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May 2008

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Candy Tease: All Candy Expo 2008 #3

imageName: Ice Cream Parlor Mix
Brand: Jelly Belly
Description: Ice Cream Parlor Mix 3.1 oz and 6.5 oz bags - Featuring Cold Stone Creamery’s top signature creations: Chocolate Devotion, Our Strawberry Blonde, Birthday Cake Remix, Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Apple Pie a la Cold Stone.
Release: 3/1/2008
Notes: Jelly Belly was promoting these at the Fancy Food Show, but I didn’t get a sample of them (but I did get a $5 Cold Stone gift card!). Finally I have a bag and will have some notes on those soon. I haven’t tried them all, but I have very little faith in this mix, mostly because I wouldn’t want to combine my apple pie with my mint chocolate chip & strawberry.

Name: Holiday Sugar Babies
Brand: Charms
Description: Same great tasting Sugar Babies presented in red, white & green.
Release: 1/1/2008
Notes: While I wasn’t blown away by the Caramel Apple Sugar Babies, if these are just a candy shell over the Sugar Babies caramel, I might like them. Look for them later this year.

imageName: Brach’s Theater Boxes
Brand: Brach’s (Farley’s & Sathers)
Description: The rich, decadent taste of Brach’s(r) chocolate make their debut in theater boxes. Double Dipped and California Raisins, are joined by new Toffee Crunch, Mint Pearls, and Chocolate Covered Milk-Maid(r) Caramels for today’s grab and go lifestyles.
Release: 5/20/2008
Notes: I might go to the movies more often if I could get some sort of chocolate covered almond toffee crunch at the concession stand.

Name: Sunkist Fruit and Sour Fruit Gummies
Brand: Healthy Food Brands
Description: They are a great-tasting, “better-for-you” fruit gummy candy that has 35% less sugar than the average leading gummy brands and contain 100% RDA of Vitamin C with only 70 calories per serving.
Release: 04/15/08
Notes: These are not to be confused with the current Sunkist Fruit Gems made by Jelly Belly (which are essentially vegan). They have less sugar not just because they’re made with fruit juice, but they’re also made with sorbitol (not as the sole sweetener though).

(images courtesy of the respective manufacturers)

Related Candies

  1. Brach’s Gummi+Plus & Tropical Gummis
  2. Jelly Belly - All Natural
  3. Sunkist Fruit Gems
  4. Jelly Belly Soda Pop Shoppe
  5. Chocolate Covered Sugar Babies

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:33 pm     All Candy ExpoCandyNew Product AnnouncementFeatured News

Crackheads

One of the more timely items I got from the All Candy Expo folks is this box of Crackheads candy. It’s been around for at least a year, but I haven’t seen it in stores.

Crackheads

I first saw them on ThinkGeek and reviewed on CandyAddict. I wasn’t terribly interested in them, after all, they’re just chocolate covered coffee beans, not exactly an innovative new product. The unique selling proposition in this case is that they’re in “single serve” boxes and come as a mix of both white chocolate and dark chocolate coatings.

The boxes look similar to Lemonheads or Boston Baked Beans. Easily portable and resealable.

Crackheads Close-UpThey’re really nicely panned coffee beans. Though they’re not all consistent in size, the panning is excellent with shiny coats and well-tempered chocolate. The white chocolate is real white chocolate made with cocoa butter. The mellow malty milky flavors go really well with the coffee bean. This was the first time I’d had a white chocolate coated one, and it’s a natural match - the fatty sweetness with the dairy flavors are pretty much a dense version of a latte.

The dark verison are not nearly as sweet, but still provides a nice counterpoint to the dark and lightly bitter beans. The beans are crunchy without being fiberous or too burnt tasting. My box had a bit more white chocolate to it, but I was okay with that.

imageThe “creator” of Crackheads, John Osmanski, was on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch last night on CNBC. The segment was One Minute to Millions where they featured a panel of three experts: Kevin Nealon (who was there promoting his book and probably provided the consumer point of view), Pam Macharola of Blair Candy and Brian Pipa of Candy Addict!

The product was introduced with a little pretaped segment. It made no mention of the fact that chocolate covered espresso beans have been around for at least 30 years. They’re pretty widely available, at least in specialty stores or at coffee locations like Starbucks (and of course the new Hershey’s Starbucks chocolates). While the back of the box has a breakdown of caffeine content of other beverages (cocoa, cola, tea, coffee & espresso), it doesn’t exactly spell out the caffeine content of the actual product. However, the Crackheads website pegs it at about 120 mgs (about half of a cup of coffee).

imageOsmanski introduced the product as a solution to those low caffeine moments, especially for students and academics.

