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August 2010

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mandy’s Old Fashioned Confections: Butterscotch & Caramel

Mandy's Butterscotch Hard CandyAh, Mandy’s Old Fashioned Confections. Just look at that charming packaging, how it speaks of artisans stirring a copper kettle of gooey butterscotch with a wooden paddle. Why, I can just picture Mandy herself swooping in to affirm that the mixture was cooked to perfection before it’s dumped onto a generations-old marble slab to cool.

In reality Mandy’s is distributed by ASA Foods, a 16 year old Southern California importer. They also make candy under the brand Fusion Gourmet, their best known candies are the Bali’s Best Coffee and Tea candies. All of their candy (as far as I know) is made in Indonesia ... a place that certainly knows about coffee.

While I may make fun it, the packaging is nice. The Butterscotch Flavored Hard Candy was nicely priced; I picked up this package for a dollar at the 99 Cent Only Store. It says it has 40 individually wrapped pieces and weighs 5 ounces. The ingredients are decent too:

Glucose syrup, sugar, unsalted butter, milk powder, whey powder, salt, artificial butterscotch flavor, soy lecithin.

Mandy's Old Fashioned Butterscotch

Each piece is individually wrapped. Sealed tight. Yup, no moisture getting in there. They’re a little tricky to get open, but having spent some time in high humidity areas recently I can appreciate how that would make these even more appealing.

The candies are cute little disks, they’re just shy of one inch around (about the size of a quarter). They’re smooth and have a satisfying clink when dropped on a hard surface (and an unsatisfying tendency to split into a bajillion pieces when dropped on a hard surface). The package calls them Rich, Creamy and Buttery and I’m inclined to agree. They are wonderfully smooth. The melt is slow and silky, though not sticky. The butter flavor is good, though artificially flavored it doesn’t taste like microwave popcorn. There’s a light note of salt and a milky background to it. They’re like little toffee pieces, easy to crunch. Far to easy to crunch. That’s the way I was eating them, just crunching them up. Sometimes they’d get stuck in my teeth a little bit.

Mandy's Caramel Hard CandyThe second flavor I found for Mandy’s Old Fashioned Confections was the Caramel Flavored Hard Candy. This package is largely identical to the Butterscotch. This one describes the candy as Rich, Smooth and Creamy and uses browns as the predominant background color.

The description on the back of the package also says that Mandy’s makes an Orange Soda variety.

The package depicts the candies as dark brown in color, like coffee and cream. But the reality is not quite that way (though really not disappointing either). I put the caramel and butterscotch ones next to each other. See if you can tell the difference:

Mandy's Old Fashioned Butterscotch & Caramel

I don’t remember which is which. The ingredients are pretty much the same, too:

Glucose syrup, sugar, unsalted butter, milk powder,  artificial caramel flavor, whey powder, salt, soy lecithin, caramel color.

Mandy's Old Fashioned Caramel

Again, it’s ultra smooth. The lightly salty hard caramel is very satisfying, especially when I crunched them up.

Though the flavorings are supposed to be different, they really don’t taste much different. Buttery smooth, salty, slick and satisfying.

I enjoyed both quite a bit, especially as it’s extraordinary hot this week, I get to enjoy a creamy treat that can take the heat. They’re a good deal, a really nicely sized piece and don’t have artificial colors in them.

There’s no statement about gluten or nuts on the package. They’re not Kosher (nor Halal). The freshness date was “best by May 2012.” They’re pretty diet friendly - even though they have 125 calories per ounce (about the same as toffee or caramel) the little pieces are only 4 grams each and 16 calories each.

Related Candies

  1. Astor Chocolate Lobsters
  2. See’s Lollypops
  3. Hammond’s Pantry Candies
  4. Werther’s Caramel Coffee Hard Candies
  5. Goodbye Reed’s
  6. Bali’s Best Coffee & United Coffee Candy

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:35 pm     CandyHard Candy & Lollipops7-Worth ItIndonesia99 Cent Only Store

Monday, August 23, 2010

Arcor Whisper

I picked up a handful of these enigmatic peanut butter bonbons in Ohio at the Dollar General Store. I really had no idea what they were, but at 33 cents each it was hardly a gamble.

