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CANDY RATINGS

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June 2005

Friday, June 17, 2005

Bulk Balls

Name: Malted Milk Balls
Brand: Wilbur
Place Purchased: Phone Order
Price: $6.99
Size: 16 oz (one pound)
Calories per ounce: 138
Type: Malted/Chocolate

As I’ve stated before, I love malt. I will eat spoonfuls of Ovaltine malted milk powder straight from the jar. Good malt balls are not easy to find. First, they have to be covered with real chocolate. Those egg-shaped ones available around Easter are usually some fake chocolate compound and too sweet. The best bet is usually in the bulk candy aisle at the grocer if they carry Harmony Foods bulk chocolate covered malted milk balls.

Earlier this week I placed a bulk order from Wilbur and one of the items was their Malted Milk Balls. These are not simply malted milk balls covered with a thin layer of chocolate, they’re super thick with high-quality milk chocolate. The malt inside is crisp, large and very malty with a touch of salt.

They are by far the best malted milk balls I’ve had in my life. My big question is if anyone knows if naked malt balls exist, you know, just the malt balls without the chocolate coating.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:18 pm     CandyReviewWilburChocolateMalt9-YummyUnited States

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Emperor’s Ginger Tea Chocolate

Name: Emperor’s Ginger Tea Chocolate
Brand: Splendid Specialties
Place Purchased: Cost Plus
Price: $2.99
Size: 1.5 oz
Calories per ounce: 182
Type: Chocolate

A few months ago I reviewed another flavor of this chocolate, the Jasmine Green Tea. To refresh your memory, these are cute little foil-wrapped medallions of rich milk chocolate infused with tea and stacked in a little can. This version is green tea and ginger. If you’ve been reading candy blog at all, you know I’m a huge chocolate and ginger fan. This take on the combination however, is disappointing.

The chocolate is sweet and smooth, there is not grainyness like I’ve experienced with other infused chocolates. The bite of the ginger comes across quite quickly, but has less woodsy bite to it than just a slow burn. Don’t get me wrong, the peppery feeling is really refreshing, but it tastes more like ginger powder than fresh ginger. I get no hints of tea to it at all.

I do like that there aren’t ginger pieces in it, just the pure essence. This is not snacking chocolate, but something to enjoy in small pieces, perhaps with some tea and shortbread. The packaging is really nice and my purchases of this brand have always been fresh, but the price is a bit high.

Rating: 7 out of 10

See also related products: Jasmine Green Tea, Dagoba Chai Milk Chocolate

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:21 pm     CandyReviewChocolateGinger7-Worth ItUnited States

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Aero

Name: Aero
Brand: Nestle Rowntree (UK)
Place Purchased: Cost Plus
Price: $1.29
Size: 1.62 oz
Calories per ounce: 142
Type: Chocolate (Milk)

I’ve seen these bars before, usually in import stores, and as I recall I picked up one or something similar in London when I was there. It’s basically a milk chocolate Nestle bar that’s been whipped into a froth and then quickly molded into a bar. It creates a bit of a lighter feeling treat than a dense chocolate bar.

What’s amazing about this is when you look at the bar unwrapped, it looks like a king sized bar, but it weighs about the same as a regular bar. It’s overwhelmingly sweet and chocolately smelling. Upon biting into it, it yields easily, more like marshmallow or fudge than chocolate. In fact, that’s what it resembles most to me, fudge. It’s definitely very chocolatey, a little sticky feeling in the mouth, but because of all the air, it melts fast, bursting on the tongue.

Note that because of the bubbles, I suspect that it’s a little more prone to softening in the summer warmth than other bars, so you might want to store this one in the fridge. In fact, I’ve heard that some folks prefer it that way.

On the whole, it was a pleasant bar. The chocolate is very milky, as European chocolate usually is and if you like that, you won’t be disappointed. I find European milk chocolate tastes a little like powdered milk to me which is not an entirely pleasant reminder.

