When I went to Germany last January to attend the ISM Cologne sweets trade show I spent about as much time shopping at the local stores as I did prowling the show floor for traditional, new and different candies.

One candy that I was actually on the look out for was the Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone gummis. They’re ginger and lemon flavored and perhaps a little less mainstream and kid-oriented than many of Haribo’s other offerings. I found them at a Rewe market and bought two bags. When I returned to the States I carefully moderated myself to make them last as long as possible. Sadly, they were gone by September.

When I went to Germany a few weeks ago, these were definitely on my list. I didn’t find them at the first Rewe (grocery store) I visited but did find them at Kaufhof in Berlin (a huge department store with a large food section) ... I bought everything on the shelf, six bags (they were only .99 Euros each).

The package says that they’re erfrischend scharf (refreshingly sharp) which would probably be because it’s made with real ginger and lemon.

The pieces look like medallions of candied ginger, complete with a sanding of sugar (well, it’s not exactly sugar, it’s a sweet and sour sanding mix).

The start out like an ordinary fruit gummi. They smell at a little like lemon peel and have a soft and flexible texture. They’re easy to chew and the sweet/sour sand fades away pretty quickly. The lemony flavor isn’t very sour, mostly a juicy flavor with a lot more zest in it than most of the other kid-oriented flavors. The flavor of the ginger is subtle at first, just woodsy and maybe even a little bitter. But then it kicks in with a slow and warming heat. The ginger lasts for a while, with a strong finish that kind of burns for a while. They’re barely sweet, I don’t feel sticky eating them at all - and perhaps the ginger is even good for my tummy.

I know this isn’t for everyone, you really have to like both the gummi texture and the spicy combination of citrus and ginger. It’s my ideal gummi, probably my favorite thing this year and will go on my list of all time favorite candies.

I even returned the next day to Kaufhof to see if they restocked, but it looks like these five packages I have left are going to have to last me a while. GermanDeli.com sells them, but they’re $2.99 a bag plus shipping and their $25 minimum order - that would average out to more than $4 a bag. I’m in love, but not that desperate ... yet.

Related Candies

1. Chimes Orange Ginger Chews
2. Zitrone Honig Tic Tac
3. Niederegger Ginger Marzipan
4. Katjes Tropical Gummis & Yogurt Gums
5. Haribo Fizzy Cola
6. Ginger Bears

Name:	Ingwer-Zitrone Gummis	RATING: SUPERB YUMMY TASTY WORTH IT TEMPTING PLEASANT BENIGN UNAPPEALING APPALLING INEDIBLE
Brand:	Haribo
Place Purchased:	Kaufhof (Berlin, Germany)
Price:	.99 Euro ($1.35)
Size:	6.25 ounces
Calories per ounce:	102
Categories:	All Natural, Candy, Haribo, Ginger, Gummi Candy, 10-Superb, Germany

In my recent travels abroad I picked up a lot of chocolate bars. Here’s a brief little run down of three of them:

As a little reminder, I went to Amsterdam and Cologne earlier this year. There are flavors there that just aren’t very well known in North America. One of the new flavor trends that I noticed was Absinthe (I’ve seen a little of it in the United States but its influence in The Netherlands was a lot more ubiquitous).

So when I spotted this bar from the Chocolatier Marc Antoine called Edelbitter Absinth Truffle, I though it would be a perfect item to pick up as it would probably travel very well.

The box was stiff and nicely designed with the sickly green swirls of anise & wormwood liqueur. Inside the bar was in a simple cellophane sleeve but remarkably unscathed by its journey.

The bar was big and the pieces were chunky. The dark chocolate was glossy with large reservoirs of the dark chocolate truffle filling inside. The truffle was smooth and creamy and very soft, almost like a caramel sauce. The scent was definitely on the grassy fennel side of things, even before I bit into it. The dark chocolate was smooth and bitter though had a lot of cocoa notes mixed with a sharp and tangy anise. The truffle center had a lot of licorice flavors, very soft and fluffy notes that were sweet along with a little hint of eucalyptus and some other botanicals.

I wouldn’t call it a hallucinogenic experience, but it was a wonderful, strong herbal bar that I enjoy quite a bit. There as a little alcoholic burn to it but it was more like tequila.

Rating: 8 out of 10

One of the best bars, by far, was the unique one for me. It was called Cuorenero Smoked Chocolate and was made in Italy.

The package was a big, flat square, about 4.5 inches. The box was pretty and featured raised and gold embossed lettering for the logo and the image on the front of a clay oven. The chocolate is described on the front a little more puro ciccolato fondente con fichi affumicati or “pure dark chocolate with smoked figs” - so it’s the figs in it that are smoked, not the chocolate itself.

The back of the package is in a bunch of different languages and featured notices about recycling but most importantly that Cuorenero does not use any dairy products other other major allergens, that means no gluten, no eggs, no soy, no peanuts, no nuts with hard shell (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.), no celery, no mustard, no sesame seeds, no sulfur dioxide, no lupines, no shellfish and no fish. On top of that, all their ingredients are GMO-free. 

The ingredients were: cacao mass, sugar, cocoa butter, smoked fig pieces, sunflower lecithin and flavours.

The bar is beautiful, a thick circular slab sectioned into 16 wedges. The bar smelled like molasses, deep and sweet with a lot of notes of smoke, leather and pipe tobacco. The chocolate flavors were tangy and had notes of coffee and charcoal. The figs were little bits with the occasional seed. There were notes of dark rum, raisins and the grassy fresh notes of figs. The smoke flavors were like cognac and fine whiskey.

If you’re a chocolatier and looking for a new flavor combination, please try smoked, dried fruit in dark chocolate. Then let me know how I can buy some from you.

The bar was 60 grams (2.1 ounces) and I think I paid about $6 for it at the Cologne Chocolate Museum Gift Shop (I think it was 4 Euros). Cuorenero Website.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Zotter is a popular maker of fair trade candy bars in Austria. They’re crazy. If you think smoked figs are off the beaten path, you have not explored the uncharted wilderness of Zotter. I’ve had two of their bars before, Banana Curry and Zitrone Polenta. They’re fair trade and organic.

