A Cool Candy Thing

When I was a kid, I used to go ballistic for bendy straws.  Nothing would make me happier than getting a bendy straw in my milk shake, and inevitably I would try and add a few more bends in my straw, just to make it even cooler. The problem I had was that I didn't realize that the accordion like segment of the straw is what made the bending possible, and I always destroyed my bendy straws trying to make them even more twisty and turny.  I think if someone gave me a straw building kit like this I would have lost my mind.  I also would have insisted that it came to every family dinner no matter how fancy the occasion.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

Japan isn't really known for its gum.  Most of the gum I've sampled from Japan is fairly similar to North American gums, with the exception that many have some kind of green tea flavour.  You just don't find a great deal of creativity in Japanese gums.  Today's review is the exception to that, but for the most part it's true.  I think that it might have something to do with the Asian gum market on the whole.  If I'm not mistaken there are several Asian countries that don't even allow you to eat gum, and many with strict gum chewing laws.  This tells me that there's probably little market to sell gum outside of Japan, so few manufactures bother.  It's just a theory, and I could be wrong.

Today's exception to the rule gum review is provided by the great folks at oyatsucafe.com.  If you want to sample some really strange Japanese gum, visit their site, and make sure to use enter the word "candycritic" for a discount.

Click here to read today's Japanese gum review.

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8 Days Of UK Treats - Day 3

Today's review is the first review that is exclusively Scottish.  Many of the treats in the UK seem to be spread all over the British Isles, and when you look for local candy it can be difficult, particularly for a foreigner.  I often have to trust that when a package labels something as "Scottish" that it is just that.  But inevitably I often find myself in another area of the UK and there's the same treat but this time it's labeled Yorkshire.

Click here to read today's very (I hope) Scottish review.

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8 Days Of UK Treats - Day 2

Most people, outside of the UK, associate chocolate with British treats.  Cadbury, Rowntree, Thornton's and Fry's seem to dominate the market, and more notably their chocolate creations.  While I can't argue that the UK has some of the best chocolate bars in the world, I can tell you that they also have some of the best non-chocolate treats as well.  Non-chocolate treats in the UK tend to be simple flavoured, but creatively made.  Often (although not in the case of these gummies) flavour is important, but it has to be a bold flavour.  It's well worth sampling some non-chocolate treats if you ever go on a candy excursion to the UK, you're bound to find some really fun treats.

Click here to read a review of a UK gummy.

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This Week In Candy

As you may have noticed from this morning's review-a-thon, I'm back from my epic UK trip.  While I knew that I was in for some pretty great treats from England and Scotland, I had no idea how epic this trip was to become.  I not only sampled (and collected for review) many sweet treats, I got to explore some really fascinating candy history.

For the next few weeks I'll be posted about some of the things I found, and as I mentioned before, all this week we'll be posting new reviews for some of the candy I tasted.  It was a busy trip, but a whole lot of fun.  I'd like to thank everybody who gave me suggestions and guidance while on my trip, so I wouldn't miss out on any sweet spots.

Well, I've got over 2 thousand pictures to sort through, reviews to write, and blog posts to finish up.

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8 Days Of UK Treats - Day 1

After an epic trip, and after not updating Candy Critic for a few weeks, I've decided to start off with a bang.  We're having an 8 day UK Treat Review-a-Thon!  I went on a trip, I picked up a whole bunch of candy, and I'm going to review it all this week.  In my opinion, the UK has one of the best selection of treats in the world, and many famous treats originated from there.  It's going to be a sweet week, and I can't wait to taste all of the treats I have lined up.

Click here to read about the Chomp bar, our first review in the UK Treat Review-a-Thon.

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Friday Candy Video

I've tried several times to write something clever and witty about this commercial.  All I can think of is how sad I am that this cereal has not survived and how sad I am that this campaign hasn't continued to this day.  Sure it's a fairly politically incorrect concept, but I was really hoping to have myself a Bonny Breakfast.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I've always wondered what the connection between butterscotch and Scotland might be.  In North America at least, butterscotch is always advertised as a Scottish tradition.  You can't really find any kind of butterscotch candy or sweet without some kind of tartan wrapper or package.

I found this ad here.

