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September 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Merci

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May I just show you these lovely chocolate sticks and say thank you? There, I did.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:12 pm     CandyHighlightFeatured News

Monday, September 27, 2010

Whitman’s Candy Corn Marshmallow

Whitman's Candy Corn MarshmallowMost of what I love about Halloween is the tradition. But sometimes I do like to see a bit of novelty thrown into the mix. Earlier this year I saw that Whitman’s, makers of the famous Whitman’s Sampler boxed candies, started making holiday novelty candies. Their first entry for Easter was a series of pastel confection coated marshmallows. Their entry for Halloween is similar, a candy corn shaped Marshmallow covered in Halloween Pastelle.

The candies are sold individually wrapped, I found mine at RiteAid but I also saw them at Walgreen’s. Each piece is an ounce and comes in a simple cellophane sleeve with a decorative Halloween black & orange border. At fifty cents each it wasn’t hard to take a gamble on them.

Whitman's Candy Corn Marshmallow

The construction is simple. It’s a rounded triangle of soft, almost gooey marshmallow covered in a white confection. The coating is orange and yellow and frosted in the form of a piece of candy corn. Of course it’s missing a whole stripe, which was a bit disappointing. But the shades and ratios of the colors that they do have are dead on good mimics.

Whitman's Candy Corn Marshmallow

This is pure sugar with scant other ingredients to break up the sweetness. The “pastelle” coating has a good snap like a white chocolate but no other flavor - no milky notes, no vanilla. It’s smooth enough though that it creates a bit of a creamy container for the marshmallow. Since this was exceptionally fresh the marshmallow was moist and fluffy, though also a bit sticky. It melts into a fluffed cream instead of a latexy marshmallow. It’s less sweet than the coating, but on it’s own it’s still throat searing.

It’s cute to look at and of course quite economical as far as Halloween-themed edible decorations go. While I found the Easter ones a little off-putting because part of me wanted them to be flavored, this one actually reminded me a little of candy corn. Not enough to make me buy it again.

Related Candies

  1. Whitman’s Marshmallow Eggs & Carrot
  2. Puffy Candy Corn
  3. Halloween Dots: Bat, Candy Corn & Ghost
  4. Private Reserve Russell Stover and Whitman’s Reserve
  5. Brach’s Chocolate Candy Corn & Halloween Mix
  6. Candy Corn Kisses
  7. Whitman’s Sampler Tin


Name: Marshmallow Covered in Halloween Pastelle
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand:
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Echo Park)
Price: $.50
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 110
Categories: Candy, Halloween, Whitman's, Marshmallow, Mockolate, 4-Benign, United States, Walgreen's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:14 pm     CandyHalloweenWhitman'sMarshmallowMockolate4-BenignUnited StatesRite Aid

Friday, September 24, 2010

Newman’s Own Ginger Mints

Newman's Own Ginger MintsAs some of you who follow along on my twitter or flickr photostream might know, I’m an avid whale watcher. For the past six years I’ve been a certified naturalist with the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and American Cetacean Society and lead whale watching trips as a volunteer from December to April in the nearby Santa Monica Bay when the Gray whales migrate by.

I love it so much that I often go up to Santa Barbara in the summer to see our other nearby visitors: Blue whales and Humpback whales who come to feed near the Channel Islands. Unfortunately I also have a problem with motion sickness. So I’m often seen on the boats eating little ginger candies (and sharing them with other like-stomached passengers).

Newman's Own Ginger Mints

Ginger has been proven to reduce nausea. The great thing about that is that I love the taste of ginger and it’s not an expensive product for the most part.

I found these Newman’s Own Organics Ginger Mints at Mother’s Market in Orange County. They were only a buck and a nice compact format, like a roll of mints instead of an awkward package of individually wrapped candies (the wrappers can get blown away on a boat and into the water) or a tin (which can easily spill while I’m trying to open it).

Newman's Own Ginger Mints

The little disks are about 3/4 of an inch around and have a little “Newman’s Own Organics” engraved into them.

They smell toasty and earthy with a light citrus note. They’re sweet and a little chalky on the tongue, like Life Savers Wintergreen at first. The ginger is readily apparent, very woodsy and with a strong warming property that kept the back of my tongue and throat burning.

