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Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Mint Aero

Name: Aero Peppermint
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: London Drugs (Vancouver, BC)
Price: 3 for $2.00 (Canadian)
Size: 45 grams
Calories: 237
Type: Chocolate/Mint

I reviewed the regular Milk Chocolate Aero bar a few months ago and while I found it pleasant and rather novel, it didn’t really compel me to buy another. However, many folks urged me to try the Aero Mint so when my husband called from the drug store in Canada and listed all the candies he could see (we have free mobile-to-mobile minutes), this was one I was curious about trying.

The first thing that surprised me was that the center was green! I thought it was a milk chocolate bar that had a touch of mint flavor to it and that famous fluffy Aero bubblyness. Instead it’s a white (well, green) mint bar covered in milk chocolate. Because of the lighter color the bubbles were much easier to photograph for you. Yes, it looks like some sort of styrofoam but melts quickly in the mouth and is very minty. Like one of those pastel smooth & melty mints ... or maybe like an Andes Mint.

Oddly enough the label advertises that the bar is a source of calcium. The nutrition information lists that it provides 7% of the daily recommendation. Hurray, I only need to eat 13 more for my full day’s supply!

As there are few minted chocolate bars out there, this one is right up there at the top (well just about everything is above that Cup-O-Gold Peppermint). I liked it a bit more than the regular milk chocolate bar but not as much as the Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Mint.

Rating - 7 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:18 am     CandyReviewNestleAeratedChocolateMintsWhite Chocolate7-Worth ItCanada

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

Galaxy and Bournville

Name: Galaxy
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: India Sweets & Spices (Los Feliz)
Price: $1.49
Size: 47 grams
Calories: 543 calories /100 grams
Type: Chocolate (Milk)

Much like the Cadbury bar, this is a pure milk chocolate bar. It’s hefty and the little bite size chunks that break off are the perfect size for your mouth. The color is pretty and the smell is mostly of vanilla.

It’s very sweet, that’s the first thing I notice. However, the creamy melt is very smooth though a little sticky. The thing that I rejoiced in, though, is that there is no “powdered milk” flavor, which I associate with Cadbury chocolates. It’s too sweet for me, as the sugary notes overwhelm the milk and chocolate flavors, I found it to be very pleasant. It was pretty good with my coffee this morning.

Name: Bournville
Brand: Cadbury
Place Purchased: India Sweets & Spices (Los Feliz)
Price: $1.49
Size: it’s hard to find weights on UK candies
Calories: 500 calories / 100 grams
Type: Chocolate (Dark)

 

As a solid dark chocolate bar, I was hoping for more chocolate. I didn’t read the package ahead of time so I was surprised to see now that the first ingredient on the label is sugar. Called “The Original Plain Chocolate” on the label, it is rather plain. Since it’s so sweet, the chocolate notes don’t really come out readily.

I was about four chunks into it before I started tasting the notes. It’s a very consistent cocoa flavor, hardly any trace of bitterness but some slight smoky, woodsy notes. The package says 39% cocoa mass, which probably explains my disappointment. I’m not saying it should be 70%, I’m just thinking that a little more cocoa butter and less sugar might make for a smoother bar with more flavor. As a mass market consumer bar it’s on par with the American Hershey’s Special Dark.  Nothing fantastic but probably very dependable. Too bad it’s not even vegan, the ingredients list butterfat.

You might wonder why the bar is called Bournville - it’s where Cadbury put their first large production facility in the 1870s.

Ratings - Galaxy - 6 out of 10
Bournville - 5 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:38 am     CandyReviewCadburyMarsChocolate5-Pleasant6-TemptingUnited Kingdom

Monday, September 5, 2005

99 Cent Goodness (part 2)

Name: European Supreme Dark Chocolate
Brand: CandyTech
Place Purchased: 99 Cent Only Store
Price: $.99
Size: 7 oz
Calories per ounce: 151
Type: Chocolate

Yeah, I know, you think I’m all about the expensive stuff. I’m really not. Some of my favorite candies are easily accessible and pretty cheap. I swallowed my “brand pride” and picked up this bar at the 99 Cent Only Store, just out of curiosity. I figured for 7 ounces of chocolate to be only 99 cents, it had to be bad, full of fillers.

It’s definitely sweet for dark chocolate (sugar is the first ingredient) without many dark chocolate notes (no bitterness, no smokey quality, no roasted notes). It smells good, like vanilla and chocolate, but the taste is a little bland. Though rather smooth, there are ocassional odd things, like lumps, as if it wasn’t conched long enough or was mixed wtih other less-conched chocolate. The bar was fresh and the chocolate had a lovely sheen.

I have to admit that I wanted to say that this was a fantastic bar and we should drop our pretenses that good chocolate has to be expensive. But good chocolate has to be consistent and have more chocolate in it. It might be good for something though, I can see it being good for cooking, maybe melting it and using it for those pretty zig-zags on some cookies or as shavings for the top of a cake.

Rating - 4 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:17 am     CandyReviewChocolate4-BenignUnited States99 Cent Only Store

Friday, September 2, 2005

Orange KitKat

Name: KitKat Orange
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: London Drugs (Vancouver, BC)
Price: 5 for $3.00 (Canadian)
Size: 50 grams
Calories per 50 grams: 260
Type: Chocolate/Crisp

I saw these on a blog a few months ago (StellaBites) ago and I was immediately entranced with the idea. Why aren’t there more essence flavored chocolate bars? (Well, while we’re at it, why isn’t there a coffee bar in the States?)

This is pretty much a regular old KitKat bar with orange in the chocolate covering the crispy wafers. (I was afraid it was going to be white chocolate.) The scent is wonderfully orangey with a lot of vanilla tones that give it a creamy aroma.

The crisp is the same as you’d expect from a KitKat but perhaps a little sweeter. The orange combines will with the chocolate - though I thought it overpowered it slightly. There was an odd tangyness to it as well, but that may be the KitKat chocolate (I haven’t tried the plain one lately).

If you’re a fan of Terry’s Chocolate Orange, this is a really good everyday bar for you. This is a great treat to have with either tea or coffee.

The interesting thing about KitKat is that it was originally a Rowntree product (the predecessor to Nestle) in the UK. The KitKat bar sold in the United States is produced by Hershey’s. Since it’s produced in the states, it tastes slightly different. Next week I’ll do my second head-to-head taste-off of the Hershey KitKat and the UK KitKat. (Holy Moly! I just looked on the Hershey site and they mention a KitKat Coffee Lt. Edition!)

Rating - 7 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:37 pm     CandyReviewNestleChocolateCookieKitKat7-Worth ItCanada

Wine Gums

Name: Wine Gums
Brand: Maynards (Cadbury)
Place Purchased: London Drugs (Vancouver, BC)
Price: unknown
Size: 44 grams
Calories per ounce: unknown
Type: Gummi

Imagine a gummi candy that smells like Elmer’s Glue. It took me a couple of days to figure out what they smelled like, but it was one of those non-toxic smells that kind of get under your skin.

There are a variety of colors/flavors in this package:

yellow = lemon
orange = orange
green = lime
purple = currant?
red = cherry or maybe strawberry.

They’re random, not the systematic stacking that you can count on in a roll of Lifesavers. The flavors are smooth, not terribly tart, not terribly sweet. There is a definite musky taste to