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A Cool Candy Thing

There are two things that I consider myself to be good at, eating candy and playing foosball.  I've been doing both of these things since I was a child.  Eating candy came naturally to me, playing foosball involved a few years of training at a boys and girls club in downtown Toronto.  At this point these two things are the only things I can claim that I'm probably more of an expert than most.  You can imagine why this foosball table would appeal to me.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

Sometimes when I write a review, I realize that I've spent more time explaining the story behind the candy then the candy itself.  I'm sure some of the time I can blame myself for losing focus, but sometimes I think it's the candies fault.  Some treats have a more interesting story than an interesting candy.  Sometimes the candy itself is fairly common, but the package, or "extras" are far more fascinating.  Take for example all of those M&M toys you see at airports.  Sure M&M's are tasty treats, but you're really buying this for the robotic like M&M character that dispenses candies and blows a stream of cool air with a fan.

Today's Japanese candy with a story was provided by the great folks at oyatsucafe.com.  Make sure to check out their site and maybe even buy something.  If you do, enter the word "candycritic" to get yourself a nice discount.

Click here to read today's Japanese review.

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Friday Candy Video

I've discovered that many American's like to take credit for the idea of deep frying silly things like chocolate bars, and other sweet treats.  The thing you have to keep in mind is that this idea is a Scottish tradition that's been around for a really long time.  What's considered the new carnival food in the USA has actually been a traditional dessert in Scotland for many years.  I'll give the American's credit, they've run with the deep frying tradition and started to deep fry some pretty insane and tasty things.  But make sure to give credit where credit is due, the Scottish folks have been clogging their arteries long before it was cool in the USA.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

While I'm in Scotland I want to make sure that I sample one of their world famous deep fried Mars bars.  It's not that I've never sampled one before, I just think the idea of trying to eat one of these after sampling some tasty (and very greasy) fish and chips might be a fun challenge.  While I'm sure Allison is going to try to talk me out of sampling a deep fried Mars bar, I'll do my best.

I found this ad here.

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A Cool Candy Thing

Are you afraid of the dark?  Well what could be more soothing than a giant gummy bear coming to exact revenge on you for devouring his gummy bear brothers?  I think gummy candy and lighting fixtures really go and hand and hand.  I think rather than simply having a glowing gummy nightlight, I'd like to have all of my fixtures in my house fitted with various gummy bear light bulbs and lighting fixtures.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

You may not know this about me, but I am not a huge fan of seafood.  I don't hate seafood, I just don't really understand what all of the hype is about.  In Japan people don't really understand how you can't love seafood, and it reflects in everything around them.  Even their candy can have a seafood theme to it, take for example today's Japanese candy review.  This sweet, and complicated, treat is based on one of the most popular Japanese street foods, and yes it contains fish.  While some may see it as strange, I'm sure in Japan this candy kit is very popular.

I'd like to thank the gang at oyatsucafe.com for being brave enough to send me some really strange treats to review.  As always you can order this week's review on their site, and if you want a discount, enter the word "candycritic" when you order.

Click here to read today's strange review.

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This Week In Candy

Hey gang... or whomever reads this weekly post, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm not going to be around that much over the next few weeks.  I'm heading out on an epic Northern England/Scotland adventure, full of fun surprises.  I hope to sample some of the world famous English/Scottish cuisine on my trip, and most importantly I hope to sample at least one deep fried Mars bar.

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting what I can on social media as I come across it, and I have a few posts for the blog ready to go as well.  There won't be any candy news this week or next week, and I'll probably be posting fewer news links on Twitter as well.  I also wont be posting any new reviews until I get back, but I think the review for Alex's Lemonade Stand Mike and Ikes is a nice thing to leave as our feature review for a few weeks.

I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about when I get back, so stay tuned to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, for any fun updates.

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Candy News

What would you pay to have a one on one conversation with Warren Buffett?  What if I threw in a tour of a candy factory?

Next Thanks Giving, look for a giant floating chocolatier in the Macy's Day parade.

Guess which country eats the most chocolate?  I'll give you a hint, they make some of the best.

Planning a trip to China anytime soon?  You might want to check out "Shanghai Chocolate Happy Land".

Wrigley's is looking to break into the vitamin gummy field, maybe they should focus on making their gum's flavour last for more than 10 seconds instead.

