Candy Experiment - Skittles VS Skittles Flavoured Gelatin Dessert

With only one flavour available of this Original Skittles flavoured gelatin dessert, but 5 (or maybe 6) flavours available in the Original Skittles, it got me thinking. What flavour is the "Jello" like treat supposed to be?

Potato Chip Flavours

 

I'm wondering if the world is running out of flavours for potato chips. The trend lately has been to try extreme or weird flavours or just copy already existing flavours. I feel like it's been a long time since someone has made a potato chip that was original, but also that made sense. It's not that I mind these weird flavours, it's just been a while since I've eaten a potato chip with a completely original flavour that made me think I'd eat another bag of them.

Check out my latest chip review, of a flavour that I've tried before, but it still tasted pretty good.

What is a Big Mac?

There’s a global trend that’s changing the landscape of fast food, and it’s chicken. Sure chicken’s been a part of fast food for ages, probably for as long as fast food has existed. However, when most people think of fast food, they think of hamburgers or pizza. This is changing though, and more and more fast food restaurants are becoming chicken experts. There are many competing theories about why this is happening. Some people suggest that global food prices are making beef too expensive, others suggest that it’s a choice people are making for health, some even suggest that it’s just a trend that people prefer eating.

What that’s lead to is many fast food chains adding more chicken to their menu, and McDonald’s is no exception. They’ve not only added many new chicken options to their menu, they’ve started to offer chicken variations of their classic burgers. One such item is the Chicken Mac. I decided to give one of these a try and it really made me think about how one defines “what is a Big Mac”.

The problem I ran into is that McDonald’s made more than one change to this classic sandwich. The most obvious change is that they went with two deep fried chicken patties instead of the beef. However, the other change they made is that the Big Mac sauce was changed to just regular mayonnaise. The rest of the sandwich was pretty much the same, lettuce, cheese, re-hydrated onion, pickles and the three layer bun. I didn’t actually research any of this before getting the Chicken Mac, and was kind of shocked by the lack of the Big Mac sauce.

It made me wonder, is it still a Big Mac (or any kind of “Mac” sandwich at all)? I suggested to Allison that I don’t think that this could be considered in the same family of sandwiches, and she argued that it could because it still had that unique bun and the same toppings. She also suggested that the rest of the burger still seemed Mac like. I’m not sure if I agree, but this is actually something that comes up a lot in fast food and candy.

When a candy company makes a different variation of a candy bar, can it still be in the same family. A great example is if we compare the Kit Kat bar with the Kit Kat Chunky (or Big as some call it). While a Kit Kat Chunky kind of looks like a finger of a Kit Kat bar, it’s really only one finger. The ratio of chocolate to wafers is different, and the size of the wafers is different as well. When you think about it, most chocolate bars are really just one finger as well. So does that mean a Kit Kat chunky really isn’t a Kit Kat bar? How far can you stray and how many ingredients can you change while still keeping a snack or junk food item in the same family?

Are all fast food sandwiches that have Big Mac sauce on them, a Big Mac? Can you put Big Mac sauce on a Quarter Pounder and call it a Quarter Pounder Mac? Or do you need that unique bun too? In the last 10 or 20 years it’s become really popular to make variations on popular snack and fast food items, but how far is too far? I argue that the Chicken Mac is not a Big Mac anymore.

The Best Skittles?

 It's a rare occasion when the OG is not the best, but when it comes to Skittles they're not even the second or third best.

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Time To Find Out If The Real Thing Is Better

Have you ever thought about how much your potato chips actually taste like the flavour advertised on the package. I didn't, until now.

Make sure to keep up with all my adventures on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Also be sure to follow me on YouTube for all my fun videos.

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An In-depth Look at Which Flavour in a Classic Package of Starburst is the Best Flavour

While there are several special editions varieties of Starburst taffy candies, the classic, or original flavours are lemon, strawberry, orange and cherry. The point of this article is not to review Starburst, you can go here to read my review of original Starbursts, the point of this article is to look at each flavour individually and pick out the best one. This is a debate that has been going on in the candy world for generations, and I don’t think that this article is going to solve anything, I’m hoping it’s just another footnote in the great debate.

I’m going to look at the original Starburst candies in several ways, then take this information to attempt to make a rating. Keep in mind that this is the workings of a man that is obsessed with candy, and not any kind of final decision. Most of the opinions expressed in this article are mine, except for the part with the informal pole, where I asked several other candy fanatics to list their favourite in order.

