This Week In Candy

We just finished up the new and improved Candy Critic Map.  The map is made up of two parts (and hopefully soon a third).  The first section lists some of our favorite candy shops and must see places (these are marked with the blue pins).  I've personally visited every single one of these places, and if you're anywhere near them I highly recommend checking them out.  The second section (marked with red markers) are countries around the world that I've visited, with a suggestion for the must taste candy, must try fast food, best food description in one word, and worst food description in one word.  You'll notice that the markers are on the capital city, but it's supposed to represent the whole country.  The next phase we hope to start will consist of your favorite places to get candies and sweet treats.  We're asking all of you to suggest sweet places people cannot miss.

You also may have noticed that we've officially started up the Giant Jawbreaker Challenge.  It's been a little slow going, but we're working on getting through that giant red jawbreaker one hour at a time.  I'm thinking of starting a betting pool as to how many hours it will take for me to get through it.  You can keep up with the day to day progress of  the Giant Jawbreaker challenge on Facebook, and Twitter.

Don't forget to check out our Instagram feed with our daily Snack Facts.  This week we've decided to give you a potpourri of facts featuring a whole assortment of treats.  You'll learn what's so unique about a Schweppes can, and how many years it took to put the holes in a fruit flavoured Life Savers candy.  Instagram is the main place to check this out, but you can also see our snack facts on our Twitter and Facebook feeds as well.

Next week we're going to have another review-a-thon.  That means that instead of just having one new candy review posted on Monday, there will be a new candy review posted every day.  For this review-a-thon we'll be looking at potato chips.  It's a controversial topic since many people have told me that chips aren't candy, and I shouldn't be reviewing them.  I tell these people, if you don't like it, start your own candy reviewing site, and don't review chips.

This week's review was from our good friends at Torie and Howard.  They make some fine hard candies, and we're always happy when they want to send us some new treats to review.  You can read this week's review of their Meyer Lemon and Raspberry candies right here.

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Gangs Might Have Sweet Teeth

According to an interesting study that examines gangs in the Los Angeles area and compares their turf to the location of places selling cupcakes.  It's a strange mash-up of information that will delight and surprise you I'm sure.

Click here to read more.

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New Au-Some Factory Opening

First of all I'd like to congratulate the folks in Sumter County for getting this plant.  It sounds like the town could really use a boost and a candy factory is a great way to get jobs and it's a fun place, after all it's a candy factory. I do have one question though, where the heck is Sumter County?  This is a little pet peeve of mine when I post articles on this site.  I read through the whole article and I still don't really know where this particular factory is opening.  I then try and investigate the source (in this case a local paper) and there's still no addresses, or anything that might tell me which state or near which city this paper might originate.  It's kind of frustrating.

Click here to read the article and see if you can guess where it's from.

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Two More Candy Stores To Mention

As I continue to plug any news or blog article that talks about a candy store, I thought I'd mention that I've decided to update the Candy Critic Map next month as well.  I'm going to start posting only candy stores that I've visited, and maybe give them a quick little preview.  I will not mention any stores that I've visited and didn't like, instead it's a kind of Candy Critic Approved list of places.  I will also except suggestions from other people that might want a certain candy store that they love on the map as well (I don't even mind if you own it).  I'll continue to post links to articles about any candy store that I read about here on the blog, in fact here's two links right now:

Here's the first article about a candy store I just read.

And here's another.

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Chocolate, Vancouver, and The Internet

This article I came across in the Vancouver Sun has some great information about chocolate, and the kind of chocolate that you can find in Vancouver.  I've actually never been outside of the airport in Vancouver and I kind of regret it.  It sounds like they really have the chocolate business down.  This article also talks about something called the Chocomap.  It's a website that shows you how to find a great chocolate shop wherever you might be.

Click here to read the article.

Click here to check out Chocomap.

Find Red

M&M's Canada has just started a new contest where one lucky winner could walk away with a new car.  The idea is that through their site using Google Street View one must attempt to find Red.  I checked out the site for a little while but I couldn't find Red anywhere.  I did however manage to find my favorite place to get burritos, my old apartment in Toronto, and my favorite hot do vendor.  Do I win a prize for that?

Click here to try and find Red yourself.

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Chocolate Shop In Napa

I've just been updating the "Candy Critic Map" to show all the great places around the world to buy chocolate, candy, ice cream, and sweet baked treats. I'll be updating it will all kinds of stores including this one I just read about in Napa.

Click here to read about the chocolate shop.

View Candy Critic in a larger map

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10 Best Candy Stores

I've been noticing many a web site listing off the 10 best candy stores, ice cream places, bakeries with sweet treats, and that sort of thing. I've been contemplating updating the candy map to be a listing of the best places in the world to get treats. Looks like I have yet another summer project.

Click here to read the top 10 list.

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Earth Day stuff

View Candy Critic in a larger map

Just to let everybody know, for Earth Day this year I updated the Candy Critic map. If you happen to know of something that might be missing please let me know. It’s a continues work in progress but I’m ok with it right now.

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