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4-Benign

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Mountain - Regular & Raspberry

While I was at the Fancy Food Show last month I saw that Brown & Haley (who make those Almond Rocas) had a large booth. It was devoted to the Rocas, which is natural for the crowd there. But their display case on one side caught my eye because it had a large pile of a Limited Edition Raspberry Mountain. (I hesitate to call them bars, as they fit into my category of “plops” instead.)

I looked around for a sample bin (but did eat a sample of the Candy Cane Roca while on my search), but when I couldn’t find one, I asked and they happily handed over one!

image

It’s not easy to find Brown Haley’s Mountain line in Los Angeles. In fact, the regular Mountain (see below) was purchased at Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC (even further from its spawning grounds). But I know that many Northwesters are in love with their indigenous candy, so it’s high time I covered it.

I have to admit that when the Raspberry Mountain came out of the package I had to giggle. It looks rather poop-like. However, it had the much more pleasant smell of raspberries and sugar. My first bite into it was all mockolate. It wasn’t until the second that I reached the raspberry center. It’s very berry, in fact one of the ingredients, after milk powder, is raspberries. There’s a little tang to the filling and it’s a rather smooth fondant type center that has a little gooey flow to it. The peanuts and mockolate weren’t doing much for it, so I confined my bites towards the end to getting as much filling as possible (yes, eating it from the bottom and leaving the peak).

As the Mountain line goes, this bar is a winner. It’s a flavor combo that you don’t often see and is far and away more satisfying than the regular Mountain ... however, the classic Mountain has very little going for it.

image

Before I finish this up I should say a little bit about the classic bar. Since the Mountain is made with partially hydrogenated fats instead of cocoa butter for the chocolate, it really never achieves a chocolatey texture or taste. It’s greasy and slightly slippery on the tongue as it melts. In the case of the classic bar, the center is simply a plain firm fondant (think of a flavorless York Peppermint Pattie). It is sweet though perhaps a little bland (but I enjoy that texture). The only thing that offsets the whole fakeness of it are the peanuts, which give it all a little crunch and texture.

There are two other versions of this bar, Peanut Butter (which I bought it was completely rancid and unworthy of even photographing) and Cherry (which we all know I’m not going to like). You can buy the Mountains via the Brown & Haley website (and at a really good price). As a regional bar with such a great history, I’d love to see them convert to real chocolate and really show us how good this combination can be.

Note: after this review I created a new category called “mockolate” so you can find all the fake goodies in one place.

Name: Mountain Bars: Raspberry & Classic
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Brown & Haley
Place Purchased: sample & Dylan's Candy Bar (NYC)
Price: $1.49 (yee!)
Size: 1.6 ounces
Calories per ounce: 125
Categories: Mockolate, Peanut, United States, Brown & Haley, Limited Edition, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:14 am    

Friday, January 26, 2007

Oriental Trading Company Candies

I’ve been eying the stuff on the Oriental Trading Company website for years, just wondering if it was any good. I really have very little need for four dozen candy rings, but I just wanted them so much.

So I put together what I thought was a modest order of items that I knew I couldn’t get anywhere else (they do carry a lot of items you can find in the grocery store like candy bar miniatures):
1 x Valentines Candy Rings (4 dozen) - $4.95
1 x Everyday Candy Rings (4 dozen) - $4.95
2 x Gummy Candy Band Bracelet (1 dozen) - $2.95
1 x Candy Shot Glasses (6 each) $4.95

(More on the Candy Shot Glasses next week!)

The Gummy Candy Band Bracelet came in four colors, each with a different inspirational word on them.

image

All of them were less than stellar looking. They looked and felt a bit dry to the touch, kind of like old Play Doh. They were each individually sealed in little clear cellophane sleeves (and those were all inside another sealed bag) so I don’t think it was a storage issue on my side. However, I did buy them on sale (they were normally $5.95 a dozen and I got them for $2.95, so maybe you get what you pay for).

Purple :: Faith :: Grape - very dark and pretty purple, and I only think it was grape flavored, it was hard to tell. Faith has a strong bitter aftertaste to it for me.

Yellow :: Strength :: Pineapple - pretty good! A nice floral fruity flavor with a good tangy bite and no weird aftertaste. Strength is good!

