Greatest Treats You May Have Never Tried - Time Out

There are many different treats to be found, all over the world.  Each corner has their own idea of what's good, and it can vary a great deal.  The thing is, many of these treats aren't available everywhere.  In fact, some treats are only available in a very small area of the world.  Some of these hard to find treats are treats you really shouldn't miss as well.  So this week, I'm going to highlight a new treat every day, that I've reviewed, and that I think you should really try... that is if you can find it.

Only recently have I been introduced into the world of Israeli chocolate bars, and it's opened my eyes.  In particular this bar, known as Pesek Zman or Time Out, really blew my mind.  Best of all it's not something that most people would find strange, in fact I'm pretty certain that the Israeli and North American pallet for sweet treats is very similar.  As an added bonus, if you happen to be on a kosher diet, they make a kosher version of this bar as well.

Click here to read my review of this treat.

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Post Easter Treats From Friends

Before I start this post, I want to clear a few things up.  First of all, I'm in Greece right now, and Greek Easter just finished this weekend.  Secondly a lot of my friends have other plans this time of year, but we like to get together after this kind of holiday.  I say all of this because after a recent get together celebrating being friends, a few of my friends brought me some Easter treats, after the holiday.  I could hold onto this treats and write about them next year, but frankly they'd go bad and I might forget about them.  So I present, some great post Easter treats that I received this weekend.

My friend Outi from Finland brought me an amazing package of eggs from here home country.  Made by the famous Fazer brand, these eggs look so amazingly real.  They look so real, only because they are real... well sort of.

The white shell of these treats are in fact real chicken eggs.  The eggs are emptied out and filled with chocolate.  You can kind of tell where they're filled from, but it's still an amazing feat.  The chocolate is the regular high quality you'd expect from Fazer and it's solid.

My friend Michal came back from Israel with a couple of bars.  At first I thought that they where a couple of my favorite Israeli chocolate bars Pesek Zman (Time Out), and they are... well sort of.  For Passover each year the folks at Elite, who make these bars, make a special run of these, but Kosher.  So some of the ingredients are changed in order to suit the dietary needs of the community.  This is amazing, and something no one ever thinks of in many countries.  I tried it out and it was pretty good too, the only difference I can sense is a slightly less crunchy wafer.  Easter treats are so great, even after Easter.

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Thursday's Candy Links

A candy called Vagabundo Paletas has been recalled, who would have thought a candy with a picture of a hobo on it might not be perfectly safe.

I don't want to say I predicted a boom in the Israeli candy market, but it appears it's happening.

One of the most dangerous things candy companies can do is change a classic candy, however "Allen's Minties will now be chewier".

Peeps dioramas has truly blossomed as an art form, here's a great collection of Peeps dioramas based on Oscar winning films.

Check out the Zurich chocolate salon, it's pretty much any chocolate lovers dream.

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This Week In Candy

Candy News - The big news this past week in the candy world is about Mars' decision to change the size of their bars in order limit the calories.  While I am totally for portion control as a way to limit calories and increase health, I just hope Mars doesn't do this wrong.  As I've written in many reviews, ratio in a chocolate bar, or any candy, is a very important factor.  When a company shrinks a treat they can sometimes destroy the ratio balance and therefore ruin the treat.  For example, if your bar is nougat covered in chocolate, if you shrink the nougat and keep the same thickness of chocolate, you'll ruin the subtle taste of the nougat with too much chocolate.  I'll be watching you Mars, you better do this right.

What's Happening At Candy Critic - We just finished a fun review-a-thon featuring treats from Israel.  It's funny, whenever someone sends me treats from a place I've never been, it always makes me want to go.  I think it's because so many countries, all over the world, have very unique ideas when it comes to candy.  When I taste these treats I'm interested in trying more, and exploring the candy stores, bakeries, and coffee shops for myself.

Rant - As I've mentioned before in this blog, I'm starting to get advertising and notices about Easter.  While getting them before Valentines Day is a little disturbing, I'm more than happy to take them in and I'll probably start a selection of Easter links on this blog.  Today I realized something, what about St Patrick's Day?  Why do so many holidays, many of which have no real connection to candy, get sweet treats, but not St Patrick's Day?  I'll be honest, I'm not even sure I know of any "Irish" candy.  So I want to find some uniquely Irish candy and try and celebrate the right way.