Have you ever tasted a Cherry Ripe in Australia, I don't really get why they're so popular, but they are.

So you think that S'mores are simple, well they don't have to be.

The new owners of Hostess are really bragging about how awesome Twinkies are, they're even comparing them to Elvis.

The dangers of hard candy... Remember, it's for the children.

Apparently if you eat food accompanied with a particular ritual it actually improves the taste, that's why I always do a little dance before I eat a chocolate bar.

Here's a shocking story about a kid that got kicked out of camp for eating chocolate, I never went to camp for these very reasons.

If you like sitting down with a tub of ice cream and your favorite book, here's some perfect combinations to make your day.

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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Friday Candy Video

So with all of this Mike and Ike fun we've been having this week, you're probably asking yourself, "Does Mike and Ike have a hip hop rap video?"  I'm glad you asked, and I'm even more glad that we have an answer for you that includes cheerleaders and a man bathing in a giant tub of Strawberry Mike and Ikes.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon Part 5

Well, this is my last Mike and Ikes review for this weeks review-a-thon.  This might also be the first time I've ever posted a review-a-thon based on one particular brand of candy.  Allison commented about this last night, and she asked me why I chose to do this.  I think the key reason I chose these as the subject of a review-a-thon is because I really didn't even know that so many varieties of Mike and Ike's existed.  I knew that they had a few special editions, and I knew that Hot Tamales were like hot Mike and Ikes, but I really wasn't aware of this huge range that is apparently available all the time.  Apparently I'm not the only one either, I've received a few messages from friends surprised that Mike and Ikes came in more than just one or two flavours.  So I end this week having sampled some good, and some bad, Mike and Ikes, but I come away knowing that there are options.

Click here to read our last entry into the Mike and Ikes review-a-thon.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

So your campaign is going to be the separation of the two characters that represent your product.  You could go off and create packages that represent each character.  You could try and get fancy with new package designs, new type, and new graphics.  How about instead you just get a marker and scratch out one of the names... It's so simple, but it's so creative, and so much fun.

I found this ad here.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon Part 4

Sour candies really started to take off in the 1980s.  At that time candy went through a kind of renaissance that lead to the popularization of gummy bears, pop rocks, and many other strange candy.  At the time there were sour candies, but they weren't extremely sour.  From the 1980s and into the 1990s candy companies became creative with the use of certain candy characteristics, and the sour candy bloomed.  Fortunately many of the trends from this time period have not vanished, and you can find many of them still available.  I'll argue that the candy industry isn't as creative as it used to be, but they are still using these great innovative candy trends.

Click here to read today's sour Mike and Ike candy review.

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A Cool Candy Thing

If you've ever wanted to wrap up Christmas gifts in a way that would not allow the person to open them with any ease at all, this is the stuff for you.  It might also be really useful if you wanted to dress up as some kind of Candy Cane for Halloween.  Then again, if you simply wanted to have the tastiest looking ducts in your whole neighbourhood, this would really be the way to go.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

Most people in western countries don't associate the colour green with tasty food.  It's often connected to vegetables, mold, or slime.  In Japan however green is often associated with tea, in particular matcha tea.  So when you see a tube of green cookies, it's not a gimmick to try and gross kids out.  Instead it's a flavour choice, and in the case of today's review, a good one.

Once again I'd like to thank the folks at oyatsucafe.com for providing us with this weeks matchatastic treat. Remember to enter the word "candycritic" when you order something from them to get a great discount.

Click here to read the review.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon - Part 3

Not only am I reviewing a whole bunch of Mike and Ike's flavours this week, but the folks at Just Born (makers of Mike and Ike) have announced a fun contest as well.  You can win everything from a home entertainment system to free candy (I mean how awesome is free candy), and all you have to do is visit their site mikeandike.com and fill out an entry form.  This may be your best chance to sample as many Mike and Ike's flavours as I've sampled, and you may even get them for free.

Click here to read today's Mike and Ike review.

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Mike and Ike Review-A-Thon - Part 2

According to scientific studies, red is said to be the best colour one can make a candy package.  They say that psychologically people respond to red packages and are more likely to buy them.  Assuming that science is true, the idea of making a red candy in a red package, featuring flavours we associate with red, seems like the ultimate psychological gimmick.