There are only two reasons that the information from the article will be of any use to anybody. It might be useful to a person if they’ve never tried Starburst before, and for some strange reason decided that they will only purchase a bulk package of the candy containing only one flavour. That, or it might be useful to someone who likes candy and is really bored, or wants to find something to disagree with on the internet. Let’s start by taking a look at the colour of the candy.

Colour

The idea of this category is to simply look at the candies colour and see how much it evokes the flavour, as well as how appetizing the candy looks. When I say how much the colour evokes the flavour, I don’t mean how much it looks like fruit (more on that later), but instead how much it reminds me of the fruit.

Lemon – Yellow and lemon are pretty easy to put together. This is a fairly bright yellow and it makes me feel like the flavour of this candy is going to be strong, and maybe a just a little sour. It’s bright and it’s fun.

Orange – The orange is well… orange. It’s kind of a no brainer to make this orange, but I feel like it could have been just a little bit deeper an orange colour. It doesn’t make me think of fruit explosion, just simple orange.

Cherry – My memories of cherry Starburst have them being much deeper in colour than these are. Sure, they seem red in colour, but similar to the orange, the red just doesn’t seem to jump out at me.

Strawberry – This pink seems like it’s kind of muted. It seems like this should be a strawberry and cream flavour, and not just strawberry. I think that there are deeper or brighter pinks available to use in candy colouring. I just feel like this colour of pink reminds me of an un-ripened strawberry, and not a juicy ripe one.



Flavour

Cherry – When I started the idea of writing this article, I kept telling myself to keep an open mind, and look at each flavour with fresh eyes. I kept remembering cherry as being my favourite flavour as a kid, but I wanted to give the other flavours a chance. I tried, I really did, but these cherry Starbursts are really the best of the best in the original Starburst lineup.

Orange – Orange is never my favourite flavour, but it’s also the flavour that I never hate either. I always think of it as middle of the road. It's a fine flavour, but it's not impressive, or that much different than any other orange flavoured candy out there. I’m enjoying this Starburst, but it’s not wowing me.

Strawberry – It’s in my nature to like red candies more than the others, with the exception of watermelon and red apple flavoured candies. This one on the other hand doesn’t really stand up to some of the others. I feel like they’re really watering the flavour down with some kind of creamy flavour. If they called it a strawberry and cream Starburst, I’d probably like it more, but then it wouldn’t fit into this collection of flavours.

Lemon – I’m kind of surprised but I don’t really like the lemon flavoured Starburst. I feel like there’s something missing, something like a zing of flavour. I think if the lemon was just a little more tart it would taste a little bit better. For now, it just tastes like it’s trying to be flavourful, but it just stops short.

How the Flavour Compares to the Real Fruit

Orange – The problem with orange candies, and that includes these Starbursts, is that there’s a reference as old as time that we can relate to the flavour, Tang. Orange has been one of the fruit flavours that they’ve been manufacturing the longest, and rather than improve it, there seems to be an acceptance of this fairly fake flavour as being orange. If you think about it, there is something kind of orange about it, but I don’t think I could call it one hundred percent orange.

Lemon – This lemon Starburst tastes almost nothing like a lemon. This is probably a good thing since lemons are so sour that it’s hard for most people to enjoy the flavour. This tastes more like a candy with a slight essence of fake lemon flavour.

Cherry – These fall into a very unique category, they don’t really taste like any kind of real cherry, but I associate the flavour that they are with cherries. It’s a strong fruity flavour that for some reason I would call cherry, but compared to real cherries, it’s not that close. It’s more like a fruit punch than anything else.

Strawberry – This taste nothing like strawberries at all. It tastes like some kind of creamy, but slightly sour fruit punch. I would have a hard time picking this flavour out as Strawberry unless I’m given the context that I’m eating Starbursts (because this flavour is so connected to strawberry Starburst).

Other People’s Opinions

In order to find out which Starburst people liked the most, I informally asked people on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit, which one they liked most. I eliminated all those who just picked one or two flavours, as that would skew the results. I will say that most people who only voted on one flavour voted for Cherry, so I guess that says something about people who like Cherry Starbursts the most. Had they actually answered the question in full, it might have changed the results of this as well. Either way, here’s the list of favourite Starburst flavours as voted by you… or at the very least people.

Strawberry – 56 points – Only one person voted strawberry as their least favourite.

Cherry – 51 points

Lemon – 39 points

Orange – 34 points - No one voted orange as their favourite.

Conclusion

I think I’m most surprised by how much I didn’t like the strawberry Starbursts, I really thought they would rank second for me in most cases. This is truly a case where they don’t taste like what I remember. I find this even more amazing considering how much people in my pole liked the strawberry Starburst. I really thought cherry was going to win that pole, but it turns out people have very different tastes than I thought.

