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January 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Fancy Food Show 2009 Notes - Day Two

Seattle Chocolates has revamped their line of bars, with spiffy moderne designs in bright colors. I want them to make socks, scarves & ties to go with them. (They did actually have some promotional buttons to go with them that I did pick up.)

Picked up some ample samples of Figamajigs with Mint which are just lovely in a white and pale green candy coated lentil style and their Figamajigs Raspberry bar. Love their simple combination of real figs and cocoa with dark chocolate.

Lake Champlain has a lovely line of new organic truffles. I only got to try the fig and honey. It’s a true ganache center, with more of the dark berry tones and touch of caramel sweetness of the honey.

They also featured the return of their fabulous novelty foil treats for Easter.

Chuao looked colorful and spicy as usual. I mentioned that the Firecracker, introduced last year at the All Candy Expo, was a bit too spicy for me and they were happy to report they’ve cut the spice. Sure enough, it’s much easier on my throat, but still has a warm burn to it (plus the fun of the pop rocks).

Seth Ellis Chocolatier has really bold packaging, but what stopped me in my tracks was the Candied Lemons, it’s actually dark chocolate covered candied whole lemon slices. Tangy, zesty, sweet and creamy.

This photo is of their ginger truffle, which I didn’t try, but I did have their lemon truffle and thought that was tasty as well.

L’Estasi Dolce had the best truffle of the day. They do a line of wine infused truffles, but it was the was Lemongrass and Ginger in dark chocolate that was the real winner for me.

New Tree is kind of a sleeper for me, I like that they combine cool flavors, I think their naming is a little kooky and the chocolate a little chalky sometimes… but then again the packaging is pretty. But I was transfixed by their new line Alpha, which has omega 3 fatty acids, courtesy of flax seeds. The Thym bar also has the flavor of thyme in it, it was so fresh and bright and the dark chocolate set it off so well, it was a wonderful fresh taste in a crowded room.

Gifford was a nice find, great traditional wax paper wrapped caramels. Also a great story of a company with a great heritage brought back from bankruptcy.

Ferrara Pan, known for Lemonheads & Atomic Fireballs, has expanded into chocolate panned goodies recently. I tried some of their nuts, but was taken with their Dark Chocolate Covered Biscotti. It’s a mild, semisweet chocolate and a hard, crunchy biscotti bite. Very munchable.


For fans of the discontinued Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites, you’ll be happy to find out that I’ve found the source. They’re at Chocolate Potpourri and called Chocolate Pretzel Balls and are available in milk, dark and white.

On the non-candy front:

Q Tonic was really refreshing, all tonic & citrus and virtually no sweetness.

Dry Soda has a really nice array of soda flavors, no high fructose corn sweetener and a really great not-quite sweet flavor.

Rogue Creamery makes great Blue Cheese. But I think everyone already knows that.

Coach Farms from New York had some lovely goat cheeses, especially their triple cream.

(All photos by Emanuel Treeson, (c) All Rights Reserved)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:41 am     CandyFancy Food ShowFeatured News

Happy Inauguration Day

I know that most folks are glued to their TVs, listening to the radio or viewing streaming versions on the web of this joyous inaugural.

Here’s a confectionery break. (And a break for me, but I’ll have a roundup from Fancy Food posted soon.)

(Chocolates shown are from Cosmic Chocolates, their most popular set right now. Photo by Emanuel Treeson (c) all rights reserved.)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:19 am     CandyFeatured News

Monday, January 19, 2009

Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cluster

Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter ClusterI’m a the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco right now and just completed the first day on the floor as I write this.

One of the items that I’ve tried every year is the Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cluster but never actually saw them in stores until I found them at my local cheese shop. (And then later saw them at Williams-Sonoma.)

Koeze Company used to be known as a tried-and-true roasted nut company, mostly cashews. You may have even gotten it as a corporate gift at some point.

Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cluster (Bloomed)The sad part is that I paid $10.50 for this box of five pieces and it was bloomed. I could have, and probably should have, taken it back for a refund. But I’m kind of lazy and I realized that in this case, they weren’t that bloomed, as in the chocolate wasn’t chalky, so I ate them.

The other cool thing is that I knew I was coming to the Fancy Food Show and would have the opportunity to try them again ... just to confirm.

Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cluster (Bloomed)

The construction of the cluster is pretty simple. A base layer of whole pecans (or are they half pecans?) covered in a thick layer of Koeze’s combination of their peanut butter and “white confection” and then the whole thing is coated in dark chocolate.

A candy that combines pecans and peanut butter certainly isn’t common. What’s great here is that that the elements of each of those nuts is used to its full potential. the pecans are light and crispy with a great woodsy flavor. They’re plentiful and the nice size of the pieces means that it’s a lot of pecans.

The peanut butter layer is the unique selling point here though. While they say it’s white chocolate, close inspection of the ingredient label shows that it’s really “white confection” and sadly contains no cocoa butter. However, things like fractionated palm oil and hydrogenated palm kernel oil aside, what this white confection does is add some dairy to it - some none fat milk and whole milk along with the super fine & creamy peanut butter that Koeze Cream Nut is known for.

It’s not a thick and sticky peanut butter layer, instead it’s a light and creamy peanut cream. A touch of salt but mostly it’s a slick and silky peanut sweet.

The pecans are so light and airy as well, they’re not crushed to bits and packed in there, instead they’re just loosely lumped there, it makes the whole thing feel, simply light.

The dark chocolate is also silky smooth. More of a semi sweet than a really dark, it holds it all together, but the nuts are the true star.

There’s really nothing else like it on the market. It’s extremely munchable, very satisfying.

My big complaints, really, are the price and the pseudo-cocoa butter. But good nuts are worth it. And if you have the money or what to give an indulgent gift to a nut lover, this is a pretty good option.

(I'm experiencing a few tech problems and will add the info box after the Fancy Food Show.)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:37 am    

Fancy Food Show 2009 Notes - Day One

The 2009 Winter Fancy Food Show is back in San Francisco and huge. It takes up both halls of the Moscone Center and on Sunday, the opening day, I got through about one half of the floor.

Here are some random notes:

B.T. McElrath, the Minneapolis artisan chocolatier, rolled out their new line of bars with a preview of the new packaging and tasting of all four.

The star for me was their bar called Salty Dog Salty Dog (Dark Chocolate, Toffee Chips & Salt). The others are a Passion Fruit, Tangerine & Chocolate bar, Chile Limon Chocolate Bar and a Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate (40% cacao).

The actual molding of the bars is nice. It’s segmented and each is a little dome, so it’s easy to break apart for portioning. They come in cellophane sleeves and then inside a paperboard box. The design of the box is quite nice, a bit of a changeup from the usual design for McElrath, each is coded with a different pattern at the top of the box and then a picture of the bar on the front. It’s a nice effect when you see them all together on a shelf.

Other new bars that caught my attention were:

Scharffen Berger has a super dark milk chocolate bar. It’s 68% cacao. Add in some milk and some crushed cacao nibs and there’s not much room for sugar. It’s very mellow and not quite as malty as the Milk Nibby bar I’m so fond of.

I found two places out on the floor that were sampling KShocolat (website), a wonderful chocolate company I’ve tried before but can’t find a good source for in the United States. I’ve been looking for their dark chocolate and cardamom bar and have previewed it and can say, I love the combination. I’ll have more on that in a few weeks.

I stopped by Melville’s, which is always fun. I love their honey spoons (though they’re kind of expensive) so I love to get samples. They have so many new items. One is a new line of the spoons for drinks that are made with real cinnamon sticks instead of wooden sticks, so it will really give your cocoa or tea a flavor pop. Other items were beautiful new molded lollipops (the bees were so cute), a line of big fruit & vegetable pops (yes, a buttered popcorn pop like an ear of corn).

My favorite new item of the show though is probably the unique one. Impressions Fine Foods Hot Chocolate Mochi Krunch - spicy brown rice crackers covered in dark chocolate. It might not sound like much, but I can see being angry that these aren’t sold in bigger packages.

It’s a little disk, about the size of a quater of puffed brown rice. A little salty, it has a natural sweet and nutty flavor and then it’s covered in chocolate. There are plain milk & dark and of course the spicy one.

Other notable non-candy nibbles (because I try other things):

Big Island Bee’s was previewing a vanilla infused ‘Ohi’a Lehua Blossom honey. It’s more like a spread and has wonderful malt, vanilla and beeswax notes.

