Unlikeliest Of Flavour Combinations

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that strawberry, chocolate and vanilla together is the most common flavour trio in the world. I can't think of many cultures that don't have at least one or two treats with this flavour combination. Oddly, I don't actually know where this flavour came from, other than possibly Italy (based on the name). I'm not sure if ice cream was the first time it was used. It's objectively an odd flavour combination, unless you break the flavours into pairs. Then you realize that in pairs these flavours are pretty common, but all together it just seems a little weird. The thing is, it works.

Check out my latest strawberry, chocolate and vanilla treat review.

Japanese Sugar

On a recent trip to a Japanese grocery store I came across a collection of flavoured sugars. While I can’t read the packages my assumption is that you’re supposed to sprinkle this sugar onto toast (likely with butter) to give plain toast a sweet boost. While I think this is a good idea, I feel like there’s more you can do with these sweet sprinkles, and toast is only the beginning. So I picked up 3 of the flavours and I’ve decided to do a taste test and not only see which is best, but which one works beyond toast.

To get started I figured I would taste test them with toast as intended.

The first flavour I picked up was Melon-Pan. Now I don’t have a history of enjoying melon flavoured... well.. anything, but the one exception is Melon-Pan (or melon buns) from Japan. I not only enjoy these melon flavoured buns, but I seek them out every time I visit Japan. The main reason I love them is that they really only have a hint of melon, and the rest is a wonderful buttery flavour.

This Melon-Pan Toast flavour on the other hand is very melon heavy. I’ll be honest, I was kind of expecting this, but I figured I’d give it a try anyways. I’m sure if you slathered your toast with even more butter the flavour would die down a bit, but at this point I find it to be a little too melon forward for my liking.

Next I decided to try the Vanilla Sugar flavour. This one seemed like the simplest of them all and also seemed to be the most versatile. It even feels like the kind of sugar sprinkle you could use for baking in a pinch. The real trick of this particular sugar is that the quality of the vanilla has to be fairly good for it to work. A cheap/fake vanilla flavour might be a little off putting.

On toast the vanilla seems pretty good. I’m not entirely confident that it’s pure vanilla extract, but I feel like it might be a blend of fake and real vanilla. There appears to be some black spots in it, which could be vanilla bean. The flavour works well on this toast, however I wonder if the flavour of the whole wheat bread is helping it out a bit.

Finally I went with the most ambitious of all of these sugar sprinkles, Caramel Cinnamon. This is either going to be the best of the bunch, or it might disappoint. The flavours are fairly common with this kind of treat, after all cinnamon and sugar is probably the oldest sweet toast powder out there. I’m just worried that they might over do it and it might just be overly sweet.

On the toast this one kind of disappoints. The problem isn’t the cinnamon, but the caramel. In hindsight I should have thought about that before getting it. Caramel is really just a form of sugar, and hardened caramel can sometimes just taste like brown sugar. If you don’t burn the caramel a little in this case, the flavour can be too subtle and lost. That’s pretty much what we have here, it really just tastes like cinnamon sugar. Not that it’s a bad thing, but there’s nothing really special about it.

Now it’s time to expand the tasting and see if these sugar sprinkles work on other foods. I decided to start with apples.

The Melon-Pan sugar just didn’t work at all. I thought maybe there would be a hope, since they’re both fruit, but the melon is just too fake a flavour and it really clashes with the real apple. I’ll be honest, I don’t have much hope for the Melon-Pan at this point, but I’ll keep trying.

The vanilla is fine, but with the real apple flavour it seems to highlight how strong or possibly fake the vanilla flavour is. Again, I’m fairly certain there’s real vanilla in these sugar sprinkles, but I’m not convinced it’s all real vanilla. There’s just something odd about the flavour of this apple and the vanilla.

Cinnamon, sugar and apples, it’s a match made in heaven, and works here as well. It’s a fine flavour combination that’s been around forever. Again, the caramel doesn’t really come through, but I really enjoyed this as it was anyways.

I’ve decided to stay with fruit, and I went for a banana next.

Melon-Pan didn’t really have a hope of working with a banana. I guess if you really like this fake melon flavour, and don’t really like bananas, then you might enjoy this. The melon flavour is just too strong and doesn’t work with the banana, but covers it up instead.

The Vanilla is surprisingly good. I’ve used banana and vanilla together in baking, but I’ve never thought of just putting vanilla on a banana before. It’s doing what vanilla often does in baking and making the banana taste a little better.

I thought the Caramel Cinnamon would work, but I’m wrong. I can taste the banana, and I can taste the cinnamon (still no real caramel flavour) but at no point do they really merge into their own flavour combination. It’s as if they’re each fighting to be the dominant flavour, rather than working together.

Popcorn seems to make sense... right?

I’ll be honest, I don’t hold much hope for the Melon Pan sugar. It’s not surprising that melon flavoured popcorn isn’t that great. As I’ve said before, if you like fake melon flavour maybe you’ll like this, but I do not. I didn’t have much hope of this tasting good and I was rewarded as expected.