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that Starburst do not taste like any kind of real fruit, however they do taste like something special. Even the worst flavour of Starburst still tastes great, even if it doesn’t taste like lemons at all.

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Candy & Snack Trends For 2020

The world of candy and snacks is always changing. Popular flavours change, and new ideas are around every corner. While I’m not clairvoyant about what the future has to hold for us snack lovers out there, I do have some ideas about what I think will be trendy over the next year or two.

More Vegan Foods/Candy

I think we're going to see more and more foods that are vegetable based, and I don't think this is going to stop with meat products. There are many candies and snacks that still use animal based ingredients, and I think this is going to go on the decline even more than it is already. I think it's going to be become the norm to use only vegetable based ingredients in candy and snacks in the future and I think this is going to be a big selling feature this year. There are so many vegetable based substitutes for the ingredients used today in candy and snacks already, so it only makes sense for those who haven’t switched yet to switch over in order to keep a growing number of people happy with their snacks.

Fewer Super Spicy Treats

I've never been a huge fan of super spicy foods. For the last few years I've been trying to improve my tolerance of spicy foods, but it's still something I'm not in love with. I'm even less in love with the idea of having spicy foods that are so spicy that it causes people to be sick. I know that some people enjoy challenging themselves, but I'm starting to think that most people are getting tired of pushing the limits.

More Crazy Flavoured Chips

The crazy chip trend is not new. It's been going strong for a few years now, and I think it's going to keep going strong. While I like to see almost any new and fun flavour of chips, I'm really enjoying the trend of taking flavours from other parts of the world and introducing them via chips. Not everyone can travel to Thailand to try some authentic Tom Yum soup, but now anybody can eat the chips.

More Limited Edition Treats

I think this year, much like last year, is going to be filled with limited edition versions of classic snacks and treats. I worry that many of these treat companies are running out of ideas, and the flavours are just weird for weird sake, but I don't think that's going to stop them from continuing to make these treats. I predict that not only are we going to see more strange flavours, but I think that this year we might see an increase in the new colours and looks of classic treats (so they can get the Instagram clicks).

Even More CBD Candy

It could be the circles of people I hang out with, or the fact that I’m Canadian, but I keep coming across articles about CBD products, and more relevantly CBD edibles. The reason there’s a boom in these products is legalization of marijuana in many parts of the world. Edible CBD products are not something that can always be made in someone’s basement, so with more places around the world legalizing marijuana, there are more markets to sell legally, and more places that high quality snack and candy companies can build legal factories to manufacture CBD infused candies. Right now, there are several small newer companies producing edibles, but I think in the next year or two we’re going to see larger companies like Hershey’s, Frito-Lays, or even Nestle getting into the CBD market.

Here are a few things I hope (but I'm not sure) will trend this year:

Black Licorice in Odd Places

Over the last few years I've come to discover that Northern Europe has been using black licorice is some odd ways. It's common (and delicious) to find black licorice with chocolate, and I've even tried black licorice potato chips. While I'm not a huge fan of black licorice most of the time, I've found that as a subtle flavour addition it sometimes works really well.

Asian Candy From More Diverse Places

I think we're going to see even more Asian candies, but not just from Japan. I'm hoping that this year we start to see candies from all over Asia, including places like India, Thailand, and Malaysia. While Japan and China seem to have a pretty strong hold on the international candy market, it'll be great to get a bit more variety from this part of the world.

Lesser Known European Chocolate Brands Going Global

There are a lot of European chocolate bars that are really popular in some European countries, but for some reason they just haven't gone global yet. I hope that this is the year that these brands expand, and we start to see Fazer all over the world.

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We're Starting A Review-A-Thon, And It's All About Japanese Kit Kat Bars - Kit Kat "Cranberry and Almond"

All this week we're going to be posting reviews for various Japanese Kit Kat bars. We've got the good, the bad and the wasabi. There are hundreds of Japanese Kit Kat bars that have been made, and we're going to try and taste them all. If we fail, it's the greatest battle one could lose.

Here's the first entry in our Japanese Kit Kat review-a-thon.


Last week we did a quick ranking of 5 of the bars we got, and you can check it out in this YouTube video.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to keep up with the many reviews we'll be posting all week.

On a secondary note, we've decided that we're going to re-work our YouTube video channel. We've started to notice that we're pumping out content that we're not really happy with (and you don't appear to be watching it anyways). To start, we've decided to do our Monday Morning Breakfast Thoughts monthly instead of weekly. We're also looking to cut back the number of fully produced videos each month,  but we may have more informal videos posted more regularly (depending on what we're up to). Make sure to check out our YouTube channel and subscribe to keep up with this content.

