Gandhi Gum

I love it when people make art out of candy.

Found on Copyranter.

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Mars Is Going Green

First Cadbury started to go with more socially responsible chocolate, now it appears Mars is doing the same.  This is good news for the environment, and the kind of news I can get behind.  This is assuming that they don't lower the quality of their chocolate because they now have to pay more for the cocoa.

Click here to read more.

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Get a Chocolate Education

I just read an interesting article about a couple of people that decided to open the first ever Chocolate University.  It's a pretty clever idea and the folks that created the coarse seem to have the right credentials to teach on the subject.  I'm slightly tempted to give it a try myself.

Click here to read the article.

Click here to check out Choco-U

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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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Apollo Chocolate

As the horrible situation in Japan is unfolding, all I can think about is the great people I met last year while spending three months in Japan last summer.  Fortunately all of them seem to be safe and are coping with the situation.  For the next while, portions of the profits from Beware the Cheese photography will go towards helping out the people of Japan.

Click here to check out these prints and many others.

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Younger Audiences Don't Want Free Candy

According to a study young folks are not interested in samples anymore when it come to new foods.  Instead, apparently, they're more interested in learning about the company and in having personal engagement with the company.  All I can say about this is "What the heck!"  Seriously free samples, that means you get stuff... free.  What's wrong with this new generation, I wish they'd just wake up and see the world in some kind of reality, and I wish they'd get off my lawn!

Click here to read more about young folks.

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Old School Treats

It appears that the folks at Pepsi and Frito-Lay have decided to bring back some classic packages on their products.  This bag of Doritos looks so cool, and the case of  Mountain Dew also looks great.

Click here to read more about it and check out the gallery.

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Gummy Review Week Continues Another Day Still

The great thing about gummies is the fact that it can be made into just about any shape you can imagine.  This allows for such a huge amount of creativitiy.  Sure a few of the ideas don't really work, but for the most part they do.  This review is one of the few examples of it not really working.

Click here to read the review.

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"Candy Deal Gone Bad"

The article below doesn't really describe why this particular "candy deal went bad", but apparently arrests where made and candy was unlawfully exchanged.

Click here to read more.

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Beer and Chocolate Together

Just in time for St Patrick's Day a small chocolate maker in New York has combined beer into their selection of chocolates.  The chocolatier claims that the flavour of beer actually improves the the chocolate more than simply adding a flavour to it.  I'm convinced this could be true, but I guess I'll have to try it to be sure.

Click here to read more.

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No Candy For Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle, the now famous singer, has decided to give up chocolate and treats for lent.  Better still she's donating all of the money she's saved to charity.  Makes me wonder how much candy she eats if it's enough to make a donation to a charity.

Click here to read more.

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Kit Kat Store

I love it when a store commits to one particular chocolate bar.  It shows that they have an opinion and are willing to stand by it.

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What's Better Than Free Skittles

How about an entire vending machine full of Skittles.  Apparently Skittles has been giving away free vending machines full of Skittles to fans and friends all over the Internets.  I wonder if you still have to pay for the Skittles out of your own machine?

Click here to read more.

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Gummy Review Week Continues Still

Today's review, for the Candy Critic Gummy Review Week, is a really strange idea.  It's basically taking a popular snack and making it into a gummy.  I'm not sure why, or how, someone would come up with this, but who am I to complain... wait a minute, all I do is complain about candy.

Click here to read the review.

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Small Spreads

Nothing makes me happier than tiny packages of spreads.

I like them because to me nothing is better than the first dip into a freshly opened spread, be it jam, peanut butter, or in this case Nutella.

I also like them because they're often the best opportunity to try something new.  Take this package of Marmite for example.  I'd never tried Marmite, and I probably wouldn't have bought a whole jar.  Now that I've tasted it, I know that I will continue to never buy a jar of this stuff... yuck!

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Necco Is Not For Sale

There was speculation that Necco, famous maker of Necco wafers and Conversation Hearts was going to close down their US factory.  The speculation was that the company was going up for sale and that it would probably re-locate somewhere outside of the US.  Well it's officially not going to happen, for now, so 500 jobs are saved, and the quality that is Necco is safe.  But for how long.

Click here to read more.