The new tagline “because everyone’s addicted to something” works well with the name. The product packaging has been redesigned since my sample (you can see the new one here). But the general consensus from the panel was that the name would never have the wide appeal that would guarantee it placement on the shelves of stores like Walmart (which might be necessary to make millions off a single $2 product). Instead it would probably stay in places like Think Geek and coffee houses (where it’s currently found).

imageWhile I think it’s a good quality product, the packaging feels a bit downscale, not rising to the $2 per package price tag - which translates to over $24 per pound (the Starbucks version is about $12 a pound). The name, which tries to co-opt drug culture fails ... there may be other names that might fit the addiction tag better (but I’m not going to come up with it here, Osmanski has a blog if you want to give him feedback directly). Perhaps coming up with two lines, one under this name and another more mainstream version would be a success story worthy of follow up on Donny Deutsch.

(I suspect that Osmanium doesn’t actually manufacturer these, just repacks them, as they package says that they are made in a facility that processes peanuts & tree nuts. The website also says that they’re Kosher. My prime candidate as the maker of these is Koppers Chocolates.)

Related Candies

  1. Starbucks Chocolate
  2. Snickers Charged
  3. Caffe Acapella - Coffee Confections
  4. Java Twix
  5. Green & Black’s Espresso Chocolate
  6. Pocket Coffee
Name: Crackheads
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Osmanium
Place Purchased: samples from All Candy Expo
Price: $2.00 retail
Size: 1.3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 146
Categories: Chocolate, White Chocolate, Coffee, United States, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:52 am    

Candy Tease: All Candy Expo 2008 #2

Name: Firecracker ChocoPod & Firecracker Chocolate Bar
Brand: Chuao
Description: Firecracker is the newest unusual, unexpected and delicious flavor from Chuao Chocolatier. Firecracker is a perfect balance of Chipotle Chile, Salt and Popping Candy in Venezuelan dark chocolate for an arousing experience.
Release: 5/15/2008
Notes: The idea of pop rocks in chocolate isn’t exactly new, but I would certainly like to try a good version of it. (I also have a Christopher Elbow one on hand.) Chuao is also expanding their ChocoPods to include their most popular bar flavors such as Chinita Nibs.

Name: Sea Salt Almonds, Sea Salt Cashews & Fruit and Nut Mix
Brand: Mama Mellace’s Naturals Line (Mellace Family Brands)
Description: Mama Mellace is all about simple, homemade goodness and natural ingredients. That is why we oven-roast our almonds & cashews for a natural crunch without added oils, no butter and nothing to detract from Mama’s classic treat. Sprinkled with a hint of sea salt and mixed with real fruits, our Naturals line includes wholesome snacks created out of Mama’s desire to make an uncomplicated snack, simply better.
Release Date: 5/1/2008
Notes: I have a sample of the cashews to try, they look really good. I don’t know about the retail price for them but I expect it to be prohibitive for everyday uncomplicated snacking.

Name: Milk Chocolate with Peanut Butter Filling
Brand: Ghirardelli
Description: Satisfy your inner child and your inner gourmet with our new Peanut Butter Squares(TM) chocolate and bar. Our tempting new recipe is the perfect combination of intense creamy milk chocolate and gourmet peanut butter with crunchy peanuts roasted to perfection. Ghirardelli - Moments of Timless Pleasure.
Release Date: 3/1/2008
Notes: The market for milk chocolate and peanut butter is pretty crowded, so I’m having trouble figuring out what will be so great about this that I’d chose it over other items. I have one to try ... so we’ll find out.

Related Candies

  1. Candy Tease: All Candy Expo 2008 #1
  2. Ghirardelli Intense Dark
  3. Candy Tease: Edition Five
  4. Candy Tease: Edition Four
  5. Chuao ChocoPod Collection
  6. Chuao ChocoPods

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:03 am     All Candy ExpoCandyNew Product AnnouncementFeatured News

Monday, May 19, 2008

All Candy Expo in a Box

All Candy Expo Sample BoxIt all starts tomorrow, bright and early on Tuesday morning in Chicago.

As I mentioned before, the National Confectioners Association, which runs the All Candy Expo, sent me a box of goodies so I wouldn’t feel left out by not attending.

The package says that it’s 20 lbs (last year I brought home 60 lbs ... but I think I ended up giving away about 20). It’s a fabulous assortment.

While there are a few things that I’d never pick up for myself, things like jerky, chips, and many packages of gum, those quickly found homes. But there were also plenty of samples, full sized things, that I might not have been able to score by myself on the floor. Some other items I’ve already found in stores and reviewed here (Wonka Giant Chewy Nerds, Starburst Gummi Bursts, Figamajigs, Craves, and a few others).