Green :: Hope :: Apple - tangy and fruity and actually pretty tasty. Hope is edible!

Orange :: Dream :: Orange - also rather tasty. It had a good rounded orange flavor with both the zesty notes and the tangy bite. Dream had a slight aftertaste to it, not a bad one, but a little like chemicals or artificial flavors.

On the whole, I liked the novelty of the bracelets, but as you can imagine the reality of wearing a gummi on your wrist isn’t that appealing after about five minutes. You can gnaw it off your wrist, but if it’s all about the taste and texture, these leave a bit to be desired. I think I’d prefer a clear gummi like Haribo makes instead of this opaque stuff.

They make other varieties for different holidays, there’s a Halloween set and I thought they had an Easter one (but I can’t find it on the site now).

It’s not something I’d order again and I’m kind of sorry I got two dozen now. 4 out of 10

image

The Everyday Candy Rings are just stunning to look at. Instead of the chunky ones that I used to buy when I was a kid that were impossibly thick and uncomfortable to wear. These are petite little compressed dextrose creations, rather similar to the Candy Blox I reviewed earlier this week.

The rings are small, or fit small fingers. I could only get them on the top of my smaller fingers or my pinkie (my ring finger size is an eight). The bands come in four differen colors:

Pink Band :: White Jewel - After eating this one, I’m not afraid of the pink ones. A light raspberry flavor, it has a little bitter aftertaste but overall I find it agreeable. This is the only one that made my fingers a little discolored.

Yellow Band :: Orange Flower - the candy is a soft lemon flavor, no sour tang to it.

Orange Band :: Pink Flower - this one was bad the first time I had it, a bit sour in an unpleasant “bad burp” way. Subsequent ones were just fine. They taste a little like Froot Loops.

White Band :: Yellow Star - I think this is pineapple. Again, soft with only a light flavor and no tartness.

I really liked these. They’re compact and even though they don’t really fit my fingers they’d be great for kids because they’re not too much candy and are less likely to make a big mess. They’re also darned attractive.

They’re individually wrapped and easy to stow in your pocket (so I plan on carrying them around to blogger events to hand out to my new friends). The flavors are okay - not quite as tasty as the Candy Blox, but they all arrived in great condition (only one out of the 4 dozen was broken). The price per item is only 10 cents each, so if you’re planning a theme party for a little girl (Princess!), this might make a nice addition to the favors.

I give these an 8 out of 10 ... definitely something I’m going to keep on hand as the Candy Blogger.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:33 am     CandyReviewOriental Trading CoCompressed DextroseGummi Candy4-Benign8-TastyChina

Friday, January 5, 2007

Mallow Blast

Here’s a strange product line from Hershey’s in the Philippines. They’re called Mallow Blast and are described thusly on the package:

It’s a mind-blowing combination of light chewy Marshmallows bursting with luscious grape flavor, dipped in rich Hershey’s Milk Chocolate.

Hershey’s Mallow Blast(tm) - an explosion of flavors!

Also available with Strawberry and Orange Flavored Filling.

I’ve tried other Asian marshmallows before with a fruity filling in them, but this was a first to have them dipped in chocolate.

image

The Grape Mallow Blast packaging was certainly fun looking. The overall package is a pack with five individually wrapped pieces. Mine were slightly smashed but otherwise unharmed by their journey.

The grape ones smell very strongly of grape jelly and no hint at all of chocolate. The little twist of marshmallow is about as big as my big toe, but with a fruity filling (my toes might be filled with fruit, I’ve never checked). The marshmallow is springy and not terribly sweet. The jelly center is firm and tangy and of course grapey.

image

The Orange Mallow Blast smelled more of chocolate. The orange inside was actually pretty nice. A bit on the artificial side, but with a balance of zest and tang to it. The chocolate was crumbly and not terribly creamy, but all things considered, it was tasty enough for me to finish off the package of five.

Of course it’s not real chocolate on the outside, but I guess the labeling restrictions are different for other countries. The package clearly calls it Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, but the only “chocolate” in there are some milk solids and cocoa powder much later on the list after the number three ingredient, hydrogenated palm kernel oil. That said, they’d probably make a good treat for dieters, as they’re rather satisfying but not that dense in fat calories (6 of them have 3 grams of fat and 150 calories).