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Two Quick News Stories

This first story is probably the strangest news story I've ever read about candy in my entire life.  Apparently an Iowa who like to try and lure kids to his van is not a problem, in fact, he just wants to give kids free candy.  He's either a really strange person, or trying very hard to break down stereotypes.

Click here to read about him.

The other story is about a baker that has been charged with selling treats on the Internet laced with drugs.  Now I'm sure this wasn't that hard a connection for police to make.  Once you see cookies on sale for 20 dollars each, you can pretty much assume that it's not just cookies.

Click here to read about the drug bust.

New Stores and a Birthday For Godiva

I just found out two interesting pieces of information about Godiva.  First of all they're going to be re-designing they're chain of stores.  Secondly, and more importantly, Godiva is celebrating their 85th anniversary this year.  Congratulations folks at Godiva, keep up the good work!

Click here to read more.

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Gummy Review Week Continues

It's not easy reviewing gummies, in fact I consider them to be some of the hardest reviews I ever have to write.  This particular review talks a bit about the problems with reviewing gummies and the challenge that keeps coming up.

Click here to read the review.

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Happy Potato Chip Day

It's national Potato Chip Day.  I've eaten half a bag already, how about you?

Click here to check out a chocolaty way to eat your chips today from the folks at Dove.

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Another Company Stops Production In the Ivory Coast

It seems that until things settle down a bit the chocolate industry in the Ivory Coast is going to be rather slow.  I just hope the people working in the industry in the affected areas are not going to suffer too much from the loss of business.

Click here to read about ADM's choice to stop cocoa production.

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Candy Stores In California

Found a great little list of places to get your sugar fix in California.

Click here to check out the list.

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Harrods Candy

For those unfamiliar with Harrods it can best be defined as the ultimate in departments stores.  It's huge, it's very classy, and it sells just about anything one can dream of.

I regularly dream about candy, and yes Harrods has me covered.  The food court section of the store is a spectacular collection of the best quality foods from every corner of the globe.  They have a deli counter with Spanish hams, Russian caviars, and French wines.  They also have a huge candy section filled with all kinds of treats.

Fortunately I was visiting just as they got their Easter stuff out for display.  These fancy eggs look absolutely beautiful.

They even have a giant egg that I'm sure would be very hard to hide.

So I guess your wondering what I thought of the treats?  Well I decided to pick up a chocolate (it wasn't cheap I assure you) and give it a sample.  I have to say that I was both disappointed and satisfied.  The quality was OK, and the selection was good, it's just that it wasn't the best I've ever had.  With the prices they charge I was expecting to be blown away, and frankly I've had better or similar for much less.

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Gummy Review Week

This is a very special week here at Candy Critic, for this week is gummy review week.  All this week I'll be posting new reviews each and every one of them will be squishy and slightly transparent.  For the first review I thought I'd start simple with a (possibly) new but very basic gummy treat, but I assure you they'll get more and creative as the week goes on.

Click here to read today's review.

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Think All Donuts Are the Same?

Well then you my friend have not experienced a churro or a loukoumades before.  So come check out a great list of donut varieties that will have you on the next airplane out of town just to get some deep fried dough.

Click here to check out a great list of donut varieties.

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Awesome New Egg-a-pult.

I just tried the new Cadbury Creme Egg Cad-apult, and I love it.  With the help of Google Maps you can launch a giant Easter Creme Egg at any target anywhere in the world.  Above is my egg launched at my public school... That'll teach them to mess with me... Like 20 years ago.

Click here to launch an egg for yourself.

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Are You Going To Be In Hannibal Missouri This Weekend?

If you are, then you might want to check out the Chocolate Extravaganza this Saturday in the downtown area.

Click here to read more about it.

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Green and Black's New Ad Campaign

I have to say it's not what I would normally expect from them, but it looks pretty good.  I just hope they keep the chocolate quality they have going up, and don't rest on the new hype.

Click here to read about Green and Blacks new advertising campaign.

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Remember A Few Weeks Back When I Posted a Strange Candy Sushi Video?

Well Boing Boing posted this follow up video with a little more information and a presentation of this sushi that might raise a few eyebrows.

