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December 2006

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Time Released Gift Giving

Sometimes just giving someone a box of candy doesn’t feel special enough. You know, when you give someone a sweater, they wear it over and over again. The cool solution for the consumable nature of this type of gift is to spread it out over a long period of time. Lots of candy companies now offer Candy of the Month clubs, so that loved one gets reminded once a month that you know their passion.

Here’s a roundup of a few options:

imageEthel M - Chocolate Club ($99-$299) - 3, 6 & 12 month subscriptions for regular deliveries of chocolates.

Jelly Belly - Bean of the Month Club ($68.99-$249) - Choose 3, 6 or 12 months of Jelly Belly candies delivered 2.2 lbs at a time. Includes dispenser and shipping charges.

Licorice International - Candy of the Month Club ($178) - three different packages for candy lovers, black and red licorice lovers and black licorice purists.

Lake Champlain - ($115-$395) Chocolate of the Month - choose 3, 6 or 9 months of fine, all natural, Kosher chocolate selections.

Dale and Thomas - ($86-$455) Popcorn of the Month - choose from a large variety of clubs that range from 3 months to 12, could be a variety of savory and sweet popcorns as well as other sweet treats.

imageSeventyPercent - Chocolate Connoisseur’s Club (varies) - based in the UK but ships worldwide. Focuses on high end chocolate bars from all over the world, plus discussions in their forums about the monthly selections.

Recchiuti - Club Recchiuti ($125-$425) - 3, 6, 9 & 12 month memberships with a wide range of products delivered throughout the year.

Flippin’ Fudge - Fudge of the Month Club ($348) - a different flavor of premium fudge every month. 

imageCandy Warehouse - Candy of the Month Club ($99-$139) - various versions, one featuring nostalgic favorites, one for gummi fans and another for chocoholics.

Have you ever been gifted a candy of the month club? Any tips or recommendations?

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:19 am     CandyGift GuideChristmasShopping

Saturday, December 9, 2006

2006 Chocolate Gift Guides

All three gift guides are up!

2006 Chocolate Gift Guide
Time Relased Gift Giving (Candy of the Month Clubs)
2006 Gift Guide Supplement

(Check out last year's guide too.)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:12 pm    

2006 Chocolate Gift Guide

I was poking around a couple of weeks ago at my Holiday Gift Guide from 2005 and was (if I may say so) pleased that it’s still a pretty good guide. So instead of just doing the same thing over again, I thought I’d kind of do a summary of where I’ve been this year but also use it as an opportunity to help you Go Regional!

There are a couple of ways to look at this. You can give folks something from their own area, which is a great gift because it means that they can go back there, or you can give them something from your area, as a way of personalizing the item. Or you can give them something from a place they’re planning on visiting, kind of like a proactive welcome wagon.

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(you can make fun of my map and the way I divided up and named the regions ... I have no idea what I was thinking)

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West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho & Nevada)

Recchiuti (San Francisco) - fine chocolates from Michael Recchiuti located in the Ferry Terminal in San Francisco. Lots of herbal combination infusions, uncommon ingredients and savory inclusions. Known also for their sauces. (order online) Expensive

Charles Chocolates (Emeryville) - no company-run store, so you can only order online or find them at other chocolate shops. Many items such as the triple coated nuts and the high-end bars would make excellent stocking stuffers. (order online) Expensive

Cocoa Bon (Los Gatos) - a perfect supplier of stocking stuffers, their cute little chocolate tins are filled with more than chocolate wafers, they also have spiced caramels, toffees and chocolate covered coffee beans. Check out their cocktail-inspired jelly beans, too. (order online) Moderate

Boule - interesting truffles, tasty caramels and nougats but if fruit is your thing, give the pate de fruit a try. (order online) Expensive

Chuao Chocolatier (Encinitas) - Venezuelan inspired chocolatier with tasty truffle combos and some truly strange ones as well. Tasty chocolate bars (I liked the nib one) in other stores. (order online) Expensive

Plush Puffs (Sherman Oaks) - fun flavors of tasty marshmallows. (order online) Moderate

