New Junk Fud and You!

 In this episode of Junk Fud And You I talk about the balancing act that all candy companies have to achieve, do you make your candy durable or do you make it delicious.

Candy In The Media

As it turns out, generic might not be much worse than regular, but not always.

CC

Finding Chocolate in Belgium

Many foods popular in Belgium are not at all foreign to the Canadian palate, including French fries, waffles, and of course chocolate. Although they did not invent chocolate, its use for confections is a skill that the Belgians have mastered, arguably above any country in the world.  So when you visit the land that made chocolate great, what should you try?

The first thing you should know is that you don't have to worry about trying to find a great Belgian chocolate experience; there are plenty of opportunities.  The main problem you might find is fixating on one particular type of chocolate and not going out to experience others.  You could find yourself stepping out of your hotel room, stopping at the first chocolate shop you find, tasting a sample, and then spending all of your chocolate money in that one shop because the quality is just that good.  This is a mistake.  If you want to truly enjoy the Belgium chocolate experience the key is to spread out and buy in moderation at several shops.

The biggest problem with buying chocolates in Belgium is the overwhelming number of brands to choose from.  On the main square in Brussels alone, there are at least four shops, and down each street you'll find many more.  You don't have to sweat your choice that much; just about anywhere you buy your chocolate you will get a very high quality product.  That's not to say that there are no differences between each shop, they each just have a specialty that serves a different taste.

The two main categories of chocolates you'll find in these shops are hand made, and mass-produced.  Most people tend to gravitate towards the hand made and avoid the mass produced, or so you might think.  In fact after talking to several shop owners I discovered that the mass-produced chocolate outsells the hand made chocolate.  This happens because people want to take sweets home to friends and family and the price difference between these two types of chocolates is very extreme.  A box of mass produced, high quality, chocolates can cost you as little as 5 or 6 Euros for more than a dozen chocolates.  A high quality chocolate will often be sold by weight and can cost you between 70 cents and 1.50 Euros for an individual chocolate.

There are two distinctive kinds of stores when it comes to the high quality chocolates.  There are large chains, such as Neuhaus, Godiva, and Leonidas, which are based here in Belgium but sell all over the world.  And then there are smaller shops, and small chains of shops that only sell in Belgium such as Mary's and Loretta. The prices in these shops don't vary too much, but you'll often find that the large shops will carry their regular products that you find all over the world, along with special hand made treats only available at these stores.  The smaller stores may only sell their own products, but some may also carry some of more mainstream chocolates as well.

Finding chocolate stores in Belgium is a fairly simple task; most of the stores are crowded around the main squares in each town or city.  In Brussels the Grand Place and in the Galerie Hubert have many stores producing hand made chocolates as well as a few stores selling mass produced chocolates.  To tell them apart all you have to do is walk around the store.  If you notice bars (or as they call them tablets) made by large companies such a Cote' Dor or Godiva, then chances are the contents of the shop are the mass produced chocolates.  Companies like Godiva, NeuHause, and Leonidas, have many shops all around these areas as well, and they often feature their own bars, which can sometimes be mass-produced.

There are smaller stores outside of the main tourist areas, but they may be hard to find.  The advantage of these little out of the way shops is if you do find them you'll often get the greatest service and some very fine chocolates.  If you happen to forget to pick up a few treats for friends and family just before you leave, don't worry.  Many hotels have chocolate shops in the lobbies, and the airport is full of chocolate shops as well.

Now that you know a little about what kind of chocolate shops can be found in Belgium, the question is how do you pick the perfect chocolate?  My method is simple, fun, and will guarantee a great chocolate selection.  Take your time and sample, don't let the store clerks intimidate you into buying full boxes right off the bat, instead walk around the city, enjoy visiting the sites, and sample from as many chocolate shops as you can.  Many, but not all shops, may offer you free samples, don't be shy and take them.  If they don't offer samples, then invest a Euro and pick one chocolate that appeals to you.  Spend a day or two just visiting sites and sampling treats, then after you've sampled as many chocolates as you possibly can, and you're a chocolate connoisseur, go back to your favorite places and pick up a box or two for home.  Don't buy too much, since most of the fine chocolates will drop in quality when stored for long periods of time, some can go off in as little as a few days.