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How To Become a Chocolate Ambassador

So how would you like to represent chocolate all over the world.  Be the person to tell the world all there is to know about chocolate.  Well it takes a whole lot of chocolate experience, and expertise.  Chef Pascal Janvier has this knowledge and a very impressive background.  So meet the newest, somewhat official, chocolate ambassador.

Click here to read more about Chef Pascal Janvier and the role of the chocolate ambassador.

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3D Food Printers

I just read an article on Boing Boing about some great advancements in the 3D food printing industry.  It looks like this form of food is going to be on the common market very soon, and I'm wondering how I can get my hands on one of these gadgets.

Click here to read more.

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No Milk Cereal

On of my favorite things to do is enjoy a serving of cereal with no milk.  It's amazing how different a cereal can be with no milk, sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse.

Today I decided to try out a box of "Krave" a new cereal from Kellogg's.  Now I've never actually tried this cereal with milk so I have no counter opinion, but I can say that these are pretty tasty dry.  The chocolate centers really make up for any dryness.  The slightly sweet corn crust is a great contrast to the sweet chocolate center as well.  These would make the perfect road trip snack.

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Lollipops As Crime Prevention

A small town in the UK had an interesting plan to try and settle the streets a little during the late night.  They had problems with people making too much noise and causing a general ruckus late at night, and they wanted to do something about it.  Sure they could have just started to arrest people and add more law enforcement, but instead they went a more interesting direction.  They decided to give out free lollipops to the party goers with the idea that the sugar rush calms down party goers.  Best of all, it worked.  I'm not sure if the sugar is the cause, or if it was the fact that no one could yell because their mouths where full of lollipop, but either way it worked.  I'm wondering if riot police and armies should try something like this all over the world.

Click here to read more.

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This Past Weekend Was My Birthday

Don't get all, "Sorry I missed your birthday" on me.  That's OK, I had a great time, and although a quick message from you might have been nice, I was out of town anyways, so I wouldn't have recieved it till now.  Not to mention Allison gave me the greatest birthday treat anyone could ever ask for, she gave me choice.

We were visiting the vacation town of Larnaka in Cyprus, and for my birthday Allison told me I could have any treat I wanted for my birthday.

I decided to go for a Haagen-Dazs ice cream cone, double scoop.  I have to be honest, I've never been to a Haagen-Dazs store before, and the flavours they had where great.  So a new treat experience that worked out really well, that's the best thing any Candy Critic could ask for.

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Barry Callebaut Isn't Getting Chocolate From The Ivory Coast

This is really big news since Barry Callebaut is the largest distributor of chocolate in the world.  It appears that the political upheaval in this part of the world is getting to be too much.  I've been keeping track of this story and so far prices haven't skyrocketed yet, but there are many people that believe that chocolate prices for Easter will be very high.  Others are saying that alternative sources of chocolate are coming up and may be able to sustain the demand.  We shall soon see.  For me, I figure I'll enjoy the chocolate while it's resonable, and if prices shoot up, I'll just have to move to gummies and other sweet treats.

Click here to read about Barry Callebaut.

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This Is How Elections Are Won and Lost

I love this idea for an ad, but probably only because I don't have to scrape the gum off of the sign at the end of the day.

Found on Copyranter.

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Another Chocolate Room

I'm not sure if I'm reading this properly or not, but it would appear that another candy maker has mad another room completely out of candy (mostly chocolate).  Now last week I posted a link to another chocolate room, but I think this one is different, first of all, it appears to be a kitchen while the one mentioned last week was a dinning room.  I'm just waiting for the house made of chocolate at this point.

Click here to read about the Kitchen made of chocolate.

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Kim Kardashian Eating Candy In Vegas

I think I reported this earlier but apparently this past weekend Kim Kardashian was spotted in Las Vegas eating some of the most expensive lollipops ever.  The launch sounded like fun.

Click here to read more.

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New McDonalds Pie

On a recent trip to McDonald's Allison and I came across a strange new pie choice, strawberry and custard.

It was a McDonald's pie that truly delivered what was expected.  The custard to strawberry ratio was nice and since custard isn't that complicated the quality seemed fairly decent.  My only objection to this treat comes from the strawberry filling.  I'm a huge strawberry fan, and I found that the jelly like stuff was lacking in chunks of strawberry.  I would have really liked a few large chunks, and I think that would have given this pie a much better texture.