Click here to read today's very red Mike and Ike review.

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This Week In Candy

This week we're celebrating the many varieties of Mike and Ikes with a Mike and Ikes review-a-thon.  When I was a kid I think we really only had one variety of Mike and Ike, although I'm pretty sure that Hot Tamales are distant cousin and we had them too.  Today there are so many different flavours, and flavour combinations of Mike and Ikes, that there's bound to be one for everybody.

I'm working on a new art piece for my walls.  The plan is to make a collage of all of the candy wrappers from treats I'm eating.  Right now I've started saving a few candy wrappers, hopefully in a year or so I'll have enough wrappers to cover a huge canvas.  When I get started with actually making this mammoth collage I'll post it's work in progress.

Also this week I think I'm going to try and make some candied figs.  I'm not really sure how and when I'm going to do this, but I bought the figs, so I guess I'm committed.

I think it's about time I made myself a cola flavoured slushy, it's getting too hot and I can't think straight.

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Mike and Ike Review-a-Thon - Part 1

While posting today's review this morning, I realized that there's a good chunk of the world that has no idea what a Mike and Ike is.  Since this week is going to be full of Mike and Ike reviews, I thought I would share the description given on the official Mike and Ike's website "chewy flavored candies with real fruit juice".  That description is fine, if you have a handful of them right in front of you, however if you don't it might be a little vague.  The best way I can describe them is to say that they're like elongated jelly beans, with more fruity flavour choices, and no black ones.  I hope that helps you out a little, and better yet, I hope you get the chance to try them some day.

Click here to read the first entry in our Mike and Ike review-a-thon.

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Candy News

How do you feel when you eat a Kit Kat bar?  Maybe the best way to find out is to scan your brain.

Who knew that the Disney theme parks had so many choices when it came to popcorn?

Do you smell chocolate?  Do you have an urge to spend money?  According to science there's a link.

Apparently those gummy vitamins you see at the drug store, may not really be that great for you.

Here's a great explanation into the differences between ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and many other cool treats.

If chocolate really works that well as a medicine, I may find myself getting sicker more often.

I'm a huge fan of TCHO, and in particular I love the way that they do business.

Dear people at Hostess, please tell me that this article is completely untrue and that the new Twinkies are exactly the same, or maybe even better.

Is the chocolate/bacon/taco really a good idea?  You bet it is.

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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Friday Candy Video

I've always enjoyed the feeling of stuffing my mouth with certain treats.  There's a certain satisfaction is having your mouth full of grapes, Smarties, and caramel cubes.  I'm not really sure if I'd like any of those treats propelled at my face at breakneck speeds, in fact I don't know if I could name a food that I would enjoy having propelled at me... maybe marshmallows?

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

The best thing about looking up old candy advertising is occasionally you find something that totally inspires you.  In this case, the idea of putting ice cream on hot cereal is one of the greatest ideas I've ever heard of.  I love cream of wheat and oatmeal, and what better way to give it an extra zing than a big scoop of ice cream.  Tell me you're not going to try this in the next week.

I found this ad here.

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A Cool Candy Thing

I consider this to be more novelty than candy, only because the candy itself doesn't change, just the ridiculous size of the box it comes in, and the quantity of candy you receive.  I'm not sure who or why anybody would need such a larger quantity of Nerds candy, unless you where really popular at retro 80's nights at your local night club.  It's funny, I don't think I would ever want to eat this many Nerds, however I think the giant box would be kind of cool to have.  I'm sure I could use it to decorate our living room.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

This week's Japanese review was filled with hits and filled with misses.  Sadly the biggest hit of this whole treat had nothing to do with the candy.  I loved the cheesy little plastic monster man I got with this box of grape whistle candies.  It will sit on my shelf until I'm old enough to forget about where I got it and I end up selling it at a garage sale, only to regret selling it because it's just that awesome.  I think I have an attachment to cheesy little monster action figures since I lost my very large collection of Muscled Things (a toy from the 1980's).  So for now I'll keep this little guy, he'll be guarding over my toy empire.

Once again I really want to thank the folks at oyatsucafe.com for providing us with these awesome Japanese treats to review.  Make sure to check out their store, and use the code "candycritic" to get yourself a nice little discount.