Whisper Peanut Butter Bonbon

I was concerned they wouldn’t travel well, but they did surprisingly well considering the mileage and temperature/humidity variations.

I had to take the wrapper off completely to find out exactly what they’re called and who makes them. They’re called Milk Chocolate Bonbon Whisper. They’re made by Arcor in Mexico. Now, I’m not a huge fan of Arcor’s chocolate candy. But since I already had these in hand I tried to keep an open mind.

Not only is the package vague, but it also leaves out the most important part about this candy, the peanut butter. The domed chocolate pieces are about 1.5 inches in diameter. Nicely formed, they’re glossy and rather cute. I picked up four of them and three made it back in good shape (and even the smashed one was still edible).

The construction is simple and rather familiar. There’s a large sphere of peanut butter surrounded by a light wafer then covered in milk chocolate. It reminds me of a New World Ferrero Rocher (swapping peanut butter for hazelnuts). There are no crushed nuts on the outside though.

The piece is about .7 ounces, so about the same heft as a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. It smells lightly like peanut butter, a little hint of a grassy note instead of the dark roasted flavors of Reese’s. The chocolate looks light and milky, and though I was concerned that it wasn’t real chocolate but the ingredients listed cocoa butter and I think the soybean oil is in the peanut butter filling.

The chocolate isn’t fabulous, it holds everything together and is rather soft, but it’s not overly sweet or grainy. It just doesn’t have much of a cocoa punch. So the focus of the bonbon becomes the center. The peanut butter filling is smooth and fresh. It’s not greasy but feels a little empty at moments, like there’s a filler in it (maybe that soybean oil that’s so high up on the ingredients list). It’s sweet and salty and has a good overall peanut flavor. The crispy wafer is overshadowed a bit but still provides a nice crunch.

The wrapping is just a large piece of mylar. It wraps the piece very well though, even though it’s not completely sealed. The ingredients and manufacturing information was nearly impossible to read. The mylar is gold and the printing is blue. I ended up taking photos of the info and then blowing it up on the computer and adjusting the levels in order to read it.

It’s an odd little candy. It’s a great idea, but it lacked a bit of oomph and balance of textures with the flavors. It needs better chocolate and I think it could use little bit more crunch. But the price is certainly decent and the originality of the candy is a plus.

Related Candies

  1. Nestle Butterfinger Snackerz
  2. Trader Joe’s PB & J Bar
  3. ReeseSticks (Revisit)
  4. Lindt Lindor Truffle Eggs
  5. Peruvian Candies
  6. Garfield’s Chocobites


Name: Whisper
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Arcor
Place Purchased: Dollar General (Youngstown, OH)
Price: $.33
Size: .7 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Candy, Arcor, Chocolate, Cookie, Peanuts, 6-Tempting, Mexico

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:55 pm     CandyReviewArcorChocolateCookiePeanuts6-TemptingMexico

Friday, August 20, 2010

A Candy Quiz (from 1945)

1945CandyQuiz

The National Confectioners Association (NCA) used to put ads in popular magazines about candy. This one appeared in LIFE magazine on October 15, 1945.

See in largest format to read or perhaps even print out.

I love the description at the bottom of the NCA’s goal: an organization devoted to maintaining high standards of quality in candy and the dissemination of authoritative information on its use as an energy-producing, morale-building food. I agree, by the way, I think candy has great morale-building potential.

There are some enigmatic questions and answers, such as Did the Pilgrims eat candy? (yes) and Is candy mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays? (yes) - wouldn’t you like to know what candy that was?

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:43 pm     CandyHighlightFeatured NewsFun Stuff

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Endangered Species Organic Chocolate

Endangered Species Organic Dark ChocolateEndangered Species Chocolate’s hook is that the packages feature attractive, threatened animals and their profits go towards education about and protection of the environment.

They recently reformulated all their bars when they got a new cacao source (which does change the flavor profile for high end chocolate), so they sent me an array of bars to try. Today I thought I’d start with their simplest offerings, their single serving bars in Organic Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa and Organic Milk Chocolate 43% Cocoa.

