Candy News

In 20 years, will we be eating the same amount and the same quality of chocolate?

I can't say that I've ever been in a store that specializes in Mexican candy before, but I'd like to.

New custom Ring Pops sound really great, if only I could propose to my wife again.

With the price of cocoa going up, chocolate makers are starting to change their recipes to keep prices down.

If you happen to visiting Chicago, you might want to sample some of their fine caramels.

When your box of chocolates says "Belgian Chocolate", it might not have actually been made in Belgium.  But that's going to change.

Watching candy getting made is a thrill, watching donuts getting made is the best way to start your day... assuming you have a donut in hand to deal with the serious craving you will have.

To dunk or not to dunk, according to science you'd better dunk.

If you've managed to avoid eating all of your Easter chocolate, here's a great guide to keeping your chocolate fresh.

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 don't really understand the full gist of this "Glorp Gum" commercial.  I don't think it's really about the gum, but instead I think it has more to do with selling t-shirts.  I'm not saying that it's not totally awesome though, in fact I think this retro commercial is one of the greatest pieces of modern candy animation ever made.

Click here to learn more about Glorp Gum.

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It's National Caramel Day!!!

Caramel is the best sweet accompaniment to chocolate ever.  It's not the most creative thing to mix with chocolate, but it almost always works.  The only reason chocolate and caramel wouldn't work together would be if either, or both, were of a really low quality.  I would even say that if you had a slightly cheap chocolate, you could probably rescue it with a nice caramel.  While chocolate is the standard caramel partner, the "new" and really tasty caramel combination has to be caramel and sea salt.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I think this guy might be the most pretentious character ever featured in a candy advertisement in the history of modern advertising.  Sure he's sharing his gum, that gives him some credit, but it really looks like he could care less about this nice girl that willing to share her record with him.  Listen 1950's girl, you can do better than that stick in the mud, and a pack of gum is only 5 cents, don't fall for the guy just because he gives you gum.  Trust me, that's not a healthy relationship.

I found this ad here.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - No more mint, please.

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 we look at an article I wrote when I was being over run with minty candies.

Last year the big announcement in the candy world was that 'mint' was going to be the next big thing, the world is going to be all about the mint, and candy fans all over are nuts about the mint. I think there might be a grain of truth to this. Sure, I enjoy a mint or mint gum regularly, in fact I generally carry some sort of mint product with me all of the time. If you see me on the street, go ahead and ask me for one I'll bet I'll have one to share. So the truth is out, mint is a great treat but is it the next big thing. Is it the candy of tomorrow?

Well first of all I don't think the mint really went away, it's been around since the dawn of the confectionery market, and I think it's been pretty popular since it's conception. My grandparents used to always give me mints, they were mint people. In fact, almost every elderly person I know digs the mints. Does this mean that my and the next generation are a bunch of old softies, we want old people’s candies?

My final problem with the mint craze is a problem I find with any candy craze, it always goes too far. When gross out candy was cool, eventually it just got candy that was so nasty it was inedible. When the sour trend was at its peak, I do believe it’s gone down a bit; everything had to be sour no matter what it was. The candy industry has to give itself some boundaries. I know I'm preaching to a bunch of marketing business types that do know more about trends than me, but please, do we really need mint flavoured soda.

There I said it and you know who you are. Mints are great. Nothing is better after a garlic-filled meal than a refreshing mint. And hey for those people out in the world that can't eat sugar, the mint is one of the only alternatives even the sugar-crazed Candy Critic goes for. I just think that mint has its place in the candy world. I understand and respect the idea of candy companies being creative, but ask yourself before you start marketing mint in everything: “Does someone want to eat this minty treat, or am I just being creative for creative sake?”

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Candy Art - Scary Zombie Cake

This might be the grossest, and best looking, zombie cake I've ever seen.

Apparently it's not really a cake, but actually a giant Rice Krispie Treat, frankly that might even make it better.

Click here to see more pictures of this awesome cake.