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Kit Kat Week Part 3 - Ideas For Kit Kat Flavours That Haven’t Been Made Yet

Having spent the last little while thinking about Kit Kat flavours, I thought it would be fun to brainstorm some ideas for different flavours of Kit Kat bars that haven't been made. I asked some friends to suggest a few flavours, and came up with a few of my own. So here's our list of Kit Kat flavours we'd like to see.  Let us know if there are any flavours you'd like to see, also let us know if we happened to mention a flavour that does exist already.

Here's some basic ideas I think would work:

Fruit salad - It would be awesome if each finger was the flavour of a different fruit.
Fruitcake - The perfect, or worst, Christmas Kit Kat idea.
Honey 'n' Oat - I love this idea (contributed by my friend Willy), I think it would work particularly well if you used whole rolled oats.
Buttered Popcorn - I stole this idea from Jelly Belly, it worked for them so it could work for Kit Kat.
Jelly Bean - This could similar to the fruit salad idea with each finger having a different flavour. You could also try and add a soft texture in somewhere.

I think it's also important  to think about flavours from other countries,  so here are a few ideas of foods I love from foreign lands that I think would make excellent Kit Kat flavours.

Mango Sticky Rice - This is a staple food in many countries like Thailand and Cambodia. They already make all kinds of treats using the flavours of mango sticky rice, so why not make a Kit Kat as well.
Jalebi - This is my favorite Indian/Pakistani sweet treat. If you made this in Kit Kat form you'd have to somehow get the crispy texture right as well as the flavour.
Sticky Toffee Pudding - This is one variety that I wouldn't be surprised if it already existed. It's such a unique flavour, and the perfect Kit Kat flavour
Turkish Delight - This is another Kit Kat variety that could go further than simply making a Kit Kat that tastes like Turkish delight. You could actually put Turkish delight into the Kit Kat bar, similar to what they already do with peanut butter and caramel.
Speculoos - I think this is a food trend that seems to be continuing to grow, so it would be perfect for a Kit Kat. Some people know this as cookie butter as well. It would blend perfectly with the crisp wafers and milk chocolate.

There are also a few Canadian flavours that I think would work.
Beavertail - In particular the Kilalo Sunrise variety with cinnamon, sugar and lemon.
Pancakes with Syrup - You could give the wafers a pancake flavour, and  put a thin layer of real Canadian maple syrup on the top.

Two people (Allison and Brent) thought of two meat flavours. You might think it’s just a joke, but I don't think it's a totally silly idea.
Roast Beef - Something about creamy gravy that I think might work in the context of a chocolate bar.
Fried Chicken - This might sound weird, but the spices would certainly be an interesting flavour combination with a Kit Kat bar, after all fried chicken does work with waffles.

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Kit Kat Week Part 2 - How Many Variety Of Kit Kat Already Exist

It's not really clear how many different  flavours of Kit Kats actually exist. Since Japan started this trend, a few other countries have joined in creating a handful of fun flavours. None of these fun flavours have come close to matching the variety and strangeness of Japan. Today it's fairly common to find Kit Kat bars with coffee flavours, caramel, peanut butter and many other fairly safe flavours. Kit Kat Japan has opened a few doors, but the floodgates have never opened completely outside of Japan.

It's estimated that there are anywhere from two to three hundred variety of Kit Kat in Japan alone. You might be able to add fifty or so variety that have been released in the rest of the world. No one seems to have an official list, and some flavours are similar, but not exactly the same as well (for example there's a special variety of strawberry Kit Kat that's made in Japan which is completely different than the Western strawberry Kit Kat).

One of the things many western Kit Kat varieties miss outside of Japan, is a tie to the local culture. We're missing many flavours that really represent particular cultures or regions of different countries. This is what has allowed Japan to go out  further with this idea, they are feverishly proud of Japanese culture and the products that come out of Japan. Japanese people tend to love the idea that something represents something in their culture, no matter how specific or detailed. They're also seems to be this idea that the product doesn't have to taste good to be a success. It's more about how well it represents the Japanese event or area than how great it actually tastes.

It's also safe to say that the Japanese pallet is a little different than the Western pallet, so maybe a soya sauce chocolate bar works for them.  To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why Japanese people love these Kit Kat variety, but they obviously do because they keep making them. I know for western countries we look at these flavours as being strange and exotic, but I think we need to fix this. What we need to do is look into our own culture and find the flavours that might be exotic to others,  and we need to make them in Kit Kat bar form.