Click here to read the latest Japanese review.

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This Week In Candy

Last week we started a new feature on the blog called "A Cool Candy Thing".  While I am a big fan of candy, even more I love the culture of candy, and all the candy related merchandise I find.  So I've decided to show you guys something cool, and candy related, that I've discovered lately.  Every week it'll be a new thing, and every week you can add something to my Christmas list, just in case you were going to get me anything.

In a few weeks I'm heading off on a Northern England/Scotland adventure.  I'm not sure what kind of sweet treats I'm going to come across, but I'm pretty sure that I'll eat at least one deep fried Mars bar.  I'm also interested in finding out how much the folks in Scotland like butterscotch.

My huge candy backlog for review is starting to thin out a bit lately.  About a month ago I posted a Vine video of all of the treats I've had to taste and review.  It's been a pretty big adventure, and I've been lucky enough to sample some pretty fine treats.  Having said that, the only thing I like more than taste testing new treats, is discovering new things that I have to taste.

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Put It On a Stick And Review It

I'm not sure if this is a trend that I've just discovered, or if it's a new up and coming trend, but lollipops seem to really be making a comeback.  Best of all, it appears that handcrafted lollipops are really making a comeback, and the big boys in the candy industry should be keeping an eye open.  I'm hoping that this trend starts to grow, and we see more and more candy companies coming up with really creative and smart lollipop flavour combinations.  I've been lucky enough to sample quite a few lately, and I'm eager to sample even more.  If you make handcrafted lollipops, and you think you have some creative flavours, let me know (like the folks at www.thischarmingcandy.com did) because I'd love to help promote your candy cause.

Click here to read my latest lollipop review.

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Candy News

So you think you're a lollipop expert, well here's a few facts you may or may not know.

If you know your flavours of ice cream and your paint colours really well, this quiz should be no problem for you.

Everyone loves a good fizzy drink now and then, and here's why.

For once North America has created a chocolate trend that's making its way over to Europe, bean to bar.

The past week Twinkies made a triumphant return, Walmart even got an exclusive early release in some places.

There may be a limit to the size one can make a Whoopie Pie, but it has yet to be surpassed.

Watch out Cronut, the Frozen S'more is coming to New York.

The strangest ice cream flavour I've ever tried was raw garlic and chocolate, what's the strangest flavour you've ever tried?

Many great foods came about by accident, chocolate chip cookies, and Popsicles just to name a couple.

Whenever I think of Cadbury chocolate, I always have pipe organ music going through my head, don't you?

I bet you thought that the Slurpee was invented by the folks at 7-11, well you'd be wrong.

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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Friday Candy Video

This collection of strange Japanese commercials (including a few candy commercials) is a great example of what can happen if you loosen the rules around advertising just a little.  It's also pretty astounding how some of these commercials get their message across even though I don't understand a word that's being spoken.

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The Many Halvas Found In Greece

Halvas (this is the Greek spelling) while available in many places all over the world really hasn't caught on as a popular dessert treat in many countries.  Halvas, loosely translated, means sweet food. For the most part halvas is a dessert specialty often found in Middle Eastern, Jewish, or Greek bakeries.  It's kind of a shame, because not only are there many varieties to choose from, it offers such great potential as a candy ingredient too.  Most people are not really familiar with the many varieties available either, and often they've only tried one variety.  People also don't understand how much better this treat can be when it's fresh.  Since moving to Greece I've been lucky enough to sample so many varieties of halvas both fresh and packaged.  A dessert I used to think very little about has quickly become one of my favourite sweet treats.

Sesame halvas is probably the kind of halvas that most people have tried.  Chances are the Sesame halavas you sampled was imported from somewhere in the Middle East or Mediterranean, and it probably wasn't that fresh.  Unfortunately this particular kind of halvas is the easiest to ship, and also unfortunately it's the kind that often turns people off of halvas forever.  Don't get me wrong; there are many great Sesame halvas in the world, however many of the pre-packaged varieties just don't cut it.  They're dry, chalky, and have no discernable flavour.  A good Sesame halvas should taste of toasted sesame with a hint of chocolate sometimes.  It should melt in your mouth almost like a honeycomb.