While the Melon may not be great, the Vanilla keeps surprising me. As it turns out, vanilla popcorn kind of works. Like the banana, the vanilla doesn’t just add a flavour, but it seems to bring up the original flavour of the popcorn. I’ve said it before, but I believe vanilla is the most important flavour in all of snacks and candy. This latest experiment is only proving it more true.

The Caramel Cinnamon was fine. I would not be disappointed if I was given a bowl of this popcorn, but I’m not sure I’d ever order it myself. The biggest problem is one that’s been happening this entire time, and that’s the lack of caramel. My popcorn was a little sweeter with a hint of cinnamon. Tasty enough, but nothing worth shouting about.

Melon is the last hope.

I’m pretty sure that you can guess that I decided to try using a melon in hopes that it might merge or even improve the real melon. Unfortunately it does not. It also disproves a theory I had about why I don’t like most fake melon flavoured treats. I used to believe that the key to a melon flavour working the refreshing texture you get with a real melon. However after tasting this I don’t believe that to be true anymore. The fake melon flavour is not improved with a real melon texture.

Vanilla is continuing to be the super hero of this taste test. I thought that it might be fine, but it’s actually blowing away the competition. I’m starting to think that I might start keeping a jar of vanilla flavoured sugar on hand, just to improve all kinds of snacks. While the melon wasn’t my favourite treat, it was improved with a little vanilla.

Cinnamon just doesn’t really work with melon. I don’t think I was expecting it to, but I might have been hoping to be pleasantly surprised. While it wasn’t gross, it also wasn’t great.

What Are The Most Common Ice Cream Toppings

I think the debate about what ice cream toppings are the best would run forever, with no winner ever announced. This is mostly because the best ice cream toppings are very subjective. The real question is what are the most common ice cream toppings, particularly when we're talking about store bought ice cream treats. While I haven't done any real research on this subject, my guess is chocolate and peanuts. Peanuts might be losing favour these days with so many people having allergies, but I still think chocolate and peanut with a vanilla ice cream is probably still very popular. The next question is why are these ingredients so popular. Is it because people really love them, or is it because it's simple and less expensive?

Check out my latest ice cream review featuring peanuts, chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

Visualize You or Someone You Love in This Shirt

Vincent the Vulture T-Shirt
by candycritic

 I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "V", this one will make the perfect gift.

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A History Of Vanilla

 This is one of the best explanations of the history of vanilla I've ever seen.

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I'm Feeling Cake Like Today - Twiggies "Cream Dream Vanilla"

I realized something while writing this review of an obvious Twinkies rip off, I've never actually reviewed regular Twinkies. It seems like an obvious treat that someone like me should be reviewing, but here we are many years into this project and I still don't have a Twinkies review. I'm not sure when I'll have a review either, mostly because right now I'm not living in North America, and believe it or not, Twinkies are pretty hard to find in most parts of the world. Just remember that when you're making an obscure Twinkies reference on the Internet, there's a huge number of people who have no idea what you're talking about.

Click here to read the rip off review.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as I'm sure I'll post the minute I finally review the real Twinkies.

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Our Second Kit Kat Review This Week Is Unique, And We Have Video To Prove It - Kit Kat "Vanilla Ice Cream"

This is really one of the most unique ideas I've ever seen for a candy bar, ever. There are a few bars, like the Charleston Chew which improves depending on the temperature you eat it. This however, might be the first bar that improves after you bake it. The downfall is you have to wait for  it to bake before eating it, the advantage is that it really works well afterwards. You just might want  to be careful about eating a chocolate bar right out of the oven, they're really hot.

Click here to read about this crazy Kit Kat bar.

You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Check it out, we did this review live on Periscope (@candycritic) and posted a video on YouTube! Make sure to follow us to keep up with all our new live reviews.

P.S. Don't forget to join us on Patreon for all kinds of great extra content.

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This Asian Ice Cream Goes From Happy To Sad - Mr Triple

The  reason this treat takes you from happy to sad is the fact that the first 4 or 5 bites are pretty good, maybe one of the best ice cream treats I've had in a while. Then as you get to the halfway point the quality drops a little, and when you're down to the last third it's pretty disappointing. I know that's a lot of fractions for you to work out on and ice cream treat, and I apologies.

Click here to find out why this ice cream treat disappointed me at the end.

Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with this week's Asian ice cream review-a-thon.

You can also follow the review-a-thon on Google+, but judging by our numbers you wont.

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Candy In The Media

Whenever I travel I seem to come across an inordinate amount of Polish television channels, I'm not sure why this is.  However, I'm always delighted with the kinds of commercials they have on these channels.  I think I find them more entertaining because I don't speak the language and therefore have no idea what's going on. Recently I've starting seeing this commercial on fairly regularly basis and each time I see it I giggle out loud.  I'm not sure why I love this commercial, only because there's so much to love.