On a separate note, while at this McDonald's I got myself a burger/wrap that I've never seen before.  It's called the Greek Mac, and it's really strange.  Imagine your standard Greek pita wrap, but instead of a pork or chicken you have McDonald's burger patties.

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The Story Of A Man That Sells Chocolate

I'm not sure why the business of chocolate is so heart warming, but it is.  I mean if I read the story below and instead of selling chocolate he was selling hinges I don't think the story would be so sweet.

Click here to read about this chocolate salesmen.

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Lent Means No More...

They say that you should give up something for Lent.  This is the time between now and Easter and many times it should be food.  This year for Lent I've decided to give up Foie Gras, Lamb Fat, and Raw Oysters.  What?  You're supposed to give up something you like... What kind of holiday is this?!!

Click here to read about giving up chocolate for Lent.

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I Can Quite... Really I Can

Are you addicted to diet sodas?  I was pretty heavily addicted to regular cola for a few years.  I was working long hours and late nights so the cola was the way to go.  I drank at least two or three bottles a day.  So yes I do believe you can become hooked on junk food.  I also believe that many of these addictions are psychological but that doesn't make them any easier to deal with.  I now drink a cola now and again (less than one a week).

Click here to read about (diet) cola addiction.

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Today Is Mardi Gras

I've never been to New Orleans or Brazil to really experience this awesome festival, and I've never tried a "King Cake" either.  Frankly the mystery around what a "King Cake" even is still wracks my brain.  Fortunately the folks at Friends Eat have a little article to help me out.

Click here to read the article.

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No More Breast Milk Ice Cream?

Last week I mentioned that an ice cream parlor in London has created ice cream made with human breast milk.  Well it appears that they've hit a bit of a snag in their sales.  The ice cream is called "Baby Gaga" and it would appear that Lady Gaga has a few objections with this name.

Click here to read about the problem.

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Have You Ever Eaten a Guilt Free Banana?

On my trip to the Canary Islands I had myself a guilt free banana.

I define a guilt free banana as one that is produced close to where you purchased it, and the farmers producing it must have received a fair price.  The Canary Islands have a banana growers union (fair price for farmers), and the farms for these bananas are visible from the highway I took on my way into town.

So therefore I can eat this banana without any guilt at all.  I guess you're wondering if a guilt free banana tastes any different.  The answer surprisingly is yes.  The difference between a banana that ripens on the tree and one that ripens on a truck is huge, it's much creamier and much tastier.

On a second note, did you know that banana trees have flowers?

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Strange Chocolate Bar Idea

What you see above is not what it seems.  Sure it would make sense to make your own Fight Club soap bars, but what doesn't make sense is that these Fight Club soap bars are in fact made of chocolate.  I'm not sure why you would do this, but it does look pretty good.

Click here to read more about them.

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What Flavour Is Cola?

I recently picked up a bottle of cola and I had a strange thought.  On the back of my bottle it said that the drink was "Cola Flavoured"?  Now exactly what flavour is cola?  I mean I can tell a cola flavour when I taste it, but where does it come from?  Most flavours come from something natural, where does cola come from?

I have to think about this.

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So Who Is Cookie Puss

When I was a kid I used to watch a lot of television from Buffalo New York.  In Toronto we used to get a few american channels, but sadly we would often see commercials for products they simply didn't sell in Canada.  Carvel Ice Cream was one of those things that I saw over and over again, but I never actually tried until I was an adult.  I blame my parents for being so inconsiderate as to not drive and hour and a half over the border in order to get me a Fudgy the Whale Cake for my birthday.  The thing about Carvel is that for me it was a piece of folklore rather than anything tangible.  The characters represent something I could never have, or understand, rather than names for ice cream cakes.  That's why I found Mental Floss's article on the origins of Cookie Puss to be really interesting, but also a little sad.

Click here to read about Cookie Puss.

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The Comic Book Nerd In Me Is Happy

I just found an article on Friends Eat that taps into my love of food and my love of comic books.  The article is a list of favorite foods from your favorite superhero.  Most superheros seem to favor regular meals, however Captain America has a thing for Apple Pie, Wolverine seems to like chips, and Martian Manhunter has a Zen for Oreo cookies.  It's good to know that some of the people protecting our world from villainy also enjoy a sweet treat now and then.

