March is over, which means that Candy Season is coming to a close with Easter on Sunday. I’ve decided to start doing a monthly recap of things related to Candy Blog and the candy world mostly because I’ve been running a lot of reports at my day job so I figured I’d do the same here just to kind of track some tends.

Last year I asked readers which candy holiday was their favorite and 45% stated Halloween, but Easter was in second place with 25% of the votes. It’s by far my favorite, perhaps because of the pleasant colors but also because it’s a much more intimate candy holiday - it’s about family and friends, not begging from strangers.

The latest poll was What do you prefer: Egg, Bunny, Chick or Bean?. I admit it’s a pretty vague poll and I chose egg myself, not for the Cadbury Creme Eggs but for Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs and Cadbury Mini Eggs.

Previous polls revealed that while 39% of responding readers don’t like Peeps at all, ones that do prefer stale to fresh but 12% simply don’t care how they’re treated or prepared, they’ll eat them any way.

Chocolate bunnies are a different matter.

By the number of votes compared to the egg, bunny, chick or bean poll, people like chocolate rabbits. They also agree that if they’re for eating, they should be good quality.

In candy news one of the big developments has been the old good news & bad news scenario. More studies are being done on chocolate’s positive health benefits, especially for the cardiovascular system. The latest study released shows that even small amounts are great for overall heart health and reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Chocolate, especially very dark chocolate, reduces blood pressure, increases elasticity of blood vessels and may reduce inflammation. The caution though is moderation - if you’re going to eat a lot of chocolate, which is high in calories, make sure you reduce other discretionary calories appropriately. So instead of those chips and dip and later that bowl of ice cream, have some chocolate throughout the day.

But the flip side of that is news that fatty foods can be associated with addiction in the same way that drugs can.

Earlier in March I also attended ExpoWest, which is a trade show for natural products held at the Anaheim Convention Center. The exhibits take up the entire show floor and though the majority were not of a candy nature, there still were at least 50 that did have candy or chocolate. Fair Trade, organic and fortified still seem to be the primary selling points. Many big companies that we’re familiar with that use artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners were exhibiting new product lines that are more wholesome versions - real natural ingredients and more traditional candy-making methods that appeal to natural product buyers. Raw chocolate has been around for a few years but this is the first time I’ve tried versions that rival the roasted stuff. (I’ll have reviews of those at some point when I get a hold of some actual whole product instead of a few bites here and there.)

Most Popular Candy Blog Posts for March 2010

1. Coconut M&Ms - these were initially released as a limited edition item and I reviewed them last year, but now as they’re hitting the store shelves as a new item there’s a lot of renewed interest.

2. Cadbury Mini Eggs - I’ve loved these things my whole life even though Hershey’s has mucked with the classic recipe by adding PGPR. Based on the number of visitors to that post every year around this time, I’m not alone in my love for the little morsels.

3. Kinder Surprise Egg

4. Reese’s Eggs - it doesn’t matter that I’ve reviewed several newer versions, the classic is the classic. 

5. Skittles - yeah, just plain old Skittles. This post from 2007 includes the classic Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies (discontinued) and Sour (reformulated).

6. CVS Marshmallow Pop

7. Wonka Scrumdiddlyumptious

8. Reese’s Line

9. Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits - probably should have been called Bubbling Berries.

10. Chocolate Covered Peeps

Though I treasure my faithful readers and how they spread the word about Candy Blog, a fair number of visitors are just passing through via a search engine. I like to share these because it gives a sense of what the candy conversations are out there in the real world. Here are the most popular search phrases for March 2010:

1. Coconut M&Ms
2. Cadbury Mini Eggs
3. Extinguisher Candy
4. Kinder Eggs
5. Kazoozles
6. Almond Joy Pieces
7. Nestle Promotion Code (I actually don’t have any promotion codes on Candy Blog)
8. York Pieces
9. Turkish Delight recipe
10. Choxie

At the beginning of the month I moved from my old domain (typetive.com) to candyblog.net. I was afraid that beyond my regular readers that new readers wouldn’t find me, but it turns out that Google is pretty quick to catch up on spidering the new site. For a couple of weeks some photos were missing, but I think things are humming along smoothly now.

The dominant theme for March here on Candy Blog was obviously Easter, and with the 2010 season I’ve now reviewed more than 100 Easter candy products so far. I took about 1,600 candy photos this month (of course only about 200 were uploaded to Flickr and only

But I’m not alone in reviewing Easter candy, check out these excellent roundups - I’m going to guess that between and and the other diligent candy bloggers we’ve covered just about everything on the market:

Sugar Pressure’s Easter Candy Reviews
ZOMGCandy!‘s Easter Candy Reviews
The Candy Enthusiast’s Easter Candy Reviews
Candy Yum Yum’s Easter Candy Reviews
On Motivation and Chocolate’s Easter Candy Reviews
Gigi Reviews Easter Candy Reviews
Serious Eats has a serious obsession with Peeps
Chocablog’s Easter Chocolate Reviews
TodoCandy has Easter Candy Shopping
Jim’s Chocolate Mission’s 2009 Easter Archive (he didn’t tag Easter candy this year)
Candy Critic’s Easter Posts

Easter Dots come in one of the happiest looking boxes I’ve seen in a long time.