This was another bar that I picked up at the Cologne Chocolate Museums Gift Store (which was a phenomenal chocolate store, if you hadn’t figured that out). It’s Zotter Mandel - Rosen which is almond and rose. (I passed up the Peanuts & Chocolate bar.)

The bar is about 4.5 inches long and about 2 inches wide and weighs 70 grams (2.47 ounces). It’s thin, for a filled bar but rather dense.

Inside there are two fillings layers. The base is a creamy but rather solid almond paste and sandwiched in between two layers of that is a rose petal jelly (which seemed to have a touch of raspberry in it). This was a great flavor combination, classic and sure, a bit Victorian in sensibilities. I liked the delicate almond flavor (no screaming Amaretto here) and even the rose was light and had less of a soapy taste than some other floral flavors I’ve tried. It was fragrant and sweet with that light touch of berry to it.

It wasn’t as crazy bar but like the others I’ve profiled here, it’s unusual for American tastes. It’s not the kind of candy you can get addicted to, it’s hard to find and the flavors come in and out of production. Check out their website.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Related Candies

1. La Higuera Rabitos Royale (Chocolate Truffle Filled Figs)
2. Nory Rahat Locum
3. Eat with your Eyes: Kopper’s Absinthe Cordials
4. 3400 Phinney: Fig, Fennel & Almond and Hazelnut Crunch
5. Zotter Candy Bars
6. Caffarel Figs & Chestnuts (Fico & Castagna)
7. Dolfin: Anise and Red Pepper
8. Vosges Haut-Chocolate
9. Figamajigs

Just when I’d quit the limited edition KitKat pursuit, I’ve been sucked back in by two extraordinarily good Japanese KitKats.

In Japan (and everywhere else besides the United States), KitKats are made by Nestle. Nestle has the ability to make great chocolate and candy, but also possesses the ability and fortitude to make cheap tasting and inconsistent candy.

The first is the SemiSweet KitKat which sounds pretty boring. But just look at the package! It’s a beautifully done design in just black and red (except for the real-color image of the KitKat finger itself.) The bar is just a mellow semi sweet chocolate version of the standard milk chocolate KitKat.

The bars were perfect. I know I criticize the over-packaging of many of these Japanese items, but in this case it really did its job of both enticing me to buy and protecting the contents.

The chocolate smells wonderful, a little sweet but rich and bold. The first thing I noticed was the melt. There was a good snap to the chocolate but it melted quite readily. It’s a little sticky but has a lot of flavor, a combination of strong woodsy flavors, a hint of coffee and prunes. The wafers are crispy and don’t let the combination get too sweet or thick.

The KitKat Bitter Almond is what got me out to the stores in Little Tokyo. I saw Bitter Almond KitKat mentioned on Japanese Snack Reviews and thought it sounded right up my alley.

The ingredients say that it’s made with real dark chocolate (44% cacao), almond paste and almonds. While I’m not usually a big fan of the amaretto note in marzipan, I do love almonds. The limited edition KitKats have largely ignored nuts as a flavor, so this is a refreshing change.

The box had the logo for TBC on it, which I had to look up (thanks again to Japanese Snack Reviews) to find out it’s a cross promotion with Tokyo Beauty Centers. TBC is a chain of spas that offer all sorts of aesthetic treatments, make up and consultations. I haven’t the foggiest what that has to do with KitKats so I’m going to just make something up, like you can get marzipan facial treatments for a limited time when you present your empty KitKat box.

The chocolate is strong, slightly bitter and has a light acidic bite. The almond flavors come and go but are light and more on the side of nutty than amaretto. What struck me as so great, aside from the smooth and lightly dry finish of the chocolate itself was the freshness of the wafers. They were delicate and crispy. There was no cereal taste to them (not that I mind that), which allowed both the chocolate and almond to dominate. Every once in a while I got a little texture of some crushed almonds.

I loved this bar. I don’t know if the factory was just having a really good day and had exceptional ingredients converge in that moment in time on that particular bar but I felt like I was finally getting my money’s worth for these expensive imported KitKat bars. Texture, flavors and mouthfeel were simply exceptional. All other KitKats will disappoint me now. (And it’s always good to stop on a high note.)

But I’m left feeling that I should stop pursuing the fleeting perfection of limited edition bars (which are often less than perfect) and concentrate on quality candies that are available more reliably. Plus, the import premium I pay for these means that they’re over $30 a pound. If I’m willing to pay that much, I can get some really good chocolate.

Related Candies

1. KitKats: Royal Milk Tea, Ginger Ale, Bubbly Strawberry, Kinako Ohagi & Milk Coffee
2. KitKat Dark
3. Choceur Nougat Bites & Marzipan Bites
4. KitKat Bitter & White
5. Almond Crush Pocky
6. KitKat Milkshake

Name:	KitKat SemiSweet	RATING: SUPERB YUMMY TASTY WORTH IT TEMPTING PLEASANT BENIGN UNAPPEALING APPALLING INEDIBLE
Brand:	Nestle
Place Purchased:	Woori Market (3rd & Alameda - Little Tokyo)
Price:	$2.49
Size:	1.26 ounces
Calories per ounce:	154
Categories:	Candy, Nestle, Chocolate, Cookie, KitKat, Limited Edition, 8-Tasty, Japan

Name:	KitKat Bitter Almond	RATING: SUPERB YUMMY TASTY WORTH IT TEMPTING PLEASANT BENIGN UNAPPEALING APPALLING INEDIBLE
Brand:	Nestle
Place Purchased:	Woori Market (3rd & Alameda - Little Tokyo)
Price:	$2.49
Size:	1.26 ounces
Calories per ounce:	157
Categories:	Candy, Nestle, Chocolate, Cookie, KitKat, Limited Edition, Nuts, 10-Superb, Japan

I can’t think of another candy that embodies the description humble American treat better than Mary Jane. First there’s the fact that they originated in Paul Revere’s house in Boston by the Chas. N. Miller Company. Second, they’re made from molasses and peanut butter, two hearty American flavors. The wax paper packaging has remained largely unchanged (undated old wrapper & advertisement from 1927).

