now.  If you happen to be a student at IU and you don't know about the chocolate event, what kind of university student are you to not know about a chocolate extravaganza.

Click here to read more about the event.

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Hershey's Believes in Education

I too believe in education, I even would go so far as to say that I (verbally) support any kind of education that involves making better candy for the whole world.  I put the word "verbally" in brackets because I'm not sure if I have the kind of money to start a scholarship yet.

Click here to read about Hershey giving money towards food education.

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Party In My Tummy

This video doesn't have any direct relation to candy, however it does describe the feeling I get when I eat a bag of Pop Rocks.

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Martial Arts For Candy

A martial arts school has decided to create their own candy exchange program by allowing kids to exchange their candy for free martial arts classes. The candy will be sent to soldiers oversea. The way I look at it either way teeth will be lost.

Click here to read more.

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