They’re also crazy cheap, most of the time a theater box like this that holds 7 ounces is just a buck. When I looked at the flavors on this box I was a little confused about what made these an Easter version besides the box (Mike and Ike come in holiday boxes that are the exact same candy). The flavors are Blueberry, Lemon, Lime, Cherry and Orange. The flavors of the classic Dots box are Strawberry, Lemon, Lime, Cherry and Orange. So in this version the Strawberry has been swapped for Blueberry.

These were very fresh. Tootsie does a good job of sealing up the boxes well and Dots have a clear cellophane overwrap.

Once I opened the box I found out the big difference, it’s the color. Easter Dots are bright and opaque little nubbins.

Well, maybe there was another difference. These seem to be just as smooth but have a “shorter” chew to them, so they didn’t stick to my teeth like Dots usually do. I liked the freshness of the flavors, though it’s a little bland it’s also soothing. The blueberry was pretty convincing though I wish that one replaced the cherry instead of the strawberry.

Rating: 6 out of 10

I’ve been searching all over for these for the past month and finally found them at Whole Foods yesterday ... not with the candy but at the end of the cereal aisle.

Divine Milk Chocolate Speckled Eggs are all natural and fair trade milk chocolate eggs with a candy shell.

They’re freakishly expensive at $4.99 for 3.5 ounces, far more than I’d be willing to pay on a regular basis. I really only bought them because I’d been searching so hard for them it seemed weird to find them and then get decide they were too expensive. The chocolate is made from beans from the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa cooperative in Ghana. Seems like Easter is one of those holidays where folks may want to pay more attention to the social responsibility behind the treats.

The stand up box is charming. Inside is a little clear cellophane bag with a little more than a handful of eggs.

They’re very similar to Cadbury Mini Eggs. The shape is more football than pear. They beautiful muted colors and a matte finish.

The shell is smooth and softly decorated. The shell is quite thick and crunchy. The chocolate inside has a silky melt, a little sticky with a good caramelized dairy note. I liked them a lot and will probably buy them again next year. Hopefully they can be found in larger packages for better value. (Also, Whole Foods could do a better job of putting them where people can find them. I went to three different stores and it wasn’t until the fourth circuit of the one at 3rd & Fairfax that I found them - even after asking a stockperson.)

Rating: 7 out of 10

The Sour Patch Bunnies are like many other Easter versions of regular candies. As you can imagine these are little bunny shaped candies instead of being shaped like spiky haired children.

I liked the box a lot, it was easy to tell apart from the regular Sour Patch offerings. The only quibble is really the packaging. Like many theater box candies, inside the box the candy is inside a plain cellophane bag. As I mentioned above, the Dots are just tumbling around in the box and there’s a cellophane seal on the outside. For this version I have to open the box top completely to get the bag out, dump the candy into the box and then I’m faced with an opening that is really too large for dispensing.

They’re a little lighter in color compared to the Sour Patch Kids. Honestly, I prefer this. They’re colored enough that I can tell them apart and guess the flavor and that’s really all I need. Other than that, the shape was so vague, unless you told me these were bunnies I wouldn’t have known. Pink is the classic Swedish Fish flavor with a tangy coating. Green is lime, yellow is lemon and orange is orange. A biting sour coating, a chewy sweet jelly candy in the center ... they’re great.

Rating: 7 out of 10

I bought this Russell Stover Peanut Butter Pastelle Rabbit online from Russell Stover. I just couldn’t find it in the stores and thought it was a unique product.

The rabbit is similar to the white chocolate one I tried last year (and didn’t like that much, so I wonder why I was curious about this one). It’s a peanut butter coating (like peanut butter baking chips) with a peanut butter filling.

The three ounce flat rabbit is nicely molded. The butterscotch color is also really appealing. It smells like vanilla pudding and peanut butter. The coating though is a bit waxy and stiff, it melts but not in a dreamy way that good white chocolate does. But it’s not too sweet, which is a relief as well. The filling is a crumbly peanut butter with a salty note and a dry grainy crunch. I kind of got into it. I’d prefer it in a smaller format though, maybe one of the smaller eggs they do.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Brach’s Classic Jelly Bird Eggs are cheap jelly beans. I don’t know what classic is, the package gives no indication what the flavors are.

They’re only 99 cents for a generous 9 ounce bag. Even at that bargain price, they’re not much of a deal. They’re pretty enough to look at and probably decorate with, but they’re inconsistent in flavor and execution. I also resent not knowing what’s inside. It’s not like the bag is tiny and has no room for information like the flavor array.