Semolina halvas was the first step I ever took outside of the dry sesame halvas world.  At first it terrified me, it looked nothing like sesame halvas, and I already thought I didn't really like Halvas as it was.  This particular halvas is much softer and moister than the sesame halvas.  Because of this, its shelf life is very limited, I've made batches of this only to see it go bad in a couple of days.  When you get it fresh, it's absolute perfection.  Best of all, one of the keys to making semolina halvas flavourful is in using syrups, and you can flavour these syrups any way you like.  This means that this halvas has an unlimited choice in flavour potential.  If you can boil it in sugar and water, you can use it to flavour semolina halvas.  The base ingredient, semolina, has a slight toasty flavour, so it can really work with just about any sweet syrup concoction, even maple syrup would work.  Add a few nuts into the mix and you can have a really creative sweet treat.

Farsala halvas is the most mysterious of all halvas.  Many candy makers I've spoken to say it's the most complicated of all halvas to make.  The recipes for the high quality stuff are closely guarded secretes, but one of the key ingredients I’ve learned is cornstarch.  It's said that the highest quality Farsala halvas is only available in its origin town of Farsala in Greece.  Fortunately for me the piece you see above was purchased there, and I can attest to this claim.  Farsala halvas has a shelf life of about 1 week in your refrigerator, but nothing is better than getting a slice that is still warm, straight out of the oven.  It's not as gelatinous as it might appear, and the texture is best compared to the filling in a sugar pie or butter tart.  It's very sweet, and since it’s primary ingredients are cornstarch and sugar, it's not very healthy for you.  The thing is, as soon as you take a bite of this sweet treat, the strangeness of its texture and the fact that it's completely unhealthy for you will fade out of your mind.

As I mentioned before, halvas is a very versatile sweet.  One way to really enjoy any variety is to cover it in chocolate.  While halvas can be very sweet, it's often also fairly nutty as well, and this combination lends itself well to blending with chocolate or cinnamon.  I've only touched on many of the varieties of halvas available in the world, you can get them made with many different seeds, nuts, and flours, each lending a different flavour into the mix.  While you may only be able to buy the packaged variety of chalky sesame halva at your local store, the Internet is filled with many halvas recipes well worth trying at home.  This is a sweet treat well worth sampling in its many forms, and in particular well worth sampling as fresh as you can get it.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

Do you remember the Munchies?  I don't really know much about their history, other than the fact that they were a staple part of my childhood eating habits.  I remember the commercials, the many advertisements in the back of comic books, and in particular I remember the many strange flavored chips they would promote.  So did you have the "Munchies" where you grew up?

I found this ad here.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Star Wars Light Saber Pocky - Glico - It's both of my nerdy loves combined into one crunchy sweet treat. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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A Cool Candy Thing

Has your dog ever looked longingly at your bowl of gummy bears?  Do you wish somehow you could give him one or two?  Those puppy dog eyes make you so sad, and all he wants to do is fit in.  Well worry no longer, now your dog and chew the heck out of his own gummy bear, without getting really sick and throwing up a rainbow of slightly digested gummy slime.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

Every single culture in the world has some kind of sweet treat.  I have traveled all over the place, and I always find something local, sweet, and something kids go nuts for.  This is what makes candy great.  Even better is that each culture takes their sweet treats and presents them in a way that reflects the culture.  Some cultures are rustic, others are very organized, and some are bright and flashy.  No matter where you go, you'll see a little of every culture in their candy.

This week's Japanese candy review is a little different than most Japanese treats.  Most of the time Japanese sweets are not only tasty, but works of art for the eyes.  This week is the exception, and a rare one at that.

As always we want to thank the folks at oyatsucafe.com for providing us with our Wednesday Japanese Candy Review treat.  Make sure to visit their site and enter the word "candycritic" to get yourself a discount.

Click here to read this week's Japanese Candy Review.

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Candy Art

I've never actually seen an episode of the show Dexter, but I'm told it's pretty freaky.

That's what makes this cake that Fox apparently ordered for the last episode particularly appropriate, because it's freaky.  I don't know if I have the heart to eat a piece of cake that looks so much like person.  Well, maybe if the cake is really tasty I might take a bite, but I'd probably just nibble on a hand of a leg.

I found out about this cake here.