My rating: 6 out of 10.

See also - taquitos.net review.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:19 pm     CandyReviewNestleAeratedChocolate6-TemptingUnited Kingdom

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Wha Guru Chew

Name: Wha Guru Chew
Brand: Golden Temple of Oregon, Inc.
Place Purchased: Whole Foods
Price: $.79
Size: 1.13 oz
Calories per ounce: 140
Type: Caramel (Nuts)

Reading over the ingredients list, I’m wondering what this has to do with the Yogi Bhajan. But I suppose even the most enlightened among us wants a sweet now and then. While there’s nothing bad about these caramel nut bars, they contain no trans fat and use brown rice syrup and evaporated cane juice instead of corn syrup, I’m struggling with the health food aspects of this. Aw hell, let’s just call it candy and be done with it.

These are fab. I can’t tell you how fab these are. The caramel is flavorful and soft, the nuts are fresh and crunchy and the smell is pure buttery sweetness. The only problem I have with them is that they’re very soft, so you taking them out of the package is nearly impossible and even getting the package open without scissors ended up too much of a challenge for me.

Cashew Vanilla - the right sweet notes of vanilla blended with buttery cashews. There are also sunflower seeds in here, which add an extra crunch and earthy taste to the bar to balance the sweetness of the caramel. A little touch of salt balances it all out.

Almond Ginger - it doesn’t smell quite as inviting as the cashew vanilla bar (I don’t think ginger smells that good inherently, as it has a rooty/earthy smell). But biting into this bar wipes away any hesitation that this bar will be as good as the former. The ginger pops out as a spicy base for the sugary caramel and the mild almonds. A slight trace of lemon zest links all the flavors together well.

Peanut Cashew - this one diverges from the recipe of the above two which are sweetened primarily with brown rice syrup and evaporated cane juice. This is sweetened with clover honey (and barley malt syrup). This honey base makes for a less viscous caramel but really amps up the flavor. The first tone you get upon biting into it is a strong orange essence. In addition to the peanuts and cashews are sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. Of the three this was my least favorite, though still worthy of trying.

Rating:
Cashew Vanilla - 9 out of 10
Almond Ginger - 9 out of 10
Peanut Cashew - 8 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:27 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewCaramelChewsGingerNutsPeanuts8-Tasty9-YummyUnited States

Monday, June 13, 2005

Chimes Ginger Chews

Name: Chimes Ginger Chews
Brand: Roxy Trading
Place Purchased: Cost Plus
Price: $1.99
Size: 2 oz
Calories per ounce: 112 (16 calories per chew)
Type: Taffy

How could you not love something that comes in this nifty tin? Chimes has three different kinds of ginger chews, Peppermint (this review), Peanut Butter Ginger (previous review) and Ginger. I believe that The Ginger People also have the same repetoire and that these are all probably made in the same factory somewhere in Indonesia.

There are about 14 of these individually wrapped chews stuffed into this tin. The lid slides back for dispensing, though they’re jammed in there pretty good and not that easy to just dump out. Further, when opening the little individual wrappers, the chews sometimes get stuck to the plastic.

Beyond that, once you’ve got on in your mouth, it’s instantly minty. The chew is soft and sticky with a distinct barley sugar note to it (I like that). As you chew, the spicy notes of the ginger come through and as you’re done with the chew, the burn of the ginger lasts for quite a while. They’re very satisfying but as snacks, I think the packaging is great because I don’t think you’d want more than two or three of these at any given time (the peanut butter ones, however, I think lend themselves to greater consumption).

On the whole, now that I’ve tried all three of these flavor combinations I think I prefer the plain ginger, then the peanut butter and then these. Not that these aren’t good, but I don’t really think that mint and ginger are the best of all possible flavor matches. The Ginger People also make an Apple Ginger chew that I think I’m going to have to seek out now.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:30 am     CandyReviewChewsGingerMints8-TastyIndonesia

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