So Weird, But In A Good Way

There are two kinds of unique candy out there. There's candy that's weird by design, constructed to make you wonder what's going on. Then there's candy that's unique because it's culturally different than what you might expect. I like both, but I find that few candy makers can construct weird or unique candies well. It takes years to perfect a candy, and trying to make it very different and good takes a lot of time. Unique because I'm not familiar with it culturally is different because it's very possible that it's been around for longer than I (or even my grandparents) have been alive. This means that it'll be new to me, but perfected over time.

Check out my latest unique candy review.

10 Second Kitchen - Street Candy in Hanoi, Vietnam

 Watching a skilled candy maker create a beautiful treat in Hanoi, Vietnam.

10 Second Kitchen - Coconut Candy on Unicorn Island, Vietnam

 Watching the machines turn the coconut and sugar to make tasty coconut candy on Unicorn Island in Vietnam.

Chocolate Gimmicks?

Whenever I travel I always seem to discover odd treats in airports. The theme of these odd treats is often "a popular snack found in this country, covered in chocolate". If you're in a place known for bananas, you'll find dried bananas covered in chocolate, if you're in a place known for apples, apples covered in chocolate. The weird thing about these chocolate covered treats is that often they're only found in airports. It's not like these chocolate covered delights are found in actual local stores, just overpriced airport gift shops. Honestly, I don't often buy them, but on a few occasions they're just so weird that I can't resist.

Check out a recent airport find that was a chocolate covered treat worth sampling... kind of.

Junk Fud on the Road - Vietnam

In this episode of Junk Fud on the Road Allison and Chris talk about their recent trip to Vietnam. They traveled (on the ground) from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi and ate all kinds of amazing treats. 

Coconut Candy Making

One of the benefits of doing a website about candy is the number of times I’ve been invited/gone to candy making facilities. Some of the places I’ve visited are giant factories while other times it’s a place that’s smaller than my kitchen. I can’t say I’ve ever had a bad experience at a candy makers domain, so when given the opportunity I never turn it down. On a recent trip to Vietnam I was given the opportunity to visit a really fascinating place that makes coconut candy.

The most interesting part of this factory is that it’s not very big, yet they do so much. They literally start with whole coconuts, with the husks and all and finish with a packaged candy. The first step in making these coconut candies is getting the coconut out of husks. You often hear about candy makers using local ingredients, these local ingredients are literally grown just outside the factory, harvested and brought in to be husked. Best of all, they use each and every part afterwards as well.

After clearing out the meat of the coconut they send it to this machine that basically gives you ground coconut on one end and coconut milk on the other. This is the kind of machine I could watch all day, and frankly I’m not entirely sure how it performs it’s magic.

The other good thing about a candy making facility like this is that there’s no secrets. The ingredient list is two things, coconut and malt (for sweetening). The malt is brought in separately, they don’t have a facility to make that, but the coconut and malt are mixed together and heated up. One of the sources for the fire to heat the candy mixture is actually the coconut husks.

After the coconut and malt mixture is cooked and has turned into a taffy like consistency, it’s spread out on a table, flattened and cut into strips. The strips are then cut into small squares using the most intense large knife I’ve ever seen in a candy kitchen.

As a note, this is the best time to sample this candy, fresh off the line.

After it’s cooled a bit, it’s sorted and sent off to the packaging machine. Fortunately the candies that don’t fit the right size and shape are also available as more samples.

Watching people make candy from the raw ingredients until they’re packed in a bag is pretty amazing. It not only shows great skill, but also great care. If you every find yourself on Unicorn Island in the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam, why not watch them make some coconut candy.

Wednesday's Candy Links

Denny's is offering a new special at their Las Vegas restaurant, it's called a wedding, and it doesn't come "smothered or covered".

This past weekend I was feeling pretty under the weather... maybe I should have eaten a chocolate bar.

According to a study, if I say "Women, chocolate will make you fat", then a large number of women will actually eat more chocolate.  According to my own personal study, "academics can get a grant to research just about anything".

In Vietnam, locally made Vietnamese candies are starting to gain in popularity.  I'm curious because I can't say I've ever tried any Vietnamese candy.

CC

Thursday's Candy Links

Here's a quick look at the candy industry in Vietnam, I'd love to do a Vietnamese candy review-a-thon in the future.

Tostitos has a new mascot, it's a bag of talking Tostitos, I'm still not sure how I feel about spokes people being the thing you eat.

Cybele from the candy blog just got back from Germany, it sounds like she had a really good time and saw a lot of great sweet treats.

Cybele also checked out the Ritter Sport factory on her adventure.

CC