I could see these being popular in the States. The way that they’re packaged though makes it easy for them to get crushed, so they’d probably have to place them in a little tray with sides or something to prevent that.

The Mallow Blasts are certified Hallal.

Name: Mallow Blast
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey's
Place Purchased: gift (thanks TSOGB!)
Price: unknown
Size: 32.5 grams
Calories per ounce: 120
Categories: Chocolate, Marshmallow, Jelly, Hershey's, Kosher/Hallal

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:55 am    

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Palmer Milk Chocolate Balls

imageI’ve always turned up my nose at Palmer chocolates. I’ve had their mockolate bunnies at Easter before, and in my candy-deprived-state of childhood I would eat them. But I never really liked them. So as an adult with the financial means to make other choices, I have avoided them.

But taking a risk this season was a little easier, as I found that Walgreen’s carries these little single-serving bags (two ounces) of the foil covered Premium Milk Chocolate Balls. It said premium, maybe they were good!

The ingredients looked promising:

Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Whole Milk, Chocolate, Soy Lecithin and Vanilla.

Real vanilla, they took this premium thing seriously.

imagePalmer’s have always looked pretty, so I wasn’t disappointed with the merry red and green foil decorated with holly leaves in a band of gold around the middle. Inside the foil they weren’t terribly attractive though, looking more like a wad of putty.

They smelled sweet and slightly milky. I didn’t detect any real vanilla complexity though. I popped one in my mouth and immediately got a hit of sugar. As the grainy chocolate melted it was very sweet with a vague dairy taste and pleasant vanilla aroma. But very little chocolate. Though it melted, it felt a bit chalky and waxy instead of smooth and buttery. The texture is cool on the tongue and I don’t actually mind a bit of sugary grain to my chocolate, but without much of a chocolate flavor I was underwhelmed.

They’re pretty, I’ll give them that.

Name: Premium Milk Chocolate Balls
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Palmer
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Echo Park)
Price: $.50 (on sale)
Size: 2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: Chocolate, United States, Christmas, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:51 am    

Monday, December 4, 2006

Hershey’s Chocolate Mint Candy Canes

There are a lot of different kind of flavored candy canes out there. I could probably start a blog and post about a different one each and every day. And bore myself and you to tears.

image

I rather like hard candy and I rather enjoy candy canes. I’m more interested in the minty and spicy flavors as I like that combination during the winter, not the fruity flavors. If I had to give holiday seasons a flavor set it would go something like this:

Halloween = Milk Chocolate and Nuts
Thanksgiving = Caramel
Christmas = Nougat, Mint and Spice
Valentine’s Day = Dark Chocolate and Sweet Fruit Flavors
Easter = White Chocolate and Sour Fruit Flavors

Of course the product above from Hershey’s has very little to do with that list. The Hershey’s Chocolate Mint Candy Canes are really lovely. A white cane with small green and red bands and a larger brown stripe winding its way around the generous 5 1/2 inch cane. I would guess that some folks would pick these up more often because of the pleasant color scheme than the taste.

Because they’re not that tasty.

The candy is nice and solid without that foamy crunch that some canes have. These have a mild minty taste and an overwhelming cardboard chocolate flavor. The word chocolatey doesn’t do it justice. It’s like someone watered down a Tootsie Roll with sugar and a dab of peppermint. The stale and plain chocolatey taste has no relation to much of what’s great about chocolate itself. It’s not rich, it’s not creamy, it’s not complex, it’s not fulfilling or addictive. I had a lingering aftertaste of packaging material with a minty hint.

So what makes them like this? Here is the list of ingredients: Sugar, Corn Syrup, contains 2% or less of: Natural and Artificial Flavor, Artificial Color and Soy Lecithin. So there you go, there’s no chocolate in there.

If you’re looking for candy canes to decorate with and this fits your color scheme and you’re one of those people who never actually eats them, well, these are definitely for you. Oh, and they’re Kosher!