The best tip I can suggest when you're either sampling or making your final purchases is to ask for help, in fact, I've found that my favorite shops always have very good staff.  If the staff isn't helpful and knowledgeable, then it might be a sign as to the quality of the chocolate.  Every store I visited that had excellent products had a knowledgeable and helpful staff.  The staff at Mary's in particular knew every single detail about the chocolates being sold as well as a keen general knowledge about chocolate.

In many shops you might find chocolates filled with all kinds of flavor combinations, from black pepper, hot peppers, fruits, and salts. Seasonal treats and new flavors are also something to look out for when choosing chocolates.  The shops that include seasonal products in their chocolates, are a special treat, and are a sign of an expert and creative chocolatier.  If fancy flavors don't appeal to you, you can be sure to find chocolates in fun shapes for every season and occasion as well.  Including some that are rather risque, and many stores have their own rendition of the famous Brussels statue of the Manneken Pis(the famous statue of the little boy peeing).

Before you overdose on hand made chocolates, make sure to sample all the forms of chocolate available as well.  One of the most popular ways to enjoy chocolate can be found in the “Gaufre au Chocolat”, but you might know them better as a Belgian waffle with chocolate.  There are many places to get these fine treats as well as many different toppings to enjoy.  My personal favorite is the simple drizzle of fine Belgian chocolate, it's a taste experience you can't miss.  Belgian chocolate also produces one of the finest hot chocolates you could ask for.  It's a great way to warm up on a cool day with a fine pastry sitting in a cafe watching the world go by.

To try and find the “best” chocolate in Belgium is a task that no one person could ever do.  To attempt to find the “best” chocolate in Belgium will guarantee one of the best vacations for any chocolate lover.  This city is truly a place where one can spend the whole day wandering through twisting streets, seeing great sights, and over indulging on chocolate in all its splendor.  No matter what your chocolate tastes might be, you will find something that will blow your socks off and send you into chocolate bliss.

CC

Should Candy Be Healthy?

This is a debate that has been going on for years in the candy industry, and I don't think it will ever be over.  Candy companies want you to eat their candy, if you decide that you want to eat only healthy foods, then they will either change their candy, or market their candy, to appear more healthy.  Sometimes, like in the case of this week's new review, health food companies will try to make their healthier item, seem more like candy.  In these cases you get vitamin infused treats, and snacks that are built around getting you to eat something that may not be in your diet.  Personally I don't really care how "healthy" my candy is, I want it to be tasty and that's all.  Don't get me wrong, I think you should eat right, but when you lessen the quality of a candy for the sake of making it healthier, you're giving up the whole point.  You should be eating candy because you want an indulgence, if you take away the quality of that indulgence, you wont be satisfied.  If you increase the quality of that indulgence you'll be satisfied quicker.

Click here to read today's health food crossover candy.

CC

It's National Chocolate Caramel Day!!!

This is probably the most classic of candy combinations, but is it overused?  I think it might be used improperly, but really I can't get enough of chocolate and caramel together.  The problem I find with this combination is the quality of many of the ingredients.  So many times have I sampled chocolate and caramel together and discovered that one or both of the ingredients are cheaply made and gross.  If you want to impress with this simple combination, quality is the key.

CC

Old Candy Critic Articles - The 12 Candies of Christmas Part 2

I've decided to take down several old articles from the candycritic.org and re-post them here on the Candy Critic blog.  This article I've decided to re-post a little differently.  Since it's a special post for Christmas, the 12 days of Christmas in particular, I've decided to split it up into 12 parts and count down the days till the fat guy's going to bring me some sweet gifts.