The chocolate in the bars is Rainforest Alliance Certified as well as gluten free, Kosher, organic and ethically trade. The dark chocolate bar is also vegan (though made on equipment that also processes diary, peanuts and tree nuts). The package is made of 30% post-consumer recycled material yet it’s pretty nice to look at. The 70% Dark bar features the Karner Blue Butterfly, which is only about 3/4 of an inch across but a sparkling iridescent blue that draws the eye.

Endangered Species Organic Dark Chocolate

The bars are nicely proportioned. They’re slender - about 5.25” long and only 1.5” wide. Each is divided into three segments that are slightly domed and thick enough to provide a satisfying snap when broken.

The melt is smooth for the most part, though I did get an occasional spot of grit (fibery bits of cacao). It’s thick and lightly acidic with some bitter cherry notes. There’s coffee and anise and maybe some light citrus peel plus a strong note of vanilla. It puddles like pudding on the tongue and though I think there’s a smidge too much cocoa butter in it, the ratios support the flavor profile well. There are a lot of flavors going on and at times the finish is dry while other pieces I’m noticing a much lighter green tea note at the end.

Sometimes very dark chocolate isn’t as munchable as milk or milder stuff. It’s as if it’s too complex; this bar is dark and has a good mix of flavors but doesn’t feel too sophisticated for snacking. It pairs well with salty foods as well as nuts and dried fruits.

Endangered Species Organic Milk ChocolateThe second bar is the Organic Milk Chocolate 43% Cocoa Bar. I have to say that 43% is a pretty dark shade of milk chocolate. Some are as low as 20% cocoa content and there are those that go as high as 68% - but the low 30% range is what I think we’re most accustomed to.

This package features a lion. The package tells me that lions spend up to 21 hours a day sleeping. The rest of that time is spent in search of food, though they don’t eat every day. The package also says that lions are the only felines that live in social groups, maybe meaning that society leads to such high levels of cooperation that 21 hours of sleep are possible ... maybe we could learn something from that.

Endangered Species Organic

I stuck the milk on top of the dark here to show you the difference in color.

Endangered Species Organic Milk Chocolate

The main dairy ingredient in this bar is organic milk powder. It smells just like that - like sweet powdered milk.

The snap is much softer than the dark chocolate, though not fudgy like some milk bars like Cadbury can be. The melt is smooth, though not light and slick like Dove. It’s much thicker and velvety. The dairy notes fade and there’s a stronger caramelized sugar flavor along with the stronger bitter cocoa notes. There’s a hint of coffee, toffee and cedar in there.

This wasn’t my style of milk chocolate, it’s just too powdered milk flavored to me. I don’t know quite what that flavor is, but it reminds me of nutrition, which is not what I want in my treat. I’m guessing that this is just the profile that others prefer. The fact that it’s organic will also have appeal for folks who are looking to avoid hormones in their dairy products.

Related Candies

  1. NewTree Dark Milk
  2. Scharffen Berger Dark Milk (68%)
  3. Lake Champlain Organic Dark Bars
  4. Endangered Species: Milk Chocolate with Peanut Butter
  5. Endangered Species Halloween Treats
  6. Endangered Species Chocolate
  7. Thompson’s Organic Chocolate


Name: Organic Dark Chocolate (70%)
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Endangered Species
Place Purchased: samples from Endangered Species
Price: $1.99 retail
Size: 1.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 143
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Endangered Species, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, Kosher, Organic, 7-Worth It, United States


Name: Organic Milk Chocolate (43%)
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Endangered Species
Place Purchased: samples from Endangered Species
Price: $1.99 retail
Size: 1.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 157
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Endangered Species, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, Kosher, Organic, 7-Worth It, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:32 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewEndangered SpeciesChocolateKosherOrganic7-Worth ItUnited States

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Advanced Turtle Stacking

Advanced Turtle Stacking

“If I could sit high, how much greater I’d be!
What a king! I’d be ruler of all I could see!”
So Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And Yertle, the Turtle King, gave a command.
He ordered nine turtles to swim to his stone
And, using these turtles, he built a new throne.

from Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss (link)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:56 pm     CandyHighlightFeatured NewsFun StuffPhotography

Page 2 of 5 pages  < 1 2 3 4 >  Last ›

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