The Chas. N. Miller Company was bought by Stark Candy in 1985, and Stark was bought up by Necco in 1990.

Necco has kept the traditional candy largely intact. When I was a kid Mary Jane were still a penny candy, sold out of tubs positioned near the cash register at convenience stores. These days they still go for pocket change, I’ve seen them for 10 cents each at retro candy shops.

The candy is simple, a rich and stiff molasses taffy rectangle with a small reservoir of peanut butter in the center.

I stopped eating Mary Janes about 15 years ago when it seemed that every time I bought them they were hard and crackly. But I’ve had better luck around Halloween when they’re fresh and packaged directly by Necco (beware of other repackagers like the generic drug store brands).

The chew is a little tough at first but softens with a bit of work and warmth. The taffy isn’t too sweet and has a toasted, earthy flavor from the molasses (the fourth ingredient). The peanut butter strip in the middle is undependable at best. Some pieces have a generous filling that gives the candy a beautifully balance of roasted nuts and burnt sugar. The chew is smooth and has a consistent flavor from start to finish.

I find them irresistible. So much so that I’m on my third bag since September.

Necco has been on a kick to create alternate versions of their classic candies and Mary Jane wasn’t left behind. The Mary Jane Wicked Mix popped up a couple of years ago at Halloween.

The mix contains a four flavor variations: Peanut Butter & Jelly, Peanut Butter & Banana, Smores and Peanut Butter & Vanilla. What you might notice is missing from that list is the classic Molasses & Peanut Butter Mary Jane. Unlike the Clark Wicked Mix, which contains the classic milk chocolate Clark plus the Dark Clark and Coconut Clark, this mix doesn’t have the original. (Which is how I got into this messy Mary Jane addiction in the first place, I had to buy a bag to do this post ... and then I ate them so I had to buy another bag, and another.)

The little wrappers are similar to the original. They’re a thick waxed paper that protects the candy well and releases except when they get too warm. My bag was a little bit oily, which I blame on the peanut butter. The candies were all soft and easy to chew, but the wrappers were sometimes just a little bit greasy to the touch.

The wrappers have the same bold black bookface font for the Mary Jane logo and have the little cartoon of the Mary Jane character. They’re color coded for the flavors (they don’t have the flavors named on them) but don’t have the red stripe.

The version that immediately made the most sense to me is the Banana & Peanut Butter Mary Jane.

The yellow waxed paper looks brighter than the original because the taffy beneath is a pale yellow instead of a medium beige. It smells like fake banana and a little like peanut butter. The chew is soft and immediately reminiscent of Circus Peanut. The peanut butter, on the pieces that have a generous quantity, cuts the sweetness and artificiality to create a pretty good candy. It was definitely the one that I was reaching for in this mix.

The raspberry red wrapper gave me a little bit of hope on the Peanut Butter & Jelly Mary Jane, which is good because the idea of a grape taffy filled with peanut butter was not appetizing.

The taffy was lightly tangy and tasted a little like grape Pixy Stix. The chew was softer, so much softer than the rest that it was a completely different texture of chew. The peanut butter did a good job of covering the disappointing grape jelly effect, but not good enough to make me want to keep eating these after the review was over. Thankfully there were only a half a dozen of these in my big bag of 85 pieces.

I wasn’t quite sure what a Smore Mary Jane was supposed to be. I liked the look of the dark brown wrapper and I thought maybe it’d be a cocoa flavored taffy.

Sadly the flavor note they were going for here was toasted marshmallow with peanut butter. That’s a great idea, but I needed more darkness to the whole thing and less fake vanilla sweetness. A little cocoa would have been nice, too.

The Vanilla & Peanut Butter Mary Jane got me to thinking about another vanilla taffy filled with peanut butter, the Annabelle’s Abba-Zaba.

RiteAid always has Abba-Zabas, so I went by and picked up a bar to compare. (While I was there I bought bag #2 of the classic Mary Janes.)

Let me start by saying that the Mary Jane is far easier to eat. Abba-Zaba are a smack & unwrap kind of taffy. It’s hard to portion and often messy.

The Abba-Zaba taffy is sweet but silky smooth in the chew, it’s almost warm and buttery. But it’s also sweet, a little sweeter than I’m keen on. The peanut butter is thick and has a strong flavor to it, the proportion or perhaps that there was so much of it in one place gave it a lot more prominence than in any of the Mary Janes.

The Vanilla Mary Jane is like a bleached out sea shell, missing all the beauty and character of the original. The fake vanilla taffy is okay and I admit that it does give the peanut butter more dominance. But the whole thing is just too sweet and bland. The Abba-Zaba wins based on its superior texture and better balance of peanut butter.

Overall, this experience has proved that the Mary Jane deserves to endure untouched for all these years (96 years!). I can see this variety being fun for kids who might be turned off by the smoky notes of the molasses original.

More on Mary Jane at the Bewildered Brit.

Related Candies

1. Clark Bar Wicked Mix
2. Molasses Pops
3. Mary Jane’s Bread Pudding
4. Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses
5. Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews
6. Abba Zaba

Name:	Mary Jane	RATING: SUPERB YUMMY TASTY WORTH IT TEMPTING PLEASANT BENIGN UNAPPEALING APPALLING INEDIBLE
Brand:	Necco
Place Purchased:	Rite Aid (Glendale)
Price:	$.99
Size:	7 ounces
Calories per ounce:	113
Categories:	Candy, Necco, Chews, Kosher, Peanuts, 10-Superb, United States, Rite Aid

Name:	Mary Jane Wicked Mix	RATING: SUPERB YUMMY TASTY WORTH IT TEMPTING PLEASANT BENIGN UNAPPEALING APPALLING INEDIBLE
Brand:	Necco
Place Purchased:	Rite Aid (Glendale)
Price:	unknown
Size:	24 ounces
Calories per ounce:	113
Categories:	Candy, Necco, Chews, Kosher, Peanuts, 4-Benign, United States

I don’t believe in “retro candy”. We don’t think of Snickers or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as retro, yet they’ve been around as long as Tootsie Rolls or Heath Bars. Some candies are simply classic, they endure because they’re good at what they do. Here’s an interview I did for Professional Candy Buyer. Click to enlarge to read the text ... or just look at the pictures.