Sees - known of tasty caramels, nuts and chews. Their truffles and other candies are good quality. (order online) Inexpensive

Shaymee’s Aussie Toffee (Pleasanton, CA) - high quality ingredients from this nutted toffee company. (buy online) Inexpensive

Valerie Confections (Los Angeles) - superb seasonal nougat and excellent toffee in elegant presentational boxes. (order online) Expensive

Fran’s (Seattle) - probably one of the best known of the sea salt caramel makers, they have a pretty good selection of other truffles and chocolate dipped fruits. (order online) Moderate

Seattle Chocolates - good quality chocolates with some cool combinations, they also make Chick Chocolates. (order online) Moderate

Big Island Candies - why should Hawaiians have all the fun at the beach? Macadamia and Coffee items are to be expected, but don’t forget the traditional truffles and dipped shortbreads. (order online) Moderate

Chocolate Shops to Explore in Person

CocoaBella (San Francisco) - great chocolate shop, especially if you want to combine chocolates from a variety of chocolatiers: Amadei, Christopher Elbow, Charles Chocolates, Knipschildt Chocolatier, Marquise de Sevigne, Michel Cluizel & Pralineur Van Coillie. You can build a custom, mixed maker box or order one of their World’s Best Chocolates boxes. (order online) Expensive

Sahagun (Portland)- no shipping here, just fresh and tasty candies straight from the kitchen to your mouth. Expensive

Mel & Rose Wine & Spirits (Los Angeles) - feature a wide selection of consumer chocolates and candies from around the world that are great as stocking stuffers, but also an excellent variety of couture and high end bars and boxes from MarieBelle, Michel Cluizel, Vosges, Valerie Confections as well as, you know, wine & spirits. (Their website) Inexpensive-Expensive

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Mountain & Prairie Region (Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota & North Dakota)

Best Regards (Olathe, KS)- small town gift baskets with big homemade items like the Craves barks, comfort sweets (chocolate dipped Oreos) and tasty cookies. (order online) Moderate

Enstrom’s Toffee (Grand Junction, CO) - amazing planks of that caramelized sugar and butter mixture known as toffee. (order online) Moderate

Hammond’s Candy (Denver, CO) - beautiful hard candies made by hand. (order online) Inexpensive

Xocoatl (Taos) - truffles, nuts and the specialty of the house, spiced chocolate. (order online) Expensive

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Midwest & Ohio River Valley (Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky & West Virigina)

Christopher Elbow (Kansas City, MO) - artisanal chocolates made with fresh ingredients (order online) Expensive

Ethel’s (Chicago) - fine chocolates from Mars ... who knew? (order online) Expensive

Harry London Chocolates (Canton, OH) - Buckeyes (peanut butter chocolates) melty mints, and Cookie Joys. (phone orders only) Moderate

Vosges (Chicago) - spices and teas in fine chocolate. (order online) Expensive

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Northeast (Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont & Maine)

Knipschildt (Norwalk, CT) - fresh nuts, herbs and spices in rich high quality chocolate. (order online) Expensive

Jacques Torres (NYC) - cute molded chocolate, inventive panned items (cornflakes, fruits & nuts), great hot chocolate mixes and of course truffles. (order online) Moderate-Expensive

Lake Champlain (Burlington, VT) - a rather large company now, good quality all natural ingredients. Traditional and high end assortments. (order online) Moderate

MarieBelle (New York) - chocolates cute as a button and swell hot chocolate mixes. (order online)

Sweet Riot (NYC) - chocolate cover cacao nibs in cute ever-changing artistic tins. (order online) Expensive

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Southern Eastern Seaboard (Tennesee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina & Georgia)

Charleston Candy Kitchen & Savannah Candy (Savannah, GA) - crumbly tender pecan pralines, oh the pecans. They’re in everything. (order online) Moderate

Flippin’ Fudge (Canton, GA) - tasty gourmet fudge in cute individually wrapped pieces and fun flavors (I liked the peanut butter). (order online) Moderate
(after I divided up the country I realized that I had only one entry for this region ... I guess it’s something to work on in the new year)

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Gulf Coast & Texas (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma & Texas)

Laemmes Pralines (Austin) - the chewy pecan praline like no other. (order online) Moderate

Laura’s Candies (New Orleans) - open again after Hurricane Katrina, known for their wide selection of traditional and chewy pecan pralines, modest prices and heritage in the French Quarter. (order online) Moderate

Norman Love - stunningly presented chocolates in inventive and comfort food styles. (order online) Expensive

Susie’s South Forty Confections (Midland, TX) - chewy pralines, extraordinarily dense almond toffee and other gift items. (order online) Moderate

Nothing there to your liking? I’ll have more ideas for candy lovin’ gift givin’ over the next few days!