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Kit Kat Week Part 1 - A Quick Look At The History Of Kit Kat Flavours

Over the last decade or so Kit Kat has gone through a renaissance of sorts. Kit Kat has been a staple in the candy bar world since its creation in the 1930s in the city of York. Created by the Rowntree company the brand has since changed hands several times and is now manufactured by two different companies, Hershey’s in the USA and Nestle everywhere else in the world. Some would argue that Nestle has the superior product, and that the bar improves depending on where you buy it.

For most of the life of this bar, the Kit Kat has remained unchanged. 4 fingers featuring wafers, milk chocolate and a subtle filling between the wafers. The format can differ depending on where you get it, and a few places have offered variations in the number of fingers, however the basics of the bar never really changed much at all.

It wasn't until 1996 when the first variety of Kit Kat was introduced, orange. It was first released in the UK, and then spread around the world fairly quickly. Other flavours followed including dark chocolate and mint. These early flavours are considered to be fairly safe. Early on the Kit Kat bar varieties used flavours that are well known to work with chocolate.

It wasn't until around the  turn of the millennium that things started to go a little extreme. In the 1990s Kit Kat Japan started to introduce special flavours of Kit Kats to represent certain regions  of Japan. This is a common tradition in Japanese foods, each region has great pride in locally made products, and will often sell these products in local shops dedicated  to the region. Kit Kat Japan wanted to sell their bars to people that had pride in their local products and decided to cross over this Japanese tradition with their bar.

As time  went on, more and more flavours started to come out of these local areas, and soon Kit Kat was producing a new flavour to celebrate particular traditions or areas of Japan every month. With strange flavours like wasabi and soya sauce, it didn't take long for the internet to catch up to this trend, and Japanese Kit Kat bars became things of legend in Western Countries.

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Have The People At Oreo Gone Mad?!!

When I was a kid there was one kind of Oreo, it had chocolate cookies and a white icing center. At some point in my childhood the Oreo Double Stuff was introduced with the idea that there was twice as much cream as there was before. This was to be Oreo's first foray into changing their cookies, as well as into some controversy. There was a theory that Oreo simply reduced the amount of cream in their classic cookie, and the more expensive double stuff was in fact just the old version of the regular Oreo.

Slowly Oreo started to add more versions of their cookies onto the market. Golden Oreos are an Oreo with vanilla cookies instead of chocolate. Uh-Oh Oreos were a vanilla cookie with a chocolate cream center. Most of these variations used either chocolate or vanilla cookies and chocolate or vanilla cream. At this point things weren't out of hand, chocolate and vanilla seemed like an area where Oreo could venture safely.

Somewhere between 2006 and 2010 things seem to have fallen off the rails. As usual it appears to have originated in either Japan or Canada. Both of these countries are often the source of strange flavored things becoming the norm in the western world. You can always reference potato chips in Canada and Kit Kit bars in Japan for a better idea of the phenomenon. Canada often introduces not extremely strange versions, but slightly different flavours to the American market, it's easy with their close proximity to the USA. Japan on the other hand is legendary for their extreme flavour varieties of classic treats, and on the Internet these crazy flavours slowly find their way into American homes.

By 2010 it appears that the western world had jumped on board the freaky Oreo cookie bandwagon and things have been getting weirder and weirder ever since. It seems that the folks at Oreo have been given cart blanch and can pretty much come up with any flavour choices they want. Gone are the days when chocolate and vanilla are the only two flavours allowed. Today it seems that Oreo cookies come up with some kind of crazy new cookie every month. Pumpkin spice, blueberry pie, and orange creamcicle are just a few examples of some of the limited editor flavours we've seen so far.

But much like the introduction the double stuff cookie, these varieties have stirred up a bit of controversy. In my circle of friends the Oreo fireworks cookie (an Oreo with pop rocks like candy in the icing) was the topic of a huge debate. Some calling it a travesty of nature, others calling it the greatest thing ever created. Then there was the Oreo Peeps debacle, something that affected me personally. These Oreo cookies made headlines when it was found out that the pink colouring of the icing caused a certain colour shift in a solid biological function.  Yup, it made your poop pink.

I had already eaten a few of the cookies before I learned about this, but I didn't check my bathroom colours at the time. Fortunately I had more than half a bag left when I did learn about this issue, and I can tell you that the story was true... And a little disturbing. While this was the big story that broke about these cookies, the thing I found odd about the Oreo Peeps was what they did to your mouth. I realized that every time I ate a few of these cookies, I would spit up pink every time I brushed my teeth, for a few days.  So even if it was 2 or 3 days since eating them I would find that when I brushed my teeth I would spit out pink.