Click here to read the whole list.

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Gross Food Toys Are Coming Back

And what better person to tell you about the return of these gross out toys than the creator of these back in the 90s Mr Bob Knetzger, now writing for Boing Boing.  Please read this article, and if you where touched by this line of awesome toys leave him some kind words.

Click here to read the post on Boing Boing.

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What Is a "Friday Feeling"?

On the back of a bag of Cadbury snacks I picked up recently I came across this slogan, "Share That Friday feeling".  I'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean.  I assume it has something to do with finishing work, but how exactly can I share that feeling, and more importantly how does this treat help me do that?

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More Proof That Candy Taxes Don't Work

I understand that there's a problem with obesity, I understand that many people are not eating well, I just don't think taxing sweet foods is the answer.  The solution is more about education, food selection, and making sure people know how to take care of themselves.  Using myself as an example, I love candy, however I know about portion control, I know how to cook nutritious meals, and I understand ingredients.  I'm not overweight, and I don't want to pay more for my treats.  Paying more for my treats will only help pay hospital bills and not stop those bills from happening in the first place.

Click here to read more about how candy taxes don't work.

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Chocolate for Expectant Mothers

A candy company has developed a chocolate that contains all the extra nutritional stuff that expectant mothers need for a healthy baby.  I'm thinking of creating a specialty food for expectant mothers as well.  It'll be a pickle flavoured ice cream with all the extra nutritional stuff as well.  I figure it's pure genius to make something pregnant women might crave healthy for them.

Click here to read about the chocolate.

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A Room Made of Chocolate

I've seen some pretty cool chocolate art in my day, but non as ambitious as the chocolate room.  It's pretty much a complete 17 square meter room made completely out of chocolate, including a chocolate cat resting on a chocolate chair.

Click here to check it out.

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Candy As Evolution

Apparently there's some kind of Darwinian event going on this week, and to celebrate it, one particular professor has decided to give a lecture on the evolution of candy.  The lecture sounds really fascinating, he focuses on the comparison between natural selection in organisms and the way certain types of treats seem to be more prolific in the candy world.  I wonder if there has ever been a mass-extinction of any type of sweet treat?

Click here to read more about the lecture.

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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.

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Chocolate And Acne

Some doctors say that chocolate and acne are not correlated, others say if you eat the stuff you will break out.  Now it appears that theres some new science to prove that eating too much cocoa will increase acne.  The interesting thing about this particular study is they're not talking about just chocolate, the study is talking specifically about cocoa.  So it takes the blame off of the sugar, and the oils found in chocolate and places it firmly on the cocoa itself.

Click here to read more about the affects of cocoa on your pretty face.

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Aaaaaaallllviiiiinnnnnnn!!!!

My favourite song about cream done by high pitched chipmunks.

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Ice Cream I Probably Will Not Eat

There are very few foods in the world that I cannot bring myself to eating.  I'm not saying I like everything, in fact I'm a very picky eater, it just means that I'll try just about anything.  Although an ice cream parlor in London may have found one of my limits.  Stranger still they've found my limit in the form of ice cream.  Apparently they produce ice cream made from human breast milk.  Now I'm sure it tastes fine, but two factors keep me away.  One is the fact that it comes from other people, I'm not sure if I could handle that, I like the anonymity that cows offer for their milk.  The other problem is that it goes for 14 bucks a scoop, not cheap at all.

Click here to read more.

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My Vacation (Part 5)

To cap off my vacation Allison and I decided we would spend a few days in London.  To say that London has a good selection of candy is a huge understatement.  Let me just say I have many a new treat to review for the next few weeks.  We found all kinds of great candy stores and all kinds of regular stores with a great candy selection.

Desert wise the best treat we came across had to be these dough balls with Nutella.  It's a simple treat, pizza dough balls baked with sugar and dipped in Nutella, but man does it work so well.

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The History of Haribo

Few people realize the importance that the Haribo candy company has in the candy world.  Many modern treats, in particular gummies, can be said to have originated from this company.  Check out the link below to read about Haribo's history and how they've impacted food and popular culture.

Click here to read the history of Haribo.