They dissolve quickly or can be chewed easily, which I guess speeds relief. I don’t know if ginger really works for tough stomach upset, but I find that occupying myself with hard candies (even non-ginger kinds) helps. Anything that keeps nausea from really taking hold can help since the cruises are only 2 to 3 hours. They’re sweet and not that complex overall, there’s no lemon or honey in them. But they seem to do the trick for me. I like how small and portable the package is.

As an organic product, as you can guess, they’re natural and contain no colorings. They’re Kosher and vegan. However, they are manufactured on shared equipment with peanuts, nuts, milk, wheat and soy.

Blue Whale off of Pt. Vicente

I’ll leave you with a photo from last weekend. There is a strange and welcome gathering of Blue whales off of Los Angeles right now, at least 30 individuals hanging out within 5 miles from shore. They’ve never been spotted here in these numbers like this before. They’ve been feeding on a huge upwelling of krill, and I guess they’ll stick around as long as there’s food. So if you’ve ever wanted to see the biggest animal on earth (ever), get yourself out to the sea. I go out with Voyager Excursions.

Related Candies

  1. Ginger Chews: Hot Coffee
  2. Trader Joe’s Chocolate Covered Gingersnaps
  3. Darrell Lea Licorice & Ginger
  4. Altoids Chocolate Dipped Ginger Mints
  5. St. Claire’s Organic Mints & Tarts
  6. Ginger Bears


Name: Organic Ginger Mints
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Newman’s Own
Place Purchased: Mother's Market (Laguna Woods)
Price: $.99
Size: .87 ounces
Calories per ounce: 46
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Ginger, Organic, 7-Worth It, Mexico

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:50 pm     All NaturalCandyNewmans OwnGingerKosherOrganic7-Worth ItMexico

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Natural Vines Strawberry

Natural Vines - StrawberryThe companion to last week’s Licorice Natural Vines are the new Strawberry Natural Vines.

I’m often hesitant to call them red licorice, but in this case the wheat based chew made by the American Licorice Company does have a small amount of licorice extract in it. As a natural product they’re made with wheat flour, cane syrup, sugar, brown rice syrup, palm oil, malic acid, natural strawberry flavor, beet juice (for color), glycerin and licorice extract.

The package is nicely designed, I had no trouble spotting it on the store shelf. It’s a soft but light plastic bag that looks kind of like kraft paper at first glance. It has a resealable zipper top, which is handy for a half pound bag.

Natural Vines - Strawberry

They’re not as sticky as the Black Licorice version, which was a bit of a relief. The Strawberry version are slightly translucent, which kind of got my mouth watering, like they might be some sort of wheat flour thickened Strawberry jelly.

The twists are pleasantly big with a good bite and chew. They’re soft but not mushy. They don’t smell like much, just a light fresh and slightly sweet scent that’s not even strawberry.

Natural Vines - Strawberry

They’re tangy. That’s the first thing I noticed, they’re not quite sour but definitely tart. The chew is smooth but eventually a little crumbly, so they don’t stick to my teeth like some soft licorice products can. They’re not doughy but still have a bit of a starchy film towards the end.

The strawberry flavor is a bit green, since it’s more on the tart side of things, it’s not the sweet, cotton candy floral note that some real strawberries exude. The only other all natural product that I’ve had that’s similar is the Panda Strawberry Bar, but that’s almost like a fruit leather texture to the chew and has a slightly more earthy and jam flavor because of the molasses in it.

I found them appealing to eat, but not exactly begging for me to have more. They seemed more like a snack than a candy since they’re not that sweet. But of course the “less sweet” part and wheat base may be appealing to some parents - there’s only a trace of fat (1 gram per 1.41 ounce portion) and slightly more than 100 calories for that serving. A serving is nine of these pieces, so a child or adult could be satiated by this. They’re expensive at regular price (2.99 for this half pound bag) but a bit cheaper than some “fruit snack” options - though these have no vitamin C fortification. These might be considered vegan (depending on your feelings about sugar).

Related Candies

  1. Natural Vines - Black Licorice
  2. Wonka Exceptionals Fruit Jellies: Grapefruit, Goji Berry & Red Apple
  3. Darrell Lea Licorice & Ginger
  4. Young & Smylie Traditional Licorice
  5. Red Vines
  6. Panda Bars

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:32 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewAmerican LicoriceChews5-PleasantUnited StatesVon's

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Eat with Your Eyes: Black Licorice

Natural Vines - Licorice

Perfectly black licorice.

(Review here.)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:02 pm     CandyHighlightFeatured News

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