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This Week In Candy

Today is sort of like my boxing day, it's the day I normally head out to the grocery stores and stock up on cheap chocolate bunnies.  Although I was talking to my father yesterday, and he told me that he had planned to go out discount Easter treat shopping on Easter Sunday.  You know, it's never occurred to me to do that.  I'm generally too filled with chocolate bunny and Cadbury Cream Egg bliss to even think about getting more chocolate.  But I imagine that many stores start their sales on Sunday.  You'd think I would be more on the ball.

Later this week we're going to look at common gum flavours.  It's pretty amazing what flavours of gum we consider to be normal, and which flavours we might never consider.  Gum is one of the only candies that we use in social situations to improve ourselves as well.  Having said that, many would argue that gum etiquette is very important, and not often followed.

I hope you guys had a great Easter weekend, and those of you in the Orthodox faith, you still have a month to go.

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Bamba Review

If you read the review of Bamba, a peanut flavoured puffed treat, I have no mention at all about the disturbing little baby on the front of the package.  I avoided mentioning it because I'm not sure if this is a reoccurring character, or if it's just a particular promotion.  If it's a promotion, exactly what is it promoting? If it's a reoccurring character, then that only leaves me with more questions.

Click here to read the review, and let me know if you understand the baby.

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Happy Easter

I hope the bunny brings you some good chocolate.

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Candy News

Here's a few Easter links to get you in the holiday mood:

You're a winner if you come in first place in the official Peeps diorama contest, you get a double win if you incorporate space and science into your diorama.

Just Born releases silliest poll results in the history of candy polls.

The Huffington Post has a great photo collections of desserts featuring the Easter Bunny. They also posted a great collection of nest themed treats as well.

Working at a candy factory looks like a lot of fun, but I imagine around Easter time it's also really busy.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Cadbury Cream Eggs, if you're not, here's something that will bring you up to speed.

Ancient Cadbury Cream Egg uncovered... I'd still eat it.

I present to you, the Cadbury Cream Scotch Egg, it's a wondrous way to use up your leftover Cream Eggs. And just in case this isn't enough for you, here's 8 other ways you can enjoy your Cream Eggs.

And here's our regular links of the week:

I have a new fascination with "candy brands" lately, here's a study about which are the most popular.

British schools are worried that kids will put out an eye out with their lunch time desserts.

How would you like to eat a Macaron, that looks like a miniature Big Mac?

Archaeologists are always finding cool things, some have even found ancient chocolate.

Would you ever eat a Mountain Dew/Dorito cupcake, I couldn't, I'd have to eat a dozen of them.

Is candy such a big part of our diet that it's the only reason we gain weight?  According to these statistics, probably not.

The US has some great treats, only available in certain states, counties, or even cities.

Giving blood?  Why not chow down on some dark chocolate, doctors say it helps.

Did you know that in the US Senate, there's a secret candy drawer full of free candy?

Austerity in the UK is becoming very difficult to deal with, but I'm not sure buying American is the best solution.

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

Giant Peeps  - Just Born - We all need to eat a giant marshmallow bunny once in out lifetime. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Friday Candy Video

I love cake, and I love watching things in reverse, but I think watching a man eat an entire wedding cake (mostly with his hands) in reverse is a little gross.  About halfway through this video, the constant craving I have for cake (I know you have one too) went away for a few seconds.

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A Look At Easter Treats

When you think about Easter candy, you generally have two themes that come to mind, eggs and bunnies.  Both of them have their advantages and disadvantages, and both of them are very prolific on the Easter candy shelves.  The question is, is one Easter candy theme better than the other?  Would you rather have a basket full of eggs, or a basket full of bunnies waiting for you on Easter morning?

The most common type of Easter treat has to be chocolate.  Often it's hollow chocolate, but sometimes it's solid or filled with something sweet.  In these cases eggs provide some advantages while bunnies provide others.  The key difference is in the shape (we'll ignore the size variation at this point since both shapes come in many sizes), the egg is a large single cavity with lots of room for filling (or air), the bunny generally has smaller cavities for filling, but it has more variation in cavity size.  When it comes to chocolate filled treats you're faced with either a large amount of filling (the egg) or great varieties of filling.  So which you prefer depends on if you want a lot of filling, or if you want your filling to be tasted in different proportions to the chocolate on each bite.