Oreo is on the edge of crossing over into dangerous territory with these crazy flavour, a line that's been crossed by a few candy companies trying to ride the wave of crazy flavour varieties. After that line is crossed, few survive. This line is crossed when a company has obviously run out of logical ideas when it comes to flavours. After this point these companies start to "get creative" and often weird for the sake of being weird. Kit Kat has weathered this storm and built an industry on their strange flavours, but a few other candy companies have fallen down that hole and not done well. The true indication of this is when Oreo decides they want to try savory flavours instead of sweet.

When you cross that line, you may find that some of your die hard fans have fallen out of favour. The news release about your new wacky flavour doesn't get the rush to the stores, but instead gets ridicule or a ho-hum type reaction. While the debate among my friends rages about whether or not Oreo has jumped the shark with these wacky flavours, I've found myself on the side of enjoying them. I've enjoyed the creative ideas, I've even enjoyed the flavour of most of them. So far Oreo, I'm on your side, but be careful. One day I may not rush out the store to try your latest creation.

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We've Finally Reviewed Jelly Beans

Why did it take us so long to get around to reviewing jelly beans? Frankly we're not really sure, but here we are with many years of writing candy reviews below our belt and only now have we done this review.

Click here to find out why it was so hard, and what we think about these bean shaped candies.

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We Just Posted A Bubbaloo Magic Candy Review

I was inspired to post this review because I was going through my candy stash and looking at what I need to photograph, review, or throw out (sometimes I just can't eat all this candy, I'm only human).  While checking what I had to post, I thought, why not post a new review as well. That's what this summer of random reviews is all about!

Click here to read the new Bubbaloo Magic candy review!

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Does Suzy Q's Get An "A"?

Over the last few months I've been working on something called the Doughnut Project.  The goal of the Doughnut Project is to sample as many different Tim Horton's doughnuts as possible. Every time I try a new doughnut I post it on our Instagram feed as well as where I bought it on our Candy Map. It's been a fun project, however one of my friends, Adriana, has been frustrated with me.  She's of the mind that Tim Horton's doughnuts are sub-par, and that a man like myself should not eat these second rate doughnuts.

Adriana has been trying her hardest to get me to expand my doughnut eating experiences, and she started with a local place (here in Ottawa) known as Suzy Q's. Suzy Q's is what I would call a trendy bakery. Trendy bakeries are places that generally sell only one or two different items, they're also often sparsely decorated, and only hire young people to work at the front. With trendy bakeries you also often find that excess is the creative inspiration, that or sometimes weird flavour combinations.  More often than not this kind of bakery does not appeal to me, mostly because many of these places focus on the weird or the excess, rather than putting out a good product. It's very rare for a trendy bakery to impress me, but when it does it's often spectacular.

Suzy Q's does fall into the category of trendy bakery, and at times it also falls into the traps of trendy bakeries. They seem to fall into this trap more in the excessive than the strange flavours, however there are a few strange flavours as well.  The good thing is that while they do fall into the traps sometimes, they also offer some pretty tasty doughnuts as well.  I sampled four different doughnuts, the Grasshopper, Dirty Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Bumbleberry.

I picked the Dirty Chocolate because when I checked out their website, I thought it looked the best.  I tried the Salted Caramel because when I went to the store it looked the best.  I picked the Bumbleberry because it looked very pretty. Finally I let the guy at the counter pick the Grasshopper. One of these doughnuts was very disappointing, one was OK, and two were pretty good.

The worst was shockingly the Dirty Chocolate, it was bland and had a weird texture. The OK doughnut was the salted caramel, it tasted fine, but the texture of the caramel was a little weak. I was really happy with both the Bumbleberry and Grasshopper, both had interesting textures, and I really liked the crunchy marshmallows on the Grasshopper. All around it was a fine experience, and I regret nothing, but it's not likely that I'll return to Suzy Qs.

The problem is simple, price.  I paid ten dollars for four doughnuts. I'm not sure if you can just buy one doughnut, but that price is not listed on their sign. So I felt a little forced to buying four doughnuts, and at ten bucks they're not cheap. It's not that I object to the idea of paying two-fifty for a doughnut, but that doughnut better blow my mind away.  These doughnuts were OK, but they didn't change the way I saw doughnuts.  They weren't a creative leap in the field of doughnuts, and the quality of the doughnut itself wasn't anything inspiring.  If someone gave me one to eat, I'd be happy, but I don't know if I could justify paying that much again for something that didn't blow my mind.