Name: Chocolate Mint Candy Canes
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey's
Place Purchased: samples from CandyWarehouse.com
Price: $1.89 retail
Size: 6.3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 114
Categories: Mint, Hard Candy, United States, Hershey's, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:46 am    

Friday, November 3, 2006

Soft Candy

imageSometimes I feel like eating candy that reminds me of clothing. I don’t know why, but something that looks like a pretty scarf or knit cap just makes me happy.

But this candy had the double whammy of being cute looking but also having a completely vague name that I was too curious to pass up the 98 cent gamble. I found these at a Chinese grocer in Chinatown in New York City earlier this spring and just let them sit there looking vaguely sock-like for months. The girl on the package said “I like it!” but that still couldn’t quite compel me to open them up and eat them. 

Eventually Halloween came around and they looked kind of Halloweeny so I opened up the pack to give them a try.

image

First, here’s what I expected. Based on the ingredients (sugar, glucose syrup, flavorings and pectin) I thought it was going to be an orange flavored gummi.

They were definitely soft, as advertised, but I’d actually call them firm. I’m not sure how well something called Firm Candy would sell, but then again, I question how well Soft Candy sells.

They were firm but had an easy bite to them. Kind of like a gumdrop, but a little tougher without feeling stale. The flavor was, well, not there at all. They were pleasant and not too sweet. It tasted like a mild millet jelly candy, which in turn tastes simply like an unflavored, uncoated jelly bean. They are truly the definition of a benign candy.

Besides being pleasantly cute enough for me to want to string them into a bracelet, they’re not much as a candy. Nothing to spit out into the gutter but just no oomph or compelling texture to keep me eating.

Name: Soft Candy
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: YiZhaoLi Co.
Place Purchased: Dynasty Grocer (Chinatown, NYC)
Price: $.98
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: 106
Categories: Jelly, China

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:15 am    

Monday, October 30, 2006

Nerds Gumballs

I have only one gum that I consume regularly. It’s plain old Chiclets (peppermint). They’re not that easy to find (and I think made in Colombia now) so when I see the multipack at the 99 Cent Only store I usually grab one.

I then empty out the box on my desk and divide the pieces up into groups of three. I chew three pieces at a time and then spit it out when the sugar is gone. Rinse, repeat. A whole box of 12 pieces might last an hour.

Sugarless gum is great for freshening breath and calming a queasy stomach, but Chicklets are like candy to me. But let’s face it, they’re just white tiles ... sometimes I want something pretty to chew on.

image

So the 99 Cent Only store didn’t have the Chiclets last time I was in there ... so I bought these gumballs (hey, at 4 for 99 cents, how could I resist?). Made by Wonka, they’re plain old large gumballs with Nerds inside.

They’re big gumballs and have a pleasant rattle when you shake them close to your ear. The Nerds inside are confetti colored and have no relation to the outside color/flavor of the gumball itself. Some gumballs had lots of Nerds in them, with 12 being about average. However, there were two gumballs (I consumed two packages) that had four or less.

The gum itself was ordinary with a light fruity flavor.

Orange: orange - mild and pleasant. The tart bump of the Nerds was nice and combined well with the sugary graininess of the gum.

Purple: grape - it had that bitter initial taste to it, which I suspect is the food coloring. The flavor was floral and fruity though it faded quickly but went well with the Nerds.

Red: cherry - a light cherry flavor and a slight bitter tinge but sweet and pleasant after the flavor was halfway gone.

Green: apple - I’m not sure what flavor this was, it was sweet and fruity and had a slight sour bite which goes nicely with the grainy tartness of the Nerds.

Yellow: lemon - sweet and tangy and probably the most flavorful of all of them, not that it lasted very long.

I’m not going to switch to these. The flavor wasn’t very intense, though the gum was nice and soft and had a good sugar charge to it that was supplemented by the Nerds. If you’re one of those people who likes to eat saltines with your gum for a nice crunch, these might be perfect for you.