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This Week In Candy

Well I'm back from what I can only describe as an exhausting vacation.  While the trip did not focus on any candy adventures, being the Candy Critic I couldn't avoid sampling a few great sweets.  Most notably I learned a little more about a treat I had merely sampled in the past called Farsala Halvas.  Seeing as one of my stops on this trip was to Farsala, the place that this treat originated, I couldn't help but learn a little something about it, and I couldn't help but sample some of the best.  While I've talked a little on this blog about Halvas, later this week I'm going to break down the differences between the many varieties, and let you know why you should be sampling them.

Also on this vacation, I was inspired to start up a few new ideas on this blog.  To start it off, I'm going to start taking a look at awesome candy merchandise, in a section I'll call "Awesome Candy Merchandise".  I think that candy is much more than the sweet treats we eat, I think it's part of our culture, and some of things you can buy with a candy theme are pretty awesome.

Finally, I'm still working out my details for a future trip I have planned to Scotland and Northern England.  If you have any suggestions for must see, and must eat stops, let me know.

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The Chocolate British Invasion

I think if one part of the world had the ability to take over the candy world, it would be the UK.  While some countries may have better chocolate, and some countries may have more creative candy, the UK is both a really creative candy market, and high quality.  The mix great flavours, the ingredients are always great, and they sell these fun treats in everyday locations.  It's not like you have to visit specialty shops in the UK to find their most creative and tasty treats, many are found in local shops as well.  If you're booking your trip to Belgium, Switzerland, or France, to experience a great candy vacation, make sure you spend a few days in the UK on a stop over, and sample some fun, tasty and creative sweets.

Click here to read today's fun UK treat review.

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Friday Candy Video

This just might be the best result I've ever seen from a science experiment.  I'm not sure what would make me happier, watching my cola magically turn into a ice, or eating a lot of slushies with very little preparation needed.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

Over the years, sampling many candies and desserts, I think that you can pretty much use any candy as an ingredient in cooking and baking.  I do however believe that some concepts work better than others.  While never having actually tried baking anything with Jelly Bellies, I'm not convinced that they would work.  I'm thinking that they would probably melt when baked into cookies.  I'm also convinced that a chewy Jelly Belly and a mouth full of cake may not be the best texture mix.  I invite anybody to prove me wrong, send me a recipe so I can try it myself.

I found this ad here.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

The Japanese people love fish, if you ever need proof of this, visit Tokyo and head over the Tsukiji fish market at around 5 am.  You'll see more fish than you could possibly imagine any city eating in a week, but all of it will be sold in a day, and the next day it opens again.  With this love of fish, fish flavoured snacks are very common.  Japanese people love fish so much, they even have non-fish flavoured snacks in the shapes of fish.  I guess that's what happens when you live on an island.

As always, I'd like to thank our friends at oyatsucafe.com for providing us with another great (and strange) Japanese treat to review.  Make sure to pay them a visit, particularly if you want to sample this week's review.  Also, enter the word "candycritic" in the coupon box to get a great discount.

Click here to read our latest Japanese candy review.

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Candy Art

Did you know that Salvador Dali had a hand in designing the Chupa Chups lollipop logo.

This is his version of the logo.

And this is the current version.  It just goes to show the commercial art is truly as fine and fine art.

Click here to read more about Dali and his work with Chupa Chups.

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This Week In Candy

For a good portion of this week, there is a good chance I will be completely away from any kind of Internet connection.  That doesn't mean there won't be posts on this blog, it just means I won't be posting much extra content this week.  I'd like to tell you that I'm off on a candy adventure, but I'm taking a week off of sweets and doing some manual labour instead.  That's how a Candy Critic takes a vacation, it's a little backwards, but it is rewarding.  I don't think I'll be posting a Candy News segment this Friday, or I don't think the social media pages will be doing much more than re-posting blog posts, but you never know.

While I'm on my adventure I'm going to be doing a lot of thinking, and most likely a little writing.  I've got a few fun articles I want to post here, as soon as I finish writing a few magazine pieces I'm working on.

On the subject of social media, I've started using Vine lately, and I've made a few movies, I think you can find me as candycritic.  If you've been following us on other social media sites, you may have noticed our new (well brought back) segment "Chris stuffing his face".  I've toned it down a bit lately, with fewer shots of my gaping mouth, but I'm still eating all kinds of fun things that I love to share (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook).