Do you know a doughnut place that I should try, let me know on Facebook or Twitter. Also, how do you spell the name of these ring shaped pastries, doughnut or donut?

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It's A New Episode Of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!

Some people tell me that I'm full of beans, well on this episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! I am.  I never knew that there was such a variety of flavours of baked beans, I also never knew how good some of them might be.

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Candy Flavours From Around the World

As the world shrinks, the selection of food we eat grows.  Not long ago a shawarma was a foreign delicacy you’d only find in hidden away shops in cities with large Middle Eastern populations.  Now you can find a shawarma at your local mall food court along with pho, hummus, and chicken tandoori.  While our meals are evolving quickly today, our candy selection seems to be moving a little slower.

Sure you can pick up foreign candies in specialty candy shops, but some of the true foreign flavours of sweet treats have yet to really break out into the North American market (and some of our flavours haven't made it to the outside world either).  Sometimes there’s a reason for that, some of these flavours are nothing like what we’re used to, but some of these flavours are just itching to make it onto our candy shelves and bulk bins.

Tamarind – This is a common flavour of candies in South Asia and the Middle East.  It’s a sweet bean that on it’s own is a little strange, however as a flavour of gum or hard candy it can’t be beat.  The biggest problem with tamarind is how it looks, a large ugly dried bean is not something most North Americans want to eat, particularly if it's associated with sweet instead of savoury.  But get past the rough looking pod and you’re left with a unique sweet treat.

Sweet Potato – You’d have no problem covering your yams in sugar for thanks giving, yet you would probably never want to cover your yams in chocolate.  In Eastern Asia yams are as much a sweet treat as dried fruit or nuts.  In some cases it’s covered in chocolate, sugar, or just enjoyed for the sweetness it gives naturally.  In Japan they even have people going around neighbourhoods selling warm yams the same way ice cream trucks do in North America, they even have a song that plays to tell kids they’re around.

Sour Plum – Common in Japan and parts of the Far East, sour plums are just that, very sour pickled or dried out plums.  They can also be a little salty as well, thus making them fairly off-putting for most North American candy fanatics.  The only people that would probably enjoy sour plums are the same people that fell in love with the Harry Potter themed Bertie Botts jellybeans.  This is an extreme flavour, but for many Asians it’s one they love.

Licorice – What’s this?  Licorice is already a candy, there’s nothing strange about it.  While licorice is an acquired taste in North America, in the Netherlands and Finland licorice is the ultimate candy treat.  More importantly they’ve taken licorice and started to use it in other candy treats.  How about milk chocolate bar, filled with licorice chunks.  There’s also the famous Dutch “Double Zoot” salted licorice, a salty licorice flavour that you’ll either love, or loathe.

Marzipan – Most people consider marzipan to be a filling for chocolates, or occasionally found in that foreign bakery down the street.  In Austria it’s an art and a celebration.  There are shops dedicated to this sweet treat, and how they sculpt this treat into pieces of art is exceptional.  You can get plates that look exactly like Vienna Sausages, fruit, and just about anything you’d find for dinner all made out of this almond paste.  On new years it’s tradition to eat a pig made of Marzipan, for good luck.

Mastixa – Mastixa made of sap from a pine tree found on Chios island in Greece.  To say that it's an acquired taste is putting it lightly.  Many people would tell you that it tastes like awful cough medicine, others say that the strong flavoured sap is refreshing.  You can actually just chew the sap in a slightly crystallized form, however most people prefer it as a flavouring agent.  It's used to flavour ice cream, cookies, cakes and candies.

Rose – The smell of fresh roses brings memories of weddings, or Valentines Day, but in many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures it brings up memories of cakes, cookies and candies.  Some North American recipes might call for rose water, but it's still a bit of a novelty.  However in Greek and Turkish desserts it's very regularly used.  Greek Christmas cookies known as kourabiethes are sprayed with rose water when they're done, and Rose flavoured Turkish delight is one of the most common.

Bonus:

Peanut Butter – peanut butter?!! Everyone loves peanut butter, right?  Nope, in many cultures peanut butter is just too strange.  Many European countries don't have much of a taste for peanut butter at all.  To them a peanut butter cup is a novelty, and too many a disgusting one at that.  So remember that next time you're eating strong piece of Dutch licorice in the Netherlands, or a sugar coated sweet potato in Japan, and grimacing about how gross it is.  They might feel the same way about your PB and J.

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Candy In The Media

This is making me re-think the way I should write candy reviews.