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If You Live In Australia and You Miss the Aero Bar...

Well miss it no longer.  There are plans to bring the bar back to Australia with the special Australian recipe.  I have to say knowing that there's a special Australian recipe for the Aero bar intrigues me and now I must try one  for myself.

Click here to read the good news.

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Aerated Chocolate

Hershey has announced the launch of a new line of chocolates that are aerated that according to them improve the mouth melting as well as improve the chocolate eating experience.  Now I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic, but don't you find it strange that they release these new treats just as cocoa prices are expected to soar?  I'm wondering if aerated chocolate will be cheaper than regular chocolate?

Click here to read about the new chocolates.

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Star Wars Stuff

I came across a cool list of the greatest Star Wars merchandise available and I'm blown away by how many baking related items are on the list.  It appears that the fan of Star Wars are also in the "I like cookies" demographic.

Click here to see the list.

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Cool Coke Design, Bad Coke Name

The new design of the Coca-Cola bottles is based on the helmets worn by one of my favorite techno groups Daft Punk, so that's pretty cool.  The part I'm not sure they thought all the way through is the name.  They call it "Club Coke" and I'm pretty sure that name sounds like it's taken by a certain illegal drug.

Click here to read more about the new bottles.

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My Vacation (Part 4)

The thing about spending some time on a warm island in the middle of February is you find yourself craving a lot of ice cream.  I decided to make sure I can deal with my cravings at any hour of the day so I picked myself up a box of frozen ice cream treats.  I chose these half cookie covered, half chocolate covered ice cream bars.  They tasted great, but the freezer in my room didn't keep them cold enough and they where a bit of a pain to eat.

I also picked up a package of mini donuts.  Some had a chocolate coating with chocolate cream inside and the others no coating with a white (maybe banana) cream on the inside.  The only real disappointment came in how much cream filling came in each donut.  I actually had one with no cream at all, and then another that was overflowing.

For my last treat on the Canary Islands I had to go for the ham.  Sure I know it's not candy, but frankly it's one of the most famous foods in the world.  I went with a few slice of Serrano ham and they didn't come cheap at all.

I put them on some basic saltines and munched away.  It was OK for ham, but frankly not worth the price if you ask me.

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Brush Your Teeth...

Or your candy might just kill you?  A little harsh but kind of fun.

Ad found on the copyranter.

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The War On Soda Continues

Some legal folks in Colorado are trying to repeal a tax aimed at Sodas.  I'm pretty much against taxing any particular type of food over another because it never works.  I'm not against trying to fight obesity or making people healthier, I just think over taxing is not the answer.  A good point made in this article is the fact that there are some "soda" beverages that are healthier than some "juice" beverages.  So really you're taxing the wrong thing for the wrong reason.

Click here to read more.

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Some Very Smart Words About Eating Disorders

Michigan State University is running a really interesting and sensible campaign to help people gain awareness about eating disorders.  The focus is on the fact that eating disorders is not about loving food, but instead it's about self esteem.  There are some pretty smart words in this article and if you ever feel bad about enjoying a snack now and then I suggest you start helping yourself and maybe read this article.

Click here to learn about eating disorders.

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A Reason To Not Drink Cola

If you've ever wanted one the article below might help you out.  It basically describes why some people feel that cola should be taken off the market.  The describe it as a carcinogenic.  Strangely enough I'm not satisfied with the findings, I think that although cola is not healthy for you, linking it to cancer is still a little sketchy at this point.

Click here to read about Cola.

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A Great Story About a Woman In The Candy Business

Here's yet another story of a very well educated person who (sensibly) discovers the joys of being in the candy business.  It's a great story about how the love of caramel and a few simple recipes changes someones life.

Click here to read more.

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Sun Chips Really Loud Bag... Part 3

The story of the bio-degradable Sun Chips bag continues.  According to the article below Frito-Lay is looking to silence the bag, at least a little, in order to keep their bags green.  As far as I know in Canada they still have the loud bags and in the US they went back to the un-green ones.  So I wonder if they manage to silence the bag, will the US take them back?

Click here to read about the new bags.