I reckon there are some very excited people out there to find the new Q.Bel 70% Double Dark Wafer Bars. Not because they’re all natural, preservative free and free of hydrogenated oils. Nope, it’s because they’re vegan. No dairy, no honey, no glazes and no colorings.

The package doesn’t herald the vegan-ness (but the Q.bel website does). The package feels, to me, collegiate. I don’t know if it’s the colors that remind me of a library or a winter scarf (no, none of these were colors for the colleges I attended)

The bars are the same format as the Mint Wafer Bars and the Dark Wafer Bars. There are three layers of crispy flavorless wafers (like ice cream cones) with a chocolate creme between then. Then the whole thing is covered in 70% dark chocolate.

These are not a sweet treat, they are dark and a little bitter and all delicious. The chocolate punch is substantial. The bar smells like chocolate and except for the lightly malty crisp wafers, that’s really the only flavor. It has a dry and bitter bite to it, a good silky smooth texture, but probably a little too much on the smoky and bitter side for me to eat as a plain bar. But in this format with airy wafers and grainy sugary chocolate cream centers I found the perfect balance.

Q.bel gave me an insane amount of “samples”, full display boxes, again. And like the last time I put them on my bookshelf in my office and found that even the folks in my office who don’t normally go for dark chocolate liked them, and of course those who do love dark were enthralled by the textures and deep flavor. Now that I’ve found a source in stores (Whole Foods stocks them for $1.39 a bar) I will definitely buy them, now that my inventory is gone.

The only thing I’d like would be for the bars to be slightly bigger, maybe 1.3 ounces. However, the calories per ounce are pretty high, so keeping each finger below 100 calories is probably a good idea. (The package is 180 calories.)

Other reviews (I think I’m alone in my overwhelming preference for this bar but it still gets high marks): ZOMG Candy, BitterSweet, Chocolate Blog.

Related Candies

1. Ritter Sport Neapolitan Wafers
2. Q.Bel Mint Wafer Bars
3. Q.Bel Wafer Rolls
4. Q.Bel Crispy Wafer Bars
5. Fairhaven Candy Crumblz!
6. KitKat Bitter & White

Name:	70% Double Dark Wafer Bars	RATING: SUPERB YUMMY TASTY WORTH IT TEMPTING PLEASANT BENIGN UNAPPEALING APPALLING INEDIBLE
Brand:	Q.bel
Place Purchased:	samples from Q.Bel
Price:	retail $1.39
Size:	1.1 ounces
Calories per ounce:	164
Categories:	Chocolate, Cookie, Netherlands, Q.bel, All Natural

The world of candy is immense with more than 10,000 choices at any given moment on the planet, how can a mere mortal experience it all? Well, having it all is overrated. I’ve compiled a list based on my lifetime of candy of just the essentials, candies that every candy lover should experience at least once. You know, for a good foundation in candy education.

These are not necessarily my favorite candies (some I don’t even like and others I haven’t tried) but they’ve stood the test of time. 

If you’re game, repost this list with yours checked off and your thoughts. (Maybe even add your own.) You can grab the raw list of 110 here.

1. 70%+ Cacao Chocolate
High cacao content chocolate provides a rich experience of more chocolate flavors without so much sugar to get in the way. Best savored in small bites.

2. Aerated Chocolate: (Brand Names: Aero, Choc-o-Lite, Elite, Wispa)
The addition of air to chocolate is quite a revelation, it provides a different texture and though it’s sold as being a lower calorie alternative (as it’s lighter in weight for the same size bar) it’s still chocolate. Extra bonus for Flake bars. see more

3. Altoids
Dense and curiously strong mints, they are the ultimate expression of flavor over delivery device. see more

4. American-Style Hard Toffee: With or without chocolate, with or without nuts.
As much an expression of butter as it is the toasted sugar notes. The way it cleaves probably demonstrates some sort of geological properties that I’m not familiar with so maybe it’s educational. see more

5. Anis de Flavigny
A demonstration of patience. At the center is a tiny fennel seed with the hard sugar coating built up layer by layer of weeks of tumbling. see more

6. Any Lolllipop Bigger than your Head
Usually the kind of candy you get after begging and pleading at the fair for hours. They’re nearly impossible to eat but gorgeous to look at as sugar art.

7. Atomic Fireballs: (Maker: Ferrara Pan, also Sconza)
A relative of Anis de Flavigny, these large ball bearings are all panned sugar with alternating layers of intense cinnamon. see more

8. Black Sugar Candy
Okinawa, Japan is famous for its dense and deep dark sugar which is the basis of Black Sugar Candy. Heralded for its medicinal properties, it’s also a simple pleasure for the complex flavors of the molasses-like candy. see more

9. British Toffee
A stiff caramel made with treacle (like molasses) for a rich and deep flavor and long-lasting chew. see more

10. C.Howard Violet Gum/Mints or Parma Violets
Just like it sounds, they’re violet flavored chalky candies. see more

11. Cadbury Creme Egg
Far too much fondant encased in a milk chocolate shell and once the size of a small chicken egg. see more

12. Candy Buttons on Paper
Dried dabs of colored sugar paste on paper. A triumph of looks over substance.

13. Candy Corn / Mellocremes
Lightly flavored and stiff fondant in crazy and charming seasonal shapes. see more

14. Carob
In order to appreciate chocolate it’s important to taste what it’s not. Not just any bean can be ground up and combined with saturated fats and poured into a bar form to create a tasty treat. It’s best to keep carob for a hearty hot beverage. see more

15. Cherry & Coconut: (Brand Names: Cherry Mash, Big Cherry, Twin Bing, Cherry Ripe (AU),  Cherry Blossom (CDN))
A strange but enduring candy treat, a fondant center with a real cherry is covered in a mixture of chocolate (or mockolate) and coconut.