'Tis the season to eat candy fa la la la la la la laaaaaa. As we all know Santa's Sack includes candy, and you know it's always what I want for Christmas. The question, with all of the Christmas candy out on the market, is which candy really says Christmas. Well in classic Candy Critic style we're going to tell you, and you better believe we're going to make it as cheesy as possible. Sooooooo.....

On the second day of Christmas (whenever that is) my true love gave to me......

A Chocolate Advent Calendar

Every day is like Christmas, at least the 24 days leading up to Christmas, with a cool treat like this. As far as fun Christmas candy goes, these advent calendars are great. Young or old alike love to pick up these things, and munch away till the holiday season. The only problem I really have with these has to be the quality of the chocolate. For some reason it's really hard to find a calendar with high quality treats inside. I might also be interested to have different types of chocolate for each day instead of just plain milk chocolate.

Well, no matter what the treat inside, when it comes to holiday excitement nothing gets you pumped-up like a chocolate advent calendar.

CC

Old Candy Critic Articles - The Higher the Expectations…

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'm posting an article Allison wrote about the disappointment she found in an no sugar added treat.

It’s no secret that I live a low-carb lifestyle. It’s also no secret that I loooooove chocolate, so I get my chocolate kicks from various “no sugar added” sources. Of these, I have to say my favourite is Hershey’s. They make lovely little chocolatey bars – regular, dark, and regular with little bitty pieces of almonds – and mini Reese’s peanut butter cups. The PB cups are a little drier than the regular cups, but still yummy. They all come individually wrapped in bags of about a dozen.

As for the bars, my favourites are most definitely the ones with the wee almonds. I like the little crunch, and I feel good to know that I’m getting a bit of protein with my snack. Win-win situation, I think. Except for the fact that there have been repeated problems with these bars.

It started with a couple of bags I picked up last fall. One of the wrappers had no chocolate at all in it! It was sealed nicely, nestled in amongst its buddies, but was completely empty. I felt disappointed and deceived. In the very next bag I bought, one of the chocolates looked like it had a bite out of it. I called the Hershey’s customer service people, but they really didn’t seem to care at all. “Yeah, the machines will do that sometimes,” was the best I got out of them.

Isn’t this a quality control issue? Shouldn’t somebody be notified? Reluctantly, the customer service lady finally agreed to send me a coupon so that I could get a new bag. That was nice, but couldn’t she have assured me that my phone call helped improve quality, and that they’d take measures to fix things?

Maybe I’m glad she didn’t, because with higher expectations, disappointment is only greater. Now I’m dealing with two bags in a row of the “with almonds” wrappers, without even an atom of almond in sight. I keep unwrapping my little almond chocolate wrappers, only to find no almonds. Not even one little itty-bitty piece. I took a picture, but it does no justice at all to my distress. I guess if I expected that Hershey’s cared at all about quality control in their “no sugar added” line, I’d feel even worse.

Still, when you find the best thing out there and it still has its bad moments, it’s pretty crushing. But not crushed almonds – they’ve gone missing.

by Allison

Fresh Is An Unused Word

The other day I was walking by one of my local chocolate shops and I noticed something interesting on their sign.

The sign says that they offer "Fresh Belgian Chocolate".  This to me is a pretty amazing thing.  It's not amazing that they offer "Fresh" chocolate, it's amazing that more companies don't seem to care about how fresh their chocolate actually is.  In fact, most companies I know don't seem to worry that much about the freshness of their treats.  Sure a few have expiration dates, but many bars can be months old before they cross that line.  How come chocolate, an item that often contains products that do expire (milk most notably) rarely offers fresh products?  This should not just be a rare treat when you're buying chocolates, fresh chocolates should be more common, particularly in the fine box chocolate category.  In fact, un-fresh chocolate should be rare.

CC

How To Write About Chocolate Shops

So I've decided to start writing about candy stores I encounter all over the world.  In particular the candy stores that feature fine quality chocolates.  The problem I have is I'm not really sure how to go about it.