If your chocolate bunny or egg happens to be hollow, I think the decision is a lot easier to make.  I think the bunny is the best way to eat a hollowed out Easter treat.  The egg has way too much air, and often shatters into a million pieces too easily.  If you happen to be eating a solid chocolate bunny or egg, I think bunny is really the only choice.  Unless the egg is really small, I don't think anybody would have a good time trying to eat it. The solid chocolate bunny allows for more bite choices without breaking your jaw.

The other area of thought is in the non-chocolate Easter related treats.  These are generally far and few between compared to their chocolate comrades  particularly in egg department.  There are a few egg treats, but most of them are similar to Jelly beans.  They're candy coated egg shaped treats filled with something either jelly like or marshmallow like.  While I do eat these if offered, I generally don't prefer these eggs.  Bunnies on the other hand seem to dominate the gummy world.  I've seen a few varieties of gummy bunnies, some are great, some are kind of gross, but that's par for the course with gummies.

While there are certainly other shapes of Easter treats available, in my experience bunnies and eggs tend to work best.  With an egg or a bunny you're instantly able to identify it with Easter.  Other attempts I've sampled either lose the Easter feeling, or in some cases they're just flat out weird.

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Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I never really made the association between the Easter Bunny and Bugs Bunny.  I guess one could make the crossover in your head, but it seems strange.  I think it has to do with Bugs Bunny's character, he doesn't seem like the kind of bunny that would get joy from delivering candy to little kids.

I found this ad here.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Doritos Locos Doritos  - PepsiCo - I love a good mouthful of irony. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Old Candy Critic Articles - Easter Eggs

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 we look at an old article I wrote dealing with the huge variety of chocolate filled eggs available on the market.

It's that time of year again; time to enjoy another egg from the Easter bunny. Wait a minute; does the Easter bunny lay eggs? This doesn't seem right at all.  On the other hand, I don't think I would want anything that a regular rabbit would produce.

Whether from a chicken, a factory, or the Easter Bunny, chocolate eggs are great. The shape is simple, and you can fill it with all kinds of crazy things. Well being the candy experts we are, we decided to take a look at a bunch of different eggs on the market and let you know which are Grade A and which are just scrambled.

Dove

Mars

The chocolate in this egg is nice and smooth. Although there wasn't anything interesting inside, the quality of the chocolate was okay, so it wasn't that bad. The part that I'm not to sure about has to be the fact that it's actually two halves of an egg and not one egg. I can’t understand why they would do this, it's not like you can re-wrap the other half and save it for later since the foil always rips. And it's not like I want to anyway, who eats just one half of a chocolate egg? This isn't a huge snack; it's easily a one sitting snack. So it's not bad but it's just nothing spectacular.

Caramilk

Cadbury

Messy, that is one of the words I would use to describe the Cadbury Caramilk Egg. Not only was there a little caramel dripping out before I even bit into it, but as soon as I did the caramel went everywhere. This treat tasted good, as good as a Caramilk bar, but it left my mouth so phlegmy that I instantly had to chug a glass of water just to get some balance. The caramel to chocolate ratio is okay; I just think it's a little too much of both together.

Creme Egg

Cadbury

Of all of the eggs mentioned, this one is truly the classic Easter treat. As long as I can remember these have been staples of my Easter diet. I always thought it was cool to have a chocolate egg that was kind of the same size as a real egg, maybe a little smaller, with a candy like yolk and egg whites. When I ate this egg I did notice one thing that I never really thought of before, what flavour is the centre? It's not that it’s bad; it's just a mystery. As with all of the Cadbury eggs, the chocolate was great and the filling smooth.

Harry Potter "Dragon Eggs"

Master Food UK

This egg was probably one of the most original eggs so far. Again like every other, it made me so amazingly thirsty, but the inside was a little creamier than some of the other eggs and there were two colours so it was kind of cool. The greatest thing was the little gummy in the middle. I'm told it was a little dragon and I guess it kind of looked like one. I'm not a big fan of orange and chocolate, particularly synthetic orange and chocolate, and that's just what this had. So I have to say that the flavour wasn't the highlight, but for novelty this thing was pretty cool.