Fabrique Delices Artisnal Charcuterie had an awesome duck procsciutto that I really have to find for my next cheese plate.

Guittard has a few things for bakers & home chocolatiers. One that I thought really fills a need is the Guittard Extra Dark (63%) Chocolate Chips (no extra cocoa butter). Not at all chalky or bitter, but much less sweet than their semi-sweet, the “less cocoa butter” part will help them keep their shape ... and they’d probably make really good hot chocolate.

(All photos by Emanuel Treeson, (c) All Rights Reserved)

Related Candies

  1. Scharffen Berger Milk Nibby Bar
  2. Short & Sweet: Fancy Food Bites
  3. Fancy Food Show 2008 Notes - Part Two
  4. Fancy Food Show 2008 Notes - Part One
  5. Guittard Akoma Fair Trade Chocolate Chips
  6. Melville Candy Company Honey Spoons
  7. Show Notes - Fancy Food Show - Tuesday

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:49 am     CandyFancy Food ShowFeatured News

Friday, January 16, 2009

Mike and Ike Italian Ice

In Los Angeles this week it’s been in the eighties. Yes, in January. So the thought of Mike and Ike Italian Ice doesn’t feel a bit out of place in this strange heat spell.

Mike and Ike Italian Ice Flavors

Though Mike and Ike are available in single serve bags, I see them most often in the movie boxes. I think it’s cool, I like the bold designs on them and of course they’re usually a better value than the single serve. But the packaging itself has been bugging me for a while. Inside the rather large box (for something that holds 4.2 ounces) is a plastic bag. I’d be just as happy to pick up a peg bag for the same one dollar as the box. (A package that collapses as you eat it is handy, too.)

To have both the box and the bag is wasteful, though probably ensures freshness and keeps the soft candies from getting crushed.

I’ve had my fair share of Italian Ice over the years, though usually in the little cups from the convenience store freezer. And always lemon. What distinguishes Italian Ice flavors from other fruity flavors? There’s no indication on the box, except that it tells me that it has Your Favorite Italian Ice Flavors. Which isn’t exactly true, since as I mentioned, I really just like lemon and they’ve put four other unnecessary flavors in here.

image

The colors are similar to a set of highlighter pens. A little less vivid, a little less dark than the regular Mike and Ike.

The flavors here are:

Light Red = Cherry: A light woodsy cherry flavor. Because the color isn’t quite as dark, I’m guessing it didn’t need as much food coloring so I don’t get a typical bitter aftertaste. Which makes this a flavor that I don’t have to avoid. (Though it was still the last flavor left after I picked over them anyway.)

Light Blue = Blue Raspberry: this one has flavors on the darker end of the raspberry flavor profile, kind of like jam. But then there was a pop of menthol or mint in there. I don’t know if this was the Italian Ice part of it that was supposed to emulate that cool feeling of sorbet, but really it just make me think I was eating a cough drop.

Light Green = Watermelon: Grossly artificial tasting and a strange aftertaste, especially when paired with the citrus ones. (Bitter & slightly medicinal.) Bad artificial watermelon may replace my dislike of cherry very soon.

Light Orange = Orange: Nice blend of orange essence and orange juice flavors. Could use a little bit more tartness.

Light Yellow = Lemon: Light, tangy but also a little fizzy. Didn’t quite have a minty taste. Becomes rather sweet and flavorless quickly.

As you can guess, my favorite assortment so far was been the Mike and Ike Alex’s Lemonade Stand. But Tangy Twister comes in second and if you look sharp in late February you’ll probably see the Jelly Bean variety for Easter as well (I bought them last year on an after-holiday sale and, well, ate them).

Other reviews of the Italian Ice: Candy Addict and Wisconsin Candy Dish.

These are filled with artificial colors & flavors but are technically vegan.

Related Candies

  1. Dots Elements: Earth, Air, Fire & Water
  2. Organic Zootons
  3. Good and Fruity
  4. Hot Tamales Ice
  5. Mike and Ike Jolly Joes
  6. Mike and Ike Orange ‘n Cream
Name: Mike and Ike Italian Ice
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Just Born
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Echo Park)
Price: $1.00 (on sale)
Size: 4.2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 104
Categories: Jelly, United States, Just Born

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:21 am    

Page 3 of 5 pages  < 1 2 3 4 5 > 

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