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A Look At Vanilla

Friends Eat has posted a very interesting article about the history of Vanilla.  Most importantly they question the idea that vanilla is a "plain" flavour.  I couldn't agree more with the idea that vanilla is in fact one of the most important flavours in all of confectionery.  I personally use it as a marker for quality in ice cream, anybody can dump a whole bunch of random flavours into an ice cream, but it takes great talent to make a good vanilla.

Click here to read more about vanilla.

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My Vacation (Part 3)

Still in the Canary Islands I managed across a few more treats to share.  First of all there was this great can of Guava Sparkling Drink.  One thing you can't miss on a warm (almost) tropical island is the amazing assortment of fruits and fruit treats.

I also found this great line of puddings.  This was my favorite, it's chocolate pudding with a round cake in the middle.  They also had some standard flavours such as rice and vanilla.  This particular one was really clever and best of all the cake wasn't soaking wet, it stayed dry while floating in a tub of chocolate goo.  I'm not sure how they did it but it was a vacation miracle I won't ever forget.

Finally I saw this cool candy delivery truck, it made me want to get out and see what was inside.

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Why I Haven't Reviewed Plain M&M's Yet

And also why I should.  I recently got an e-mail from Candy Critic reader Mike:

"You really should review plain M&M’s. They’re good for you!"

I replied:

"M&Ms plain has been the review that has escaped me many times.  I've purchased or received a bag of M&Ms at least a dozen times, but something always stops me from doing the review.  Most of the time it's the urge to just eat them and write about them later.  So I guess that's a good thing for Mars, but not so much for the review.

Just out of curiosity can you give me 5 reasons why M&Ms are good for me?"

Mike replied:

"Reasons:
1. They leave your hands sticky and colourful (I’m eating some right now).
2. They’re yummy.
3. They’re bad for you (I know you don’t care about healthfulness).
4. You can never have too many.
5. They’re made of CHOCOLATE!"

I'm so convinced, look for a special review of M&Ms plain in the near future, dedicated to you Mike.

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Vending Machines Are Awesome

One of the best ways to buy your candy is through a vending machine.  I love the idea of pushing buttons, twisting knobs, or sliding leavers in order to get a treat.  I guess I'm a little like a lab rat that way.  "Life" has a collection of pictures featuring vending machines of the past and present.  Some of these shots make me feel pretty nostalgic about candy machines of yore.

Click here to check it out.

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I Would Kill For a Girl Guide Cookie

Others stop short on simple assault.  A woman in Florida last week was arrested for attacking her roommate over a box of cookies.  The good news is that it was for a box of Thin Mints, and those are the best ones.

Click here to read more.

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Bad Publicity

The saying that "any publicity is good publicity" just isn't true on all accounts.  Mental Floss posted a list of some of the biggest publicity stunt flops in history and two of them involve sweet treats (well drinks at least).  I was thinking as a publicity stunt to promote Candy Critic I would attempt to meet and greet every single political leader of the world wearing only a Kit Kat bar strategically placed on my body, but after reading this I'm thinking it might be a bad idea.

Click here to read the list.

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M&Ms Store London

While touring near Piccadilly Circus I came across this construction work.

Looks like London is getting an M&Ms store, I'll be back to check it out.

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Today Is Peanut Butter Lovers Day!

Now I seem to remember a few months back, it being peanut butter lovers month.  It would appear that the peanut butter manufacturers really go for these holidays celebrating their product.

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International Kit Kat Lesson

Kit Kats come in many varieties, all over the world they make special edition flavours that are unique to particular places and events.  Japan is the most well known for this phenomenon making a new flavour of Kit Kat almost every month.  Well here's a little piece with a few examples and bit of information about the many varieties of Kit Kats.

Click here to read it.

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My Vacation (Part 2)

After the day in Brighton (posted yesterday) we headed to our next destination, the beautiful Canary Islands.  I have to say that our first few days in the Islands was more about recovering from the time difference and relaxing.

I did however manage to hit up a Chinese restaurant with a buffet.  Best of all this buffet had an ice cream section.  The rum raisin was fantastic and there was some kind of almond caramel that was delightful.

I also picked up a donut called a half moon.  It's not very clever, and it's not really a donut either.  The consistency was something more like a Twinkie and the icing was kind of gross.  That was all the treats I managed in the first part of our time in the Canary Islands, but there's more to come.

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