Here’s a small sampling of the items I’ll be able to talk about this week:

  • Toxic Waste
  • WOWzerz Sour Powder Bubble Gum
  • Parker Products Raspberry & Cream Bar
  • Pure Fun Peppermint Canes
  • Indulge Gourmet Ribbles
  • Crackheads
  • Assembly of All Candy Expo - by Michael J. Hartman

  • Chocolate Covered Pretzel Crisps
  • Mama Mellace’s Chocolate Covered Roasted Cashews
  • Albanese Confectionery Chocolate Covered Biscotti
  • Glee Gum Bubble Gum Flavor
  • Nintendo Wii KLIK-on Candy Dispenser
  • Marshmallow Farms
  • Bratz Candy Jewelry
  • Hannah Montana Glamour Guitar & Picture Ring Lollipops
  • Albanese Confectionery Gummi Butterflies
  • Hissee Fit Snake Lollipop (I actually already had some of these)
  • Chocolate PEZ
  • Sunrise Sour Slices
  • US Honey Bee Hard Candy
  • Primrose Fabulous Fall Caramel Swirls
  • Darrell Lea Soft Eating Licorice
  • ChocoPods Firecracker
  • Ghirardelli Milk & Peanut Butter Bar
  • Bloomsberry & Co Climate Change Bar & Beauty Bar
  • Roca 60% Cacao Buttercrunch Thins
  • Kohler Original Recipe Chocolate Cherry Almond Bar
  • Cote d’Or Experiences Cocoa Nibs 70% Cacao
  • Cote d’Or Experiences Milk Creamy - Smooth
  • Sunkist Better for You! Fruit Gummies
  • Aura Clip’n'Go Mints (I actually got samples last year that I still haven’t written about)
  • Jelly Belly Ice Cream Parlor Mix (Cold Stone Creamery)
  • Baskin-Robbins Soft Candy - Mint Chocolate Chip
  • Tortuga Rum Fudge (Coconut)
  • Assembly of All Candy Expo - by Michael J. Hartman

  • Peeps Chocolate Mousse (Bears & Bunnies)
  • Madelaine Milk Chocolate Lolly Pops
  • Chocolate Peanut Crumblz!
  • Funley’s Stix in the Mud
  • The bold ones are those that I’m planning reviews of (but ya never know). There are dozens of other items that were in the box, of course, but not things that are likely to be included on Candy Blog.

    The photos shown here are from a reader, Michael J. Hartman, who is working behind the scenes. These were taken on Saturday as everything was being loaded into the McCormick center for the show. Some of the very elaborate booths require cranes to assemble and of course days.

    You can check in here as I upload my photos on Flickr.

    Related Candies

    1. Candy Tease: All Candy Expo 2008 #1
    2. Candy Giveaway! The Ultimate Candy Box
    3. All Candy Expo - Tuesday Noon Update
    4. All Candy Expo - Monday Noon Update
    5. House of Chocolate Blues

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:40 pm     All Candy ExpoCandyFeatured News

    Candy Tease: All Candy Expo 2008 #1

    imageName: Emergency Chocolate
    Brand: Bloomsberry & Co.
    Description: 1 oz all natural premium chocolate bars. Milk 34% cocoa. Dark 55% cocoa. Perfect impulse personal consumption items!
    Release Date: 4/1/2008
    Notes: Bloomsberry is all about the cute packaging, and this item is no exception. Instead of their usual 3 ounce bar, this one is, as the copy says, only one ounce, so a nice little indulgence and probably a bit easier on the pocketbook.

    Name: M&Ms Premiums
    Brand: Mars
    Description: Will come in five flavors, Triple Chocolate, Chocolate Almond (how is this different from the current Almond M&Ms?), Mint, Mocha, Raspberry Almond.
    Release Date: June 2008
    Notes: I’m not sure how different these are from some of the current limited edition offerings. According to Adweek they’ll be priced at more than $3 for a 6 ounce bag but my guess is that they’ll come in at about $6 like the recent Cherry Cordial ones.

    imageName: Baskin-Robbins Soft Candy
    Brand: Best Sweets, Inc.
    Description: The newest addition to the Baskin-Robbins Soft Candy line allows you take the fun and great taste of Mint Chocolate Chip and Very Berry Strawberry Baskin-Robbins ice cream with you - no matter where the day takes you! Made with real cream and the texture of these time-honored ice cream flavors, this new format is sure to be a hit.
    Release Date: 5/5/2008
    Notes: I have a sample of these to try in the Mint Chocolate Chip, which I must admit was one of my favorite flavors to get when I’d go to Baskin-Robbins as a kid.

    (images courtesy of the manufacturers’ press kits)

    Related Candies

    1. Candy Tease: Edition Five
    2. Candy Tease: Edition Four
    3. Candy Teases: Edition Three
    4. Candy Teases: Edition Two
    5. Candy Teases - New Products

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:06 am     All Candy ExpoCandyNew Product AnnouncementFeatured News

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