UPDATE (12/10/06): Looks like I’ve been Farked. Welcome new visitors. Just to clarify if you’re not a regular Candy Blog reader, my recommendations above are for places I have actually TRIED and LIKED. Yes, there are gaps and I appreciate everyone’s suggestions for the new year ... it all sounds very tasty!

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:08 pm     CandyGift GuideChristmasFun StuffShopping

Friday, December 8, 2006

Hershey’s Cookies and Brownies

This review is an attempt at disambiguation: there are two limited edition Hershey’s chocolate bars on the market right now, one with chocolate cookie bits and one with brownie bits.

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I’d seen the Limited Edition Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Chocolate earlier this summer but didn’t pick them up because I was only seeing them in the large 4 ounce bar. Finally I found this single serving bar at the Dollar Tree. Lest I think I’m getting a freakishly old bar, I checked the date, which says that it’s going until 7D (April 2007).

The bar is composed of creamy Hershey’s milk chocolate with lots of little chocolate cookie bits in it. It is not unlike the Cookies ‘n’ Mint bar that I like so much, except that it’s missing the mint component.

The bar smells sweet and pleasant and on has a great crunch that gives a little additional dark cocoa hit to the bar.

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The Limited Edition Brownies ‘n’ Chocolate bar is composed of creamy Hershey’s milk chocolate with lots of little chocolate brownie bits in it. The brownie bits are crumbly and more rustic feeling than the cookie bits. They add a sugary grain to the bar, and the whole bar seems slighly softer than the cookie bits one.

The expiration date is identical to the Cookies one, 7D.

As much as I hate to admit it, there is a slight difference between these two bars. The chocolate itself is the same though the Cookies one has more vanilla notes and the Brownies one has more fudgy chocolate taste. The Brownies one was crumbly and grainy tasting, like there were big sugar bits in it the way brownie batter does. The Cookies one tasted dry and crunchy, like Oreo tops.

Is one better than the other? Not really. They’re both kind of fun. They’re both way too sweet and made my throat hurt. They both contain my new pet peeve, PGPR.

The big thing I wanted to figure out was why they brought out these bars at the same time. The only thing that points to an answer is that the Cookies bar is made in Mexico. But I highly doubt that the Mexican factory making bars for the American market didn’t know that the Pennsylvania plant was gearing up for Brownie bars. Or maybe they knew that I’d buy both bars and sit down and do a side to side.

The only indication of superiority between the two is that I finished the Brownies one first.

Name: Cookies 'n' Chocolate & Brownies 'n' Chocolate
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey's
Place Purchased: Dollar Tree (Carson)
Price: $.50
Size: 1.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 143
Categories: Chocolate, Cookie, United States, Hershey's, Limited Edition, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:31 am    

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Pop Rocks Profile in Boston Globe

Pop Rocks played a large part in my recent novel, so I was thrilled to see this little tidbit article about the invention of Pop Rocks in the Boston Globe this morning:

Rock that candy shop
by Joanna Weiss

A little Q&A session with Marv Rudolph about Bill Mitchell, inadvertent inventor of Pop Rocks.

When Bill Mitchell died in December 2004, I read some obituaries, and they made him sound like a mad scientist. I knew the man. He had 44 patents in 35 years. Jell-O, Tang, Cool Whip.

You can buy the whole story in his book, Pop Rocks: The Inside Story of America’s Revolutionary Candy by Marv Rudolph. I think that might need to go on my Christmas wish list.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:54 am     CandyCarbonatedNews

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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 

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COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2547 days

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Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
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ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

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