Dream

Cadbury

I must say that this egg was a bit of a surprise to me. I'm not fanatical about white chocolate, and for the most part unless purchased in a high quality store, white chocolate is gross. This treat however held up. I was expecting trouble and I got pure joy. I'm not too sure, but I think most of the 'joy' came from the stuff in the centre. The outside chocolate seemed like standard white chocolate, but the centre truffle-like filling was great. I can't say this was my favourite egg, but it was surprisingly good.

Mars

Mars

Seeing as this is the only entry into the competition by Mars, and one of the few non-Cadbury eggs, I figured that any change would be welcome. I have to say that although the change was good, it really didn't seem to have the quality of some of the other eggs. The chocolate seemed a little cheap and the caramel was a little flat. Having said that, I found that this one really didn't make me as thirsty as the other eggs. This egg also had the split in two feature, which is fine if your sharing but it really isn't great for saving, what do you wrap it in after eating just half? If you've eaten way too many of the other egg, and your looking for a change, then you've found it, just be careful what you wish for.

Truffle

Cadbury

I've started to notice something doing all of these chocolate egg reviews; a glass of water is always needed. A chocolate egg with a chocolate interior may seem a little strange but it's not that bad. It is a lot of chocolate, but the stuff in the middle is classy truffle cream, so it's not bad. The cream makes this egg seem a little classier than other eggs. I wish I knew why they call it truffle, I mean isn't a truffle a mushroom? Not one of the more creative eggs of the bunch but fine in its simplicity.

Wunderbar

Cadbury

I was kind of wondering how they would manage the multi-level treat that is a Wunderbar in an egg format. It seemed to work pretty well. The peanut butter was in the centre with the caramel and chocolate surrounding it. The ratio of chocolate was a little higher than in the regular Wunderbar, but I really didn't mind that at all. Actually it seemed to make it work a little better than the bar. I always thought that the peanut butter in the original bar was a little much, but this works. I think the only strange thing has to be calling it a Wunderbar, as it is not a “bar” at all.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Reese's Ice Cream Eggs  - Good Humor - I should point out that it doesn't have to be in egg form for me to want this treat. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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Candy Art - Cutest Cookies Ever

If anybody can point me out to cookies that look cuter than these, I'll be truly amazed.

I can't say that I've ever seen cookies before that would make me feel so guilty about biting the heads off.

I particularly like the use of real food to decorate.

Click here to see more of these cute cookies.

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This Week In Candy

After last week's experiment of making chocolate from the base ingredients, as well as checking out the grand opening of a new chocolate shop here in Athens, I started to wonder a bit about chocolate.  First of all, how many varieties of chocolate are there?  I can think of dark, milk, and white (I know white is not purely chocolate but it's close enough), but are there others?  I also started to think a bit about dark and milk chocolate.  Today there are so many levels of dark chocolate available, so at what point does a chocolate go from being milk to being dark?  I'm sure that someone out there has the answers to my chocolate questions, but frankly I'd rather spend years of my life exploring the world of chocolate to discover them myself.

I guess Easter is coming up for a part of the world on Sunday as well.  This week I'm going to take a look back at some of my past Easter reviews and see what they have in common, and if there's a great deal of variety among them.  Frankly it's been a while since I've discovered a new revolutionary treat for this holiday, but I can't complain, since it's the best holiday to get some good quality milk chocolate. It's also the only opportunity you'll have all year to bite the head off a cute animal and not feel guilty.

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A New Russian Review

The most exciting thing about getting a treat with no decipherable English on the package is the fact that I really don't know what I'm going to get. The hardest part about reviewing treats with no decipherable English on the package is knowing how to label it on the website.  I list all of the reviews I do by alphabetical order, geographical, and candy type.  The last two I can generally figure out without knowing how to read the package, but alphabetical can be a real challenge with some languages.  Fortunately I have lots of really great people that follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and RSS, and many are great with foreign languages.  In this case I want to thank our Facebook followers Ashley for translating this wrapper.

Click here to read this Russian review.

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