Name: Nerds Gumballs
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Wonka (Nestle)
Place Purchased: 99 Cent Only Store
Price: $.25
Size: 1.3 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Gum, Sour, United States, Nestle

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:36 am    

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Gourmet Goodies Candy Corn

Even if you don’t like candy corn you have to at least appreciate it. It’s festive and as a candy it actually looks like corn kernels. (I know fewer and fewer people have actually seen whole silos filled with feed corn, but trust me - that’s pretty much what it looks like.)

imageMaybe you’ve even wondered how they make it. Candy corn is made by creating a mold in corn starch. A “positive” image of the finished candy corn is pressed into a tray of firmly packed corn starch to create the “negative” image of the corn shape with the tip a the very bottom. Then the tray has a layer of molten candy squirted into it. Then it goes to the next color layer until it has three layers built up. You can see that they kind of blend a little bit at the margins, which is good, because it helps the candy bond together as a whole. The recipes for each layer are slightly different (colors and sometimes flavors) but work as a whole.

After they’re layered properly they’re demolded, which usually means they’re dumped out of the tray and tumbled or shaken on a mesh screen to get the corn starch off. Then they’re tumbled again (usually) with a little glaze to give them their matte coats. Every once in a while you’ll get one that seems to be missing a layer, which I find kind of fun, because real corn is like that.

This process can be applied to any kind of shape but the layering thing is most often seen with the candy corn. Other “mallocremes” are made the same way but with different mold shapes (so the pumpkin ones would have the little green stem squirted in first and then the orange cream for the pumpkin gourd). What’s pretty cool about this process is that sometimes people think outside the box. This time they’ve created “Gourmet Goodie” which is flavored candy corn. I’ve seen them at Target, but didn’t quite want to pick up a whole jar because of my pre-existing candy corn consumption commitments.

imageThe flavor that interested me most was Tangerine. The colors are funky, the bottom is orange, the middle yellow and the top is lavender. Not the most intuitive combo for something in the citrus family, but you know you can’t tell after it’s in your mouth.

The first thing I noticed about these was how beautiful they are. The color combos really are nice. In the mouth they’re ultrasmooth without a hint of graininess, yet there’s a pleasant soft crumbly texture to them. The next thing I noticed was a tartness. Being tangerine they’re not about the “essence” of the fruit, but more about the juice of the fruit.

The tangerine reminded me of a creamsicle. Sweet, mellow, a little creamy feeling and a sort of neutral tartness.

imageNext was the one that I dreaded, Cherry. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a stunning looking piece of candy. red on the bottom, pink in the middle and a yellow cap. It also had the same smoothness and not nearly the tangy-ness as the tangerine. But it also had the cherry flavor. It was strong cherry and had a bitter, medicinal note to it. (But of course I don’t like cherry, so you can completely disregard my dislike for this.)

imageFinally was the one my husband was looking forward to Apple. I kind of like the idea of apple as a candy corn flavor, as I consider apple a fall fruit as much as corn is a fall harvest.

Green on the bottom, yellow in the middle and orange on top, this one could easily be mistaken for the tangerine. Also tart and with a kind of artificial flavor, the apple grew on me. The mellow candy corn notes that we usually associate with the honey flavor kind of work here. I would be curious to taste one that was more in the apple pie family of flavors, with cinnamon notes and less of the green apple flavors.

They’re undoubtedly high quality, but I’m just not keen on the taste. The tangerine was passable, but the apple and cherry just repulsed me.

For another opinion check out CandyAddict’s review.

I am actually curious about Galerie au Chocolat, the manufacturer who sent me the samples. While I didn’t care for this product, I’d be willing to try some other stuff (especially if there’s some of that ‘chocolat’ involved). If you live in the Hebron, KY area (near Cincinnati, OH), you might be interested to hear that Galerie has an annual candy corn sale, the last day is Sunday, October 29th. (visit their site, click on “visit us”) ... they said 50 cents a pound!

Related Candies

  1. Brach’s Chocolate Candy Corn & Halloween Mix
  2. Milk Maid Caramel Apple Candy Corn
  3. Zachary Candy Corn & Jelly Pumpkins
  4. Candy Corn Kisses
  5. Jelly Belly Deluxe Easter Mix
Name: Gourmet Goodies Candy Corn: Tangerine, Apple & Cherry
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Galerie au Chocolat
Place Purchased: samples from Galerie
Price: unknown
Size: 7.2 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Fondant, Halloween, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:08 am    

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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 

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  •   Halloween
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