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Candy News

What's your favorite marshmallow in Lucky Charms?  How about Rudolph heads?

Candy is starting to make a scene in high class restaurants, what treat would you like to see in a 5 star eatery?

I don't really like spicy food, but now I understand it a little better.

Did you know that they first started selling Girl Scout cookies in 1917?  Here's some more facts about these awesome cookies.

According to a recent study, peanuts are really a good thing to eat, even if they're covered in candy.

OREO cookies and 3D print technology equals the future of cookies, and it looks fantastic.

The Huffington Post claims that there are "16 Reasons Chocolate Is Obviously Superior To Vanilla", I disagree.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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Candy News

"The price of chocolate to triple" in price... This means your chocolate bars will either get expensive or lower in quality.

Why do chocolate prices soar?  Sometimes it's because of a bad crop, sometimes times it's because of high demand.

China isn't the only place eating more chocolate, as it turns out North American's are eating more dark chocolate too.

It's good thing people are eating more dark chocolate, because there's even more evidence that it's good for you.

There's eating retro candy, and then there's this.

If you're a visual artist and a fan of potato chips, you should watch this video.

Last week I wrote a short piece about popcorn being the most popular snack in the world, the Smithsonian wrote a more detailed piece about the history of popcorn at the movie theater.

Why you might like junk food, personally I can take it or leave it... Nope I can't leave it at all.

My friend Jonathan's two favorite things are beer and dessert, now he can know how to pair them perfectly.

You may not want to banter around words like "vanilla" anymore.

Do you like bananas?  How do you feel about ice cream?  What if you could have the best of both worlds?

To think my mother wanted me to stop playing with my food, who would have thought there would be a career in it.

Do you eat too much junk food?  I'm not sure if I do or not, either way here's a way to cut down a little.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Crispello Vanilla Velvet - Cadbury - I like the idea of the Crispello in a vanilla flavour. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Thursday's Candy Links

Did you know that the word Vanilla is a dirty word?

Ghirardelli is releasing some special edition chocolate bars in celebration of the city that loves them.

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It's National Vanilla Custard Day!!!

I love custards, and I love vanilla, so today is a pretty good day to be alive.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Milky Way French Vanilla & Caramel - Mars - French vanilla is a great flavour, and it might work well with Milky Way - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Creativity in a Box

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 is an article is all about a great experience I had, in my first ice cream of the summer.

Spring is coming, and whenever I get even the slightest sense that warm weather is on the way, I want ice cream. Normally I treat myself to a cone at an ice cream shop, and I crown that moment “the first ice cream of the year”. It’s ceremonial, more than based in any kind of reality, because I’ve likely had several ice cream treats in the winter. But this is just me, telling the world, that my ice cream intake is about to go up.

This year, I decided that I’m going to play this ceremony out a little differently. This year, my “first ice cream of the year” is going to be from a box instead of an ice cream parlor or truck. Why do you ask? Well, aren’t we the question machine, I say. Then I say  “I’ve found the coolest (oh man, puns already) ice cream gimmick in history”.

Sure, I’ve eaten some crazy flavours in my life. Anything from the many flavours of Ben and Jerry’s to red bean ice creams from Japan. This gimmick goes beyond the realm of strange flavours; this gimmick is about the look more than the flavour. Chapman’s Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream is checker-filled. Oh yes, I said checkers. This can only be fun.

I’ll be honest. When I first opened the box I was a little freaked out; it appeared that it was only stripped. Now don’t go thinking I’m an idiot - I checked all the sides and they were all striped too, in the same direction. I can’t really explain that any better but trust me, I did the math. Then I read a label on the side. It said, “Slice don’t scoop to reveal the checkers.” All I can say is that hope was restored.

Brilliant, I say! This was great. Sure, the ice cream was really basic and full of air, but I had checkers. That, and it encouraged me to eat ice cream by the slice rather than the scoop. I like it when a gimmick changes the way I think about something I know very well.

This was truly a great first ice cream treat of the year. It made me think about how much fun I’m going to have the rest of the summer; made me remember playing baseball in the park; made me… well ... want another slice.

Well, I'd better go now. My second slice is melting, and although I love all you guys, I’m pretty sure the checkers won’t work in ice cream soup.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Baci White Truffles  - Perugina - It is said to be flavoured with "vanilla scented white chocolate" and that intrigues me. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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It's national vanilla pudding day!!!!

One of my favorite ways to enjoy pudding is in its frozen state.  While vanilla is not my favorite flavour of pudding, I do think it's the more important, and the most versatile.  While chocolate and butterscotch pudding tastes great, vanilla pudding really mixes well with other ingredients, like cookies, and fruit.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Lindor Vanilla Truffles  - Lindt - I like vanilla a lot, it's really the ultimate flavour - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Friday's Candy Links

The psychology of the candy you eat, and what it says about you as a person.

Apparently there might be a shortage of vanilla beans... EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

Dylan, from New York's Dylan's Candy Bar, talks about living and working in New York.

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