I'm very familiar with reviewing individual treats, I've been doing it for a few years now.  The thing that always stumps me is when I go into a fine chocolate shop and I'm faced with a million choices of hand made delights.  I often ask for help on picking the "best treat" but that generally gets me a sales pitch and not necessarily the best treat.  I've thought about picking one type of treat to get at these places, but that seems pretty dull.  It also eliminates any creativity score this store might earn.  So without spending a fortune, how should I pick the treats that I'm going to write about at these fine chocolate shops?

The other problem I come across is assessing the looks of the store.  Certain things are easy to asses, such as cleanliness, decorations, and customer service.  But what about variety?  Some shops have a million different treats, while other only have a few.  Sometimes stores with a million choices only have one or two good ones, while the store with only one or two choices has nothing but great treats.  Does one fault a store for not having variety, or does one fault a store for not having great quality?

These are things I really have to think about over the next few weeks.  I'd love to hear what others think, and I think I'll do some research myself (that involves going to lots of fine chocolate shops).

CC

Soccer Chocolate Challenge

Football (or as they call it in North America soccer) is a pretty big deal here in Greece.  They love the sport and the fanaticism for the local teams is overwhelming.  In Athens (where I live) there are three main teams, and the whole city is divided as to which team to root for.  Since arriving I've been pressured by many friends to choose a team, and I better choose correctly.  I've decided that as the Candy Critic, I should let candy make that choice for me.  Each team has an official candy bar, each decorated in team colours.  So I'm going to choose my team based on which bar I prefer.  I'm well aware that these bars might in fact be exactly the same, if that's the case, I'm going to skip the idea of following any team and just cheer on the national basketball team instead.

Olympiacos - Olympiacos is the most successful club in Greek football history, having won 38 League titles, 24 Greek Cups and 4 Greek Super Cups, more titles than any other Greek team and it is one of four teams that have never been relegated from the first division (Wikipedia). Chocolate wise I can't say that Olympiacos couldn't win any candy championships at all. I would like to call this bar a "chocolate" bar, but that's being too kind, it's more like a brown piece of wax that has a slight chocolate flavour.  Unless the other two bars actually make me ill, I can't see this bar winning.

Panathinaikos - Founded in 1908, they play in the Super League Greece and are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Greek football history (Wikipedia).  This competition is not looking good at all.  I won't say that the Panathinaikos bar is worse than the Olympiacos bar, but it's certainly no better.  Cheap chocolate with no flavour, this is not a good day to be a soccer fan in Greece.

AEK Athlitiki Enosis Konstantinoupoleos (the Athletic Union of Constantinople) - Established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War, AEK has grown to become a fairly successful club in Greek football, winning 30 national titles (Wikipedia).  You can say that you learned a few things about Greek soccer today.  You learned a few statistics from three of the most popular soccer teams in Athens, and you also learned that each team allows their names to be associated with very low quality products.  This bar, was exactly like the first two, and all of them were absolutely horrible.  It's a shame that these teams don't take their licencing a little more seriously.  If one of them had worried about quality they would have gained a fan today.  Instead the Greek national basketball team has one a new fan.  That is unless they also produce low quality chocolate treats, in that case I may have to turn to cricket instead.

CC

The Best Local Chocolate

Here in Athens there are so many local chocolate companies it would take a lifetime to taste them all.  I’ve even written about one particular street down town (that I call chocolate street) that has dozens of chocolate stores in one block.

The thing about local chocolate companies is I find they can be split into two categories.  One is the great local company that produces original treats using high quality ingredients.  The other is the company that uses average quality ingredients and pretty much produces the exact same kind of treats as everybody else.  Often these lower quality shops don’t even make 80% of their stock, the just sell factory made sweets.  I think I’m going to start an investigation here in Greece, I’m going to find out which shops are really doing creative work, and which are just slacking off. I welcome you to do the same thing in your town or city, and let me know what you discover.