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A Cheesy Candy Review

I love new flavour combinations, or at the very least, flavour combinations that I've never tried.  That's one of the problems I have when I discover a flavour combination that I've never tried before.  I write a review hyping this treat with a new flavour combination, only to find out that somewhere else in the world this combination has been around for generations.  I guess I can't be expected to know about every flavour, and every kind of treat in the world.  I guess that's why I do this, to try and learn them all.

Click here to read about my latest flavour discovery.

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Candy News

Necco now lets you customize your candy hearts, I wonder if the'll let you put anything you want on them?

How do take your medical Marijuana?  How about in cotton candy form?

According to science, if you're really happy, you'll probably indulge in some tasty treats.

I don't think banning junk food is the best way to get kids to eat right, but what do I know.

It's national ice cream month, what a coincidence that this holiday would happen when we're having such sunny weather (my apologizes if you're reading this and it's raining).

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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Friday Candy Video

While I'm not really a big fan of food companies having political opinions outside of food issues, I really like this commercial General Mills did for Pride week using Lucky Charms.  It only makes sense that a cereal that features a rainbow marshmallow would be the perfect representative for Pride awareness.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

The idea that someone might make candy the perfect size for my action figures gives me the biggest smile you could possible imagine.  It's strange because you'd think that I would be disappointed with the idea of smaller sized candy, but sometimes I really think I like it more than the regular size.

I found this ad here.

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Happy 4th Of July My American Friends!

I only post this because statistically Americans are my number 1 source of hits on this blog.  Followed by Canadians, Brits, and then it constantly changes depending on the spammers that are visiting.  So does this mean that all you Americans are BBQing right now?  If so, make sure to throw a few marshmallows on some sticks and make yourself some s'mores as well.

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Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!

When oyatsucafe.com contacted us to say that they wanted to send us all kinds of strange Japanese candy to review, this treat was pretty much what I had in mind.  It's a gooey candy, with cute cartoon characters all over it, and detailed instructions on the back on how to eat it.  If you ever need a definition for strange Japanese candy, this might fit the bill, as an added bonus it's pretty tasty too.

On another note, we still haven't come up with a better name for our weekly Japanese candy review than "Wednesday Japanese Candy Review".  If you have a better idea, please let us know.

Finally we would like to once again thank the folks at oyatsucafe.com for providing us with all of the treats for this new weekly review.  Visit them, buy something, and enter the word "candycritic" to get yourself a fine discount.

Click here to read this latest strange review.

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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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This Week In Candy/It's Canada Day!!!

When you live outside of your home country, your national day starts to become one of your favorite holidays.  Within your country the national day tends to be more of an inconvenience than anything worth celebrating.  You find yourself just trying to get out of the city and away from other Canadians, rather than celebrating how cool the country and the people of Canada really are.  I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing on this Canada Day (I'm writing this in advance) but I think I'll probably eat the Oh Henry bar that a friend brought me while waving a flag (I'll post a picture on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram if I can).

Now back to the business of Candy Critic.  If you haven't noticed already, we've started to post a new review both Monday and Wednesday.  Our Monday review is still our featured review, but now every Wednesday we're posting a new Japanese review, with help from our friends at oyatsucafe.com.  Remember, if you want to sample any of the treats we review on Wednesdays, you can go to their site, pick it up, and if you use the code "candycritic" you also get a great discount.

Finally, I'm just finishing up a few articles I've written about the candy world.  I hope to get them published in print, but who knows.  I'm looking for suggested places that might be interested in publishing them.  If you have any suggestions, let me know.

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New Sweet And Sour Review

While ice cream and Popsicles are what we normally think about when you talk about summer sweets, I think treats like these Sour Punch Punchies also work really well as a summer treat. I have memories of riding my bike as a kid to the local corner store, and buying a bag of treats just like these.  Then me and my friends would go to the local park, find a great hiding spot, and munch down on all of our sweet treats.  It was a time long past, but a time I'll never forget.  It's a big part of the reason I like candy so much.  Whenever I eat a treat like these, I want to get on my bike and head to the local park again.  The problem is, as an adult, hiding in the bushes is generally frowned upon.

Click here to read our latest review.

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