White is pineapple. It’s sweet and floral but bland. Green is lime and rather strong but lacking zest. Purple is grape and is utterly stupid ... seriously, it tastes like sweet stupidity. Black is licorice. All of the black ones seemed to be smaller than the other jelly beans. Still, they were tasty and well done. Pink is bitter and just dreadful. Perhaps it’s strawberry. Red is not as bitter but still dreadful. Orange is sweet and empty. Finally there’s yellow, which is actually pretty good, it’s like a sugared lemon peel.

Rating: 4 out of 10

So as annoying as I found the Classic beans, you’d think I would be happy with the Brach’s Spiced Jelly Bird Eggs which are quite clear on the front that they feature spice flavors.

I was hoping for rich flavors, but of course I know Brach’s well enough that I really won’t be getting much more than a decent looking product. The bag doesn’t promise much more than a good value, so I should probably adjust my expectations.

Red is a mild cinnamon, not as good as Hot Tamales and kind of tinged with some of the mint notes, but still pleasant like a cup of spiced chai. White is peppermint. I have to say that a peppermint jelly bean is a little odd especially since it’s so grainy but still fresh tasting. Pink is wintergreen which I really love except when there’s too much food dye like this one that has a weird bitter clove & plastic aftertaste - but at moments it’s kind of like root beer. Purple is clove and is actually mild enough for me to enjoy though true clove lovers will probably be disappointed. Orange is sweet and again lacking in any pizazz. Black is again licorice and pretty good (though it makes my tongue dark green).

I think the problem is that I’ve already had some pretty good spice jelly beans from Hot Tamales (Just Born) and there’s really no need to switch brands, the price is comparable, availability is the only issue.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Related Candies

1. Halloween Dots: Bat, Candy Corn & Ghost
2. Divine Fair Trade Chocolate
3. Whoppers Reese’s Peanut Butter Flavored Candy
4. Dots Elements: Earth, Air, Fire & Water
5. Cadbury Popping Mini Eggs
6. Hot Tamales Spice Jelly Beans
7. Cadbury Mini Eggs

Lovely little candy coated milk chocolate eggs with natural colorings. On top of that, they’re fair trade.

Ferrara Pan has been expanding their candy line significantly in the past five years. Their new chocolate line is supposed to give Toblerone a run for its money and their new Easter candies may challenge Farley’s & Sathers.

I picked up this rather classic mix called Chicks & Bunnies Jelly Candy. They’re sugar sanded jelly candies in the shape of baby chickens or rabbits in fruit flavors. They’re made in the United States and unlike gummi candies, these jellies are made with sugar and starch so they’re probably okay for vegans. They’re also dirt cheap. I got this 9.5 ounce bag for 88 cents at Rite Aid.

The pieces are big and nicely shaped. The mass is similar to to an Orange Slice jelly candy. The chunky bunnies and chicks were rather ordinary but easy to handle. I ate them in two bites, but I suppose one would make a large portion.

Red = Cherry: The First thing to know about these jelly candies is that they’re similar to Orange Slices. They’re sweet and firm but very smooth. They’re also not tangy, it’s all about the sweet and aromatics of the flavor. Cherry is more like a cherry bubble gum than a wild cherry. It reminded me of Cherry Chapstick.

Orange = Orange: Yup, this is an Orange Slice, only in the shape of a little chick. I like the ones that have really strong zest flavors and this one isn’t the best I’ve ever had but would certainly sooth an aching craving.

Yellow = Lemon: Was I complaining about the lack of zest in the Orange? Lemon has oodles of it, so much I think it burned a hole in my tongue. They’re zippy, I tell you.

Purple = Grape: This was weird. It didn’t taste like grapes smell, like the rest of these flavors. Instead it was like some scented stationery I bought a garage sale when I was a teenager. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after being in an enclosed space with it for too long, I couldn’t even stomach being in the same room.

Uncolored = Pineapple: These smelled so nice, so pretty. A combination of lilies, strawberries and cotton candy. It didn’t taste like much, more like a weak pina colada, but still it was a fresh change of pace.

Green = Lime: This was a surprise. It wasn’t the typical lime, that flavor ruined by floor cleaners and cheap men’s aftershave. This was more like a soft whisper of key lime zest.

These are not exciting, they’re not revolutionary. They’re just some nicely made and inoffensive jelly candies. The kind of candy that just about everyone will eat, few will love and fewer will hate. Perfect if you need to decorate on a budget. (Seriously, instead of getting some little ocean fowling Chinese-made plastic doo dads, just grab a bag of these and put them on cupcakes or put on long bamboo skewers and add to a bouquet of daffodils.)

They also had another new product called Gummy Bunnies on the shelves that I didn’t buy. Maybe one of the other candy bloggers will pick them up. (Photo here.)

Related Candies

1. Lemonhead & Friends Jelly Beans
2. Spearmint Leaves
3. Gourmet Gumdrops
4. Marich Easter Select Mix
5. Necco Paas Gummi Baby Bunnies
6. Harry & David Fall Leaves Fruit Gels
7. The Real Jelly Babies