CC

Nut Allergies

I just read a few articles about nut allergies, and I have to say I feel a little bad about myself.  I've been asked many times about what I think/do about treats filled with nuts, and my answer is generally nothing.  I've rarely voiced any opinions on the matter and after reading these articles I'm thinking I should.  In fact, these articles have changed my opinion, a little.  At first I thought that nut allergies were kind of a nuisance, and overblown in the media.  Then the more I thought about it, the more I thought that maybe it's something that candy manufactures could easily deal with.  Why not make your treat that contains no nuts, actually contain no nuts?  It says a lot about the effort into detail and quality if you can make sure your bar doesn't contain something that's not in the ingredients.

Click here to read about kids with nut allergies that are being mocked regularly.

Click here to read about a chocolate maker that didn't cut it when they said nut free.

CC

Like A Boss

I love the name "Boss" for an ice cream treat.  I don't know why, but it seems to have an heir of power, and that's not an easy thing for an ice cream bar to have.  The Boss ice cream collection are one in many new ice cream treats that really seem to sell to those who have high standards in ice cream treats.  I'm not sure I'm totally on board with having an ice cream hierarchy, but I am happy to eat yummy ice cream treats, even fancy ones.

Click here to read the Boss review.

CC

So You Want Some Good Chocolate

There really is no way to say for sure if you have the best chocolate, as we know, it's all subjective.  However if we are to look at popular consensus, you might want to check out this list of the best Chocolatiers in the US.  The list is compiled by food critics, candy fans, and all kinds of people.

Click here to check out the list.

CC

Good Chocolate Melts

According to science that's just the way it's going to be forever.  A new study took a look at the melting points in chocolate and determined that you can't make a chocolate that doesn't melt.  So if you find yourself eating a chocolate bar on a warm summers day and it's not melting in your hands, well maybe it's just not chocolate.

Click here to read more.

CC

Women Descends Into Chocolate Snob

One of my biggest battles as the Candy Critic is to avoid turning into a chocolate snob, or any other kind of food snob really. With all of the types of treats I try, I get a huge range in qualities of chocolate, and candies.  Sometimes I find myself starting to prefer a particular type, or some might say quality, of treat.  The thing that gets me out of the snob rut is my obsession with variety.  If you put 500lbs of the best chocolate in front of me, I'd get bored of it, and I'd crave something more original.

Click here to read one womens transformation into chocolate snobbishness.

CC

Are You A Chocolate Snob?

I know that I am, and according to many facts and figures more and more people are becoming chocolate snobs.  Sales of high quality chocolates and chocolate treats are going through the roof all over the world.  Many say it's because of the global economic crisis (people can't spend on large things so items like candy do well), while I simply believe people are finally waking up to the greatness that is candy.

Click here to read about the great increase in the Scotland.

CC

Hershey's Is Heading To England

It's strange but on this blog I seem to focus on the idea of treats coming from England to the US and Canada as opposed to the other way around.  It's strange because British (and all Europeans) have a great sense for treats and might enjoy some new snacks.  The only problem I can see is the fact that European treats tend to be a lot smoother than US treats and I'm thinking the US companies might have to tweak their recipes overseas.

Click here to read about Hershey's coming to England.

CC

Chocolate Class

The article linked below is an interesting look at how chocolate is really starting to enter a new renaissance of sorts.  Both chocolate makers and chocolate eaters are really looking for a level of quality and creativity in their chocolate creations.  I've noticed a trend with people becoming more informed about their chocolate choices and not looking to the conventional choices (such as chocolate bars) for their chocolate fix.

Click here to read more.

CC

Can Big Companies Make Little Chocolates?

I have to admit that although I'm optimistic about the idea of large candy companies producing high quality treats on the level of small specialty chocolatiers I have yet to see it really happen. That's not to say that there are some large companies making really good high quality treats, it's just that almost every time I hear about a company "expanding" the quality goes down.

Click here to read more on the subject.

CC