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The Last Day Of The Israeli Candy Review-a-Thon

I have noticed that the entire week of reviews has been chocolate bars.  I've also noticed that many of these bars contain wafers.  I'm not saying that Israel only has wafer bars, frankly other than what people tell me I'm not really sure of the variety of bars available.  I can tell you however that the range of wafer bars available seems to be pretty good, with some great bars, and some not so great bars.

Click here to read the last review of our Israeli candy review-a-thon.

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The Second Last Treat In Our Israeli Candy Review-a-Thon

Well Michal came through (after a little internet trouble) and fixed all of the translations on our past Israeli review-a-thon entries.  I have to admit that I had a really fun time trying to translate them, and in doing so, I discovered that some of these treats are actually available in North America (just in case you're tempted to try one yourself). I also have to say that I'm really proud of myself for getting a couple of them right.

Click here to check out the second last, and most creative, treat in our Israeli candy review-a-thon.

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The Israeli Review-a-thon Is Great Fun

It's been an interesting challenge to attempt to get the names of these treats even close to right.  I've been re-assured that they're right when I look up a few of these treats online and find them for sale on Amazon.  Today's treat I'm fairly certain that I got the name wrong, but I haven't been able to figure out a few of the letters on the package and all I can get is the word "Spoon".

Click here to read the latest review in our Israeli candy review-a-thon.

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They Call It "Hump Day" but I Call It Another Review Day

Of all of the reviews that I've done for this Israeli review-a-thon, so far, this is the bar that I would love to eat again most of all.  I don't want to give too much away on this review, but I'm considering trying to get my hands on a whole case of these.

Click here to read about this awesome bar in our Israeli candy review-a-thon.

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It's Number 3 In This Weeks Israeli Candy Review-a-Thon

So far, I have to say that Israeli candy is very diverse.  I love some of it, and some of it... well you can read today's review.  I can't say that I've tasted anything shockingly gross so far, but I can say that I've tasted a few treats that aren't to exceptional.  The good news is, most of the treats I have tried are good, some even very good.  I'm glad I have this opportunity to check out an un-explored (for me) candy market.

Click here to read today's addition to the Israeli candy review-a-thon.

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The Second Israeli Bar Review In Our Review-a-Thon

Yesterday I had a few changes in the translation of the bar.  Fortunately I have some readers that are always nice enough to show me the way.  I should mention that if you see a spelling, or translation mistake anywhere on this page, I'd be very thankful if you pointed it out.  Not only do I not speak every language on earth, but I'm also bad at spelling and grammar at the best of times.

Click here to read the latest review.

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Part 1 of Our Israeli Review-a-Thon

The first thing I should point out is my complete inability to translate the names of these candies.  If you happen to notice a problem, please let me know.  On the flip side, if you happen to notice that the names of these treats is correct, some heavy duty praise would be nice too.  I have to say that I'm having a really good time with these bars, some are really surprising, in both the good and bad way.

Click here to read the review of our first treat in our Israeli review-a-thon.

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Next Week's Review-a-Thon is Planned

I'd like to say that next week's Israeli candy review-a-thon came to me with great thought and research, but frankly it was handed to me in a bag, literally.

My great friend Michal went back home for a visit and couldn't leave without making sure that Candy Critic will properly represent the treats available in Israel.  Not only do I get to try some treats from a part of the world I've never been, but I also get to try treats that have wrappers that I have no way of reading.  Fortunately Michal has agreed to help translate a few, but only after I've tasted them.  As a bonus, these treats might also unlock the secret of a well loved British chocolate bar.

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Cadbury Is Coming Back to Israel

Apparently in 2002 Cadbury attempted to enter the market in Israel but failed.  I guess with Kraft at the helm and a strong performance on bringing in some gum products they've decided that they might try it again in 2012. I'm glad they're trying to expand, it's one of the good points that I feel the Cadbury/Kraft merger can really build on.  Hopefully Cadbury will continue distributing a high quality product to all kinds of new places, like the USA... or Greece maybe?

Click here to read more about Israel.

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Cadbury In Israel

My two favorite bits of candy news that I read are either about small candy shops being successful or new treats crossing borders into new lands. Both put a huge smile on my face.

Click here to read about Cadbury venturing into Israel.

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Israeli Candy Available in Walmart

I'm not sure what the angle is from Walmart. Are they trying to be more global to bring in new flavours from all over the world, or are they importing inexpensive treats from other countries in an attempt to cut costs. Either way if I find them on the shelf I'll give one a try, but I'm skeptical.

Click here to read about the Israeli treats in US Walmarts.

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