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Hey Jelly Belly!!! Some Flavour Ideas - Creams

Creams

This week we've filled the blog with ideas for future Jelly Belly flavours, we started with Middle Eastern spices, then we went to Japanese snacks, yesterday it was candy bar flavours, today it'll be smooth and creamy.

Creams have been associated with fruits and cakes since the inception of desserts.  While some might argue that every cream is the same, I think Jelly Belly would be the perfect company to produce cream flavoured beans that each have their own subtle difference.  These beans on their own would be OK, but much like the Middle Eastern Spice beans, mixed with fruit and other sweet beans these would just elevate the flavour to a new level.  The real trick to these beans would be to keep them from being sweetened.  You don't want the cream bean to blend in too much with the other sweet flavoured beans, you want it to contrast it.

The sour cream Jelly Belly would have to be cool.  The idea of this bean would be to cool down the flavour of any other Jelly Belly that you've already eaten.  Not only would this bean work well while eating fruit flavoured Jelly Bellies, but it could work to help you wear off the effects of a Jelly Belly that's too spicy for your liking.

Clotted cream Jelly Bellies would have to be the most decadent of all the cream flavours.  The flavour would have to be strong and very rich in order to simulate the cream it's portraying.  Probably one or two clotted cream Jelly Bellies would be enough to balance out with a small handful of cherry Jelly Bellies.

Unlike the clotted cream Jelly Belly, the whipped cream Jelly Belly would have to be lighter.  This would be a bean that would never over power the fruit or sweet bean that it's mixed with.  Instead the whipped cream Jelly Belly would ad a subtle accent.

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Hey Jelly Belly!!! Some Flavour Ideas - Middle Eastern Spices

Recently Jelly Belly announced two new crazy/gross flavours of Jelly Beans, rotten fish and rotten milk. I generally support Jelly Belly and their crazy flavours because they're creative and very well done. I also know that Jelly Belly continuously creates new normal flavours as well, although they don't seem to get the same amount of press. I think there's a market that Jelly Belly is missing, and it falls right in the middle of both of their categories. I think Jelly Belly should create flavours that are surprisingly good. Or flavours that you may not have tried, say popular foreign foods.

Rather than simply suggesting that they research this and dump all the work on the research and development team at Jelly Belly, I'm going to help out a bit. I'm going to suggest a few new flavours of Jelly Belly that fit this middle category.  Everyday this week I'll post a new collection of flavours based on a theme.  From exotic spices to interesting cross candy tie ins.

I'm also going to help design the look of these Jelly Bellies, and give a little info on why these new flavours would work. Normally when I create candies on this site I tell you that my ideas are free for any candy maker to make, and all I ask is that you send me some to try. This list is a little different, this is just for Jelly Belly, and if possible I'd really like to help with their creation. So if you're reading this Jelly Belly, I'd really like to help you out, and I work fairly cheap.

Middle Eastern Spices

For our first day I thought I'd look at something a little exotic.  The Middle East has long been a hub of curiosity and exotic flavours.

Middle Eastern cooking is probably most famous for its spices.  When you think of Middle Easter spices you think of curries, masalas, and other spice blends. These spicy combinations aren't just for the savory foods though, all over the middle east and southern Asia you'll find desserts that are full of spices, both hot and flavourful.  I think this is an area that Jelly Belly could easily latch onto, but with a twist.  Rather than make Jelly Bellies that taste like Middle Eastern desserts, why not make jelly beans that taste like the spices often used in these desserts.  This would allow the eater to choose a few fruit flavoured Jelly Bellies and make their own Middle Eastern influenced dessert creations.

The first spice that comes to mind for Middle Eastern desserts has to be cardamom.  It's a very popular spice used in puddings and baked goods, and would blend very well with many of the fruit flavoured Jelly Bellies. These would also be very tasty on their own, and in some cases might work as a bit of a breath freshener, as cardamom is often used as an after meal treat.

Rose Water Jelly Bellies is a bit more Mediterranean, but I think it still works in this contexts.  It's most obvious use would be to simulate different kinds of Turkish Delight.  But Turkish delight isn't the only treat that uses rose water it is also a common flavour added to other baked goods in the Mediterranean.  In Greece Rose water is often lightly sprayed on cookies to give them a wonderful perfumed flavour.

Fruit Chaat Masala is probably the most specific spice in this line, but I think it would be the most daring.  This would be the Jelly Belly that people would dare their friends to eat, and some of their friends might actually enjoy it.  This spice combination is specifically designed to work with the sweet flavour of fruit, and I could see this jelly bean becoming very popular.

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