16. Chocolate Coins
For a long time I preferred this kind of money to the real thing. It hearkens back to the days when cacao was used as currency. see more

17. Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs
Bits of cocoa beans are coated in chocolate to provide an intense chocolate experience. Each piece can have a different flavor profile. see more

18. Chocolate Covered Cherry Cordial
An amazing demonstration of kitchen chemistry with the magic of adding invertase to a fondant ball with a cherry at the center. Quick dipping while the fondant is still firm means that after the chocolate has hardened the enzyme activates and the center becomes an oozy syrupy cordial.

19. Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit (Raisins, Orange Peel, Apricot, Ginger, Fig)
Dried fruit remains moist and flavorful when sealed in the protective and tasty coating of milk or dark chocolate. see more

20. Chocolate Covered Espresso Bean
The ultimate pick-me up: a little caffeine, a little fat, a little sugar. see more

21. Chocolate Covered Insects
Proof that anything is better covered in chocolate. Well, better than it was before, but still not necessarily something everyone wants to eat.

22. Chocolate from at least 5 different countries
I could say 5 different brands, but different cultures have different flavor preferences and since chocolate manufacturing went through so many different stages of development, different countries have different styles. (Of course there are always exceptions.)

23. Chocolate Fudge
I’m a fudge purist and pretty much prefer chocolate or peanut butter. I’m sure a good case can be made for Oreo Fudge and Raspberry Champagne Swirl. It’s a great candy to make at home and so many variations exist a list of 100 could be made of just those. see more

24. Chocolate Truffle
While I may rail against Mockolate, for some reason the addition of butter or cream to chocolate makes something wholly divine. Ganache is simple and pure and simply supports the inherent chocolate flavors. Truffles can be flavored, but everyone should try the classic.

25. Chupa Chups
Spain’s amazing lollipops. They’re dense and have no voids and come in an amazing array of flavors. The bonus is the plastic stick that doesn’t become a papery mush. Double bonus is that they come in grown up flavors like coffee.

26. Circus Peanuts
They’re shaped like peanuts but they’re banana flavored with the texture of a dense and grainy marshmallow. Love them or hate them, they persist. see more

27. Clear Sugar Hard Candy: (Styles: Barley Sugar Candy, Juntsuyu, Clear Toy Candy)
The pure taste of toasted sugar in solid and individually wrapped form. Some are so clear they appear like gems or optical glass. They’re poured carefully to avoid bubbles & voids for an extra smooth melt. see more

28. Coconut Bar: (Brand Names: Mounds, Almond Joy, Bounty)
Coconut and sugar make the center of all of these bars. There can be nuts, there can be milk or dark chocolate. They can be made at home or from a neighborhood candy shop. Dryer versions that aren’t coated with chocolate are also extremely popular all over the world.

29. Coffee Crisp
Canada’s best known candy bar, they’re a massive layered block of wafers and light coffee flavored cream covered in mockolate. see more

30. Coffee Hard Caramel (Brand Names: Coffee Rio, Coffee Nips)
A tacky toffee made with coffee, it’s like a super-dense and sweet latte you can put in your pocket see more

31. Cotton Candy: (Also called Fairy Floss, Candy Floss, Pashmak, Fluffy Stuff)
Spun sugar. Nothing more to say than that.

32. Crisped Rice in Milk Chocolate: (Brand Names: Nestle Crunch, Hershey’s Krackel, World’s Finest)
An ideal combination of milk chocolate and crisped rice. Some mass-produced versions aren’t so ideal, so find your favorite. see more

33. Dragon’s Beard Candy
Similar to Cotton Candy in its strand texture, Dragon’s Beard is actually made like pulled noodles in a labor intensive process where strands of sugar are pulled and folded until they’re fine and silky.

34. Dulce de Leche: (Also known as Cajeta)
Slow caramelized milk and suguar, usually starting from a base of sweetened condnesed milk. Some use goats milk, which provides a different flavor profile. Some is a thick sauce texture, others become more solid like fudge. see more

35. Dulces de Calabasas: (Candied Squash or Pumpkin)
Similar to candied ginger or orange peel, squash or pumpkin chunks are slowly simmered with sugar and water until innundated. As it cools it crystalizes like fudge.

36. Durian Taffy or Hard Candy
Durian is a fruit of Southeast Asia with a soft custardy center that taste like a combination of boiled onions and melon. see more

37. Gianduia (Gianduja): (Brand Names: Caffarel, Ferrero (Nutella))
Roasted hazelnut paste is mixed with cocoa (or chocolate). see more

38. Ginger Chews
Mostly made in Indonesia, these soft little rods of ginger and sugar syrup come in a variety of flavors. see more

39. Goetze’s Caramel Creams (Bullseyes)
There is only one and it’s rather a strange candy at that. A hoop of caramel bulked up by wheat flour with a center of pure sugary cream. More like a soft cookie than a candy. see more

40. Green Tea Candy
There are plenty of varieties but nearly all provide a dense condensate of sweet green tea. Some use whole matcha powder, some use steeped green tea.

41. Gummi Bears
A stiff mixture of sugar syrup, a light flavor and a little gelatin. Gummi bears are made in starch molds come in a variety of flavors, intesities and textures. Other similar candies: gummi worms, non-pariel coated berries, rings, food shapes and fruit slices. see more

42. Halvah
A block candy made from sesame paste and sugar, creating a crystalline texture. Usually served in chunks or blocks sometimes it’s made into bars or individual pieces and coated in chocolate. Variations include cocoa and pistachios. see more

43. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses
A never imitated chocolate flavor, the Hershey’s Kiss is individually wrapped and sharable and represents the egalitarianism of economically-produced chocolate for the masses.

44. Hot Tamales: (Brand Name: Just Born but generic cinnamon jelly beans will do.)
Intense cinnamon jelly rods. see more

45. Idaho Spud: (Brand Name: Idaho Candy Company)
A dense latexy marshmallow center is covered in mockolate and coconut flakes to simulate the shape of a real potato with eyes. see more

46. Jelly Babies: (Brand Name: Basset’s but there are other generics.)
Little people shaped jelly candies from the United Kingdom. They carry a light dusting of corn starch to prevent sticking but also highlights the details of the molding. Each flavor/color is a different character shape. see more

47. Jelly Beans: (Bonus for Jelly Belly Buttered Popcorn)
A firm jelly ovoid is covered in a grainy candy shell. Usually the shell contains the flavoring but a modern trend has been to flavor both the center and the shell, started by Jelly Belly. Don’t miss the original pectin style either for the full effect.

48. Jolly Rancher Hard Candies: (Brand Name: Jolly Rancher from Hershey’s USA)
Smooth and intense hard candies in ground-breaking flavors such as Green Apple.

49. Jordan Almonds: (Also called Sugared Almonds or Confetti)
Fresh almonds covered in a thick candy shell. Often used as favors for weddings because of the symbolism of the bitter nut being coated in sugar. (As if that says something about marriage.) see more

50. Kinder Surprise or Kinder Egg: (Brand Name: Kinder - Germany)
A little capsule with a toy for you to assemble is encased in milky chocolate. see more

51. Kit Kats from at least 3 countries: (Brand Names: Nestle and Hershey’s in USA)
An interesting demonstration of how production varies from region to region, the UK KitKat tastes perceiveably different from those sold in Japan and those in the United States. Bonus for any of the limited edition varieties. see more

52. Lemonheads: (Brand Name: Ferrara Pan)
A tiny sweet lemon drop covered in an intensely sour layer then a sweet grainy shell. There are other fruity cousins such as Cherryhead, Orangehead and Applehead but they lost their appeal when they normalized the name. I loved Alexander the Grape. Grapehead, not so much.see more

53. Licorice Allsorts
Amazingly inventive shapes and colors made from colored coconut fondant and wheat/molasses licorice. see more

54. Licorice Pastels: (Varieties: Good & Plenty or Skoolkrijt)
Black licorice made with a wheat base and molasses then coated in a candy shell to keep it soft and add a crunch. Also pretty to look at. see more

55. LifeSavers
An iconic hard candy they’re sharable and come in a vast array of flavors. WintOGreen will spark when you bite them. see more

56. M&Ms / Smarties
Candy coated chocolate lentils exist from a variety of companies all over the world so extra points if you’ve had more than three versions. see more

57. Malted Milk Balls
The classic malted milk center covered with a generous coating of real milk chocolate is the key here. Dark chocolate, peanut butter and all the fancy mint and cookie versons are all fine, but the classic original is the one to start with. see more

58. Maple Sugar Candy
Maple sugar is simply solidified maple syrup. It’s hard to find and expensive but worth it for sugar afficinados to try. There are two versions, the grainy crystallized kind and the clear hard candy version. The texture changes the aeration of the flavor notes, so go for both.

59. Marathon Bar or Curly Wurly
A braid of chewy caramel dipped in chocolate. Even if you never had the American version called Marathon you’ll understand why so many folks pine for this unique bar. see more

60. Mars Snickers: (Alternate versions come in Dark and Limited Edition varieties.)
A classic and dare I say wholesome candy bar with grand proportions of chocolate, fluffy nougat, caramel and peanuts. A meal in a bar. see more

61. Marshmallow: (Both factory made and artisan style)
A foamy and bouncy sugar fluff. see more

62. Marshmallow & Coconut Cup: (Brand Names: Sifer’s Valomilk, Adams-Brooks Cup O Gold, Boyer’s MalloCup)
A simple milk chocolate cup filled with marshmallow of varying consistencies depending on the brand. Also a classic: Rocky Road which features marshmallow chunks and nuts in chocolate. see more

63. Marshmallow Peeps
Grainy sugar coated marshmallows in themed shapes for various holidays. Can be eaten fresh or stale, frozen or flambe. That’s versatility. see more

64. Marzipan
Ground almonds and sugar is about as simple as candies come. The beauty is not only when it’s covered in chocolate but when it’s scuplted into a multitude of shapes.

65. Mentos
A chewy mint that once had an anachronistic ad campaign. Also the basis for improvised carbonated fountains. The best part is that they’re actually tasty. see more

66. Mexican Mazapan
Peanuts are the base of this drier cousin to almond marzipan. Also related is halvah, made from sesame seeds. see more

67. Mockolate
Just because something’s on this list doesn’t make it good, just an essential thing to try in order to be well-rounded. True mockolate is any chocolate product that uses vegetable oil (usually hydrogenated tropical oils) in place of cocoa butter, but could also be one that uses only some oils in addition to cocoa butter. Its best use is for decorative items that aren’t meant to be eaten but would be prohibitively expensive if they were made out of good chocolate. see more

68. Morinaga HiCHEW: (Maker: Morinaga)
A bouncy and latexy chew that’s unique. Morinaga of Japan isn’t complacent about being so popular either, in addition to more than a half a dozen regular flavors they issue limited edition flavors with alarming frequency. see more

69. Musk Sticks
Imagine long stiff ropes of Altoids, except instead of peppermint or cinnamon, imagine they’re flavored like musk. That’s Australia’s Musk Stick. see more

70. Necco Wafers: (Maker: Necco)
Crunchy wafers of sugar, soft and powdery, incredibly durable. It’s rare to find a packaged major brand of candy that has so many different flavors in one roll (a mix of spices and fruits). see more

71. Nik-L-Nips or Wax Lips: (Maker: Tootsie)
Food grade wax made into shapes that can be worn (wax lips, vampire teeth) and later chewed. Or filled with strange syrupy liquids like Nik-L-Nips.

72. Nougat & Nut Roll: (Brand Names: Hershey’s Payday or Pearson’s Nut Roll)
A plain nougat center with a light caramel coating rolled in fresh peanuts. One of the original meal replacement bars. Alternate versions are the Pecan Roll which is a bit more decadent and expensive featuring pecans and often a better quality nougat center. A rare non-chocolate candy bar. see more

73. Nougat de Montelimar or Torrone: (Brand Names: Arnaud Soubeyran, Nutpatch Nougats)
Fluffed sugar with egg whites and a dash of honey. With or without nuts or candied fruits. Different versions have different textures, and they vary widely with the amount of nuts. see more

74. Panela, Panocha, Piloncillo and/or Jaggery
Basically, it’s brown sugar. Delicious brown sugar. (Many grocery stores sell it in bulk bins in the vegetable section.)

75. Pate de Fruits (fruit pate)
It’s jam you can bite.

76. Peanut Butter Buckeyes
A regional favorite in the midwest US, a ball of peanut butter is most of the way into chocolate, leaving only a little top uncoated. The result looks like a buckeye (or chestnut).

77. Peanut Butter Crisp: (Brand Names: Butterfinger, 5th Avenue, Clark Bar, Chick-O-Stick, Zagnut)
Peanuts are combined sugar and sometimes molasses to create a honeycomb peanut crisp (often through a layering process). The result is similar to halvah but far more hearty and sugary. Most bars are covered in chocolate but some, like Zagnut or Chick-O-Stick are coated in toasted coconut. see more

78. Peanut Butter Molasses Chews: (Brand Name: Mary Janes, Peanut Butter Kisses, Abba Zaba)
Molasses taffy with a peanut butter filling. Mary Janes are the best known mass market version though there are dozens of salt water taffy shops that make a softer similar product. see more

79. Pecan Pralines: (New Orleans Style & Texas Chewy)
Boiled sugar and butter with pecans. The texture varies regionally from a caramelly texture in Texas to a smooth melt-in-your-mouth fudge in New Orleans to a sandy sugar in Charleston. The French tradition of praline was based simply on melted sugar usually mixed with nuts, which is also good. see more

80. Peppermint Pattie: (Brand Names: York, Pearson’s, Junior Mints, Dutch Mints, Holland Mints.)
A white fondant mixed with peppermint oil (sometimes using gelatin or egg whites as a binder) is then coated in chocolate (dark please). Sometimes additionally coated in a candy shell as in Dutch Mints. see more

81. Pez: (Maker: Pez)
A rectangular compressed dextrose tablet dispensed through the neck of a novelty plastic character.

82. Pixy Stix or Lik m Aid: (Brand Names: Wonka or Pucker Powder, Sandy Candy, Baby Bottle Pops)
Powdered dextrose candy with a tangy bite. see more

83. Pocket Coffee: (Maker: Ferrero)
Sweet real espresso inside a chocolate shell. Available seasonally from Italy there are some generics available as well. see more

84. Pocky: (Brand Name: Glico also Meiji Lucky Stick)
Bland biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate. Later versions are flavored and others have fillings. see more

85. Razzles: (Maker: Tootsie)
First it’s candy, then it’s gum. It’s never good in either form. see more

86. Red Licorice
A berry flavored wheat-based chew. Comes in many formats from ropes to twists to laces. see more

87. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: (Brand Name: Hershey’s)
A crumbly, salty and sweet peanut butter in a cup of sweet and milky milky chocolate. Iconic and ideally proportioned. see more

88. Ribbon Candy and/or Old Fashioned Candy Sticks
Hard candy formed into flat strips and furled up into ribbon-like stacks or twisted into rods. Pretty to look at and often in hard-to-find-otherwise flavors. Stores like Papa Bubble let you watch it being made in the traditional manner. (Also related, the Candy Cane.) see more

89. Rock Candy or Konpeito
Large cloudy crystals of sugar, often colored. see more

90. Root Beer Barrels
Hard candy in the shape of a barrel flavored with root beer. Root beer is a more common flavor in the US with an aromatic origin as a combination of sassafrass root along with licorice, cinnamon, wintergreen, molasses and honey.

91. Salt Water Taffy
A seaside favorite it comes in a variety of formats, often rod shape or squat disks and in dozens of flavors. (Bonus if you saw it being pulled.)

92. Salted Caramel
Caramel with a liberal dash of salt see more

93. Salted Licorice
Licorice with a strange infusion of ammonium salts - not for everyone see more

94. Satellite Wafers (Flying Saucers)
Foamy corn starch disks have a pocket of powdery candy or little candy nuggets. Kind of like a tiny candy pita. see more

95. Single Origin Chocolate
Chocolate made from beans from a specific growing region and sometimes a single plantation. Instead of a blend to provide a consistent profile from year to year, these batches of chocolate are particular to the beans and growing conditions and sometimes the vintage. One of the only ways to truly taste the wide variety of flavor profiles that cacao is capable of producing. see more

96. Smooth & Melty Mints: (Maker: Guittard)
A white confection with peppermint flavoring and often pastel colored. Each little chip or disk is then given a base of nonpariels. Similar to Peppermint Bark. see more

97. Spice Gumdrops and/or Spearmint Leaves
Jelly candies in spice and floral flavors and coated in a granular sugar. see more

98. Sponge Candy: (Also known as Honeycomb, Seafoam, Cinder Toffee. Brand Names: Violet Crumble, Crunchie)
Aerated boiled sugar. Usually coated in chocolate to prevent it from getting tacky from humidity. (Well, the chocolate also tastes good.) see more

99. Starburst / Skittles
Intense tangy and fruit flavored taffy. Starburst are individually wrapped, Skittles are candy coated. Other variations are Laffy Taffy, Now & Laters and Mambas. see more

100. Swedish Fish
Jelly candy in the shape of a fish. Traditional version is red and is Swedish berry flavor. A mix of fruit flavors is also available. see more

101. SweeTarts or other sour Compressed Dextrose
Disks of firmly compacted dextrose and acid in fruity flavors. Also related: Bottle Caps, Runts and other novelty shaped tiny tart candies that are coated or uncoated. see more

102. Tamarind Candy
The pod has both sweet and sour notes and is used as a base for candies from both Mexico (usually combined with chili) and Southeast Asia.

103. Tootsie Pop
A chocolate taffy wad covered in sharp hard candy and put on a stick. see more

104. Turkish Delight
A simply jelly candy made with simple ingredients. Smooth and delicate it’s usually flavored with florals like rosewater and orange blossom but sometimes combined with aromatics like lemon or mint and combined with hazelnuts or pistachios. see more

105. U-No: (Maker: Annabelle’s)
A truffle-like fluffy center with ground almonds covered in chocolate. One of the highest caloric density mass-marketed candy bars on the market. (That means fatty folks.) see more

106. White Chocolate
A valid confectionery expression of milk, sugar and cocoa butter with the texture of chocolate. Wonderful in combination with so many other flavors like plain vanilla, lime, salt, chai spices or pistachios that it deserves to be appreciated (and maybe needs a new name that doesn’t make it sound like an unwanted stepchild). see more

107. White Rabbit: (Maker: Shanghai Guan Sheng Yuan Food, Ltd)
A milk-rich taffy from China. As a special treat it also has an edible rice paper inner wrapper. Also comes in other flavor varieties such as Red Bean and Green Tea. see more

108. Wine Gums
A British favorite these are similar to gummis in their dense chew. Flavored like wine though most really just taste like grape and currant with a yeasty note. see more

109. Zero
The only white coated mass-market candy bar. Zero is a ground almond chocolate nougat with a strip of caramel covered in a white confection. As a piece of fine chocolate with the right ingredients this would be stellar. see more

110. Zotz: (Maker: Zots)
Hard candies filled with fizzy sour powder. Similar: Napoleon Bonbon which has only a sour powder filling without the fizz. see more

Some quick answers to what I expect will be questions: Why 110? Well, I made a list and it ended up with 110 on it. I didn’t want to hack 9 or 10 off just to have a cool number. It’s the number I felt was appropriate to display the breadth of modern candy.

Why so many American candies? Yes, it has a North American bias as it’s based on my experience, your list will be different.

Why aren’t the really good candies on here? You mean the high end chocolatiers or items available from only one store? I wanted to include things that are accessible to most people, to make the list do-able.

What do you think is essential but left out? Or inconsequential yet included? If you post your own list, please stop back by and leave a link so everyone can check it out.

I’ve been on a HiCHEW spree lately. Partly because Morinaga went on a binge and released about a dozen flavors. Besides their traditional array of 6 or 7 standard flavors they have another half a dozen single flavor packs out.

HiCHEW is one of those rare Japanese candies that’s being distributed around the world. Here in Los Angeles, I can get Lemon, Mango, Strawberry or Green Apple HiCHEWs at just about any 7-11 or Cost Plus World Market. But the limited edition flavors, the seasonal and the specialty assortments are a little harder to come by and require either an order directly from Japan (I’ve been using JBox and Asian Food Grocer) or a visit to Little Tokyo to Marukai Market, Mitsuwa Marketplace or Nijiya Market.

Today I have the two from the Summer Festival (Matsuri) line: Candied Apple & Cotton Candy. (I don’t know if there were more than these two ... maybe a Kettle Corn or Deep Fried Butter version escaped my view.)

The packages are compact, they have only 7 pieces in them instead of the longer packs that have 10. Even without knowing Japanese the packages are bold and easy to understand. There’s a little picture of a man selling candied apples with some stylized fireworks above him. Then of course the big candied apple (which seems to be dipped upside down to the way I’ve always had them, the stem is a the top, not where the stick enters the apple).

On the side of the package is the little diagram of what the candy looks like. A pink outside and white core with little flecks of what I’m guessing are the candied coating bits.

It smells softly sweet, a little like milk tea. Biting into it there’s an immediate apple juice flavor then a background of sweet sugar.

The little flecks are sparkly crunches of sugar. I couldn’t quite get an actual flavor from them. It becomes quite juicy. The texture is quite smooth except for the crunches.

I don’t think I’ve had a candied apple in over 15 years, so I can’t say for sure that this is an authentic representation contained within a 1 inch by 1/2 inch block. But it was still fun.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Cotton Candy HiCHEW smells simply like sweet. Pretty much the same as the Candied Apple.

It’s sweet, but not sticky sweet or cloying. It’s simply fresh. Not quite vanilla, which can be a little boozy and not quite a toasted sugar flavor either. It’s creamy without being milky. It’s clean without being flavorless. It’s a mystery wrapped in foil and stuffed with little crunchy bits.

The combination of the texture of the HiCHEW which is a taffy/gummi product that’s at once bouncy and smooth and the little cotton candy grainy bits is odd. Really nicely done cotton candy always has these little bits of grain where either the sugar didn’t melt & reform properly or moisture has caused it to recombine into a hard candy bit. Yes, it’s grainy, but the grains give way to soft sugar flavors.

It’s like cotton candy in all the right ways. And it leaves out the sticky paper cone.

It’s just so hard to describe that all I can say is that after I took the photos of the first pack I got from JBox, I made sure to pick up two more packs when I saw them in Little Tokyo.

It’s difficult to say but this is the best colorless and flavorless candy I’ve ever had. How do the Japanese do it? (I’m also still obsessed with the Juntsuyu I wrote about several years ago and add it to my order at JBoxevery time.)

Rating: 10 out of 10

Related Candies

1. HiCHEW Aloe Yogurt
2. HiCHEW Yuzu & Valencia
3. Skittles Carnival Flavors
4. HiCHEW Assortment
5. Hard Candy: Juntsuyu

Name:	HiCHEW Candied Apple & Cotton Candy	RATING: SUPERB YUMMY TASTY WORTH IT TEMPTING PLEASANT BENIGN UNAPPEALING APPALLING INEDIBLE
Brand:	Morinaga
Place Purchased:	JBox & Marukai Market
Price:	$1.25
Size:	1.16 ounces
Calories per ounce:	116
Categories:	Chew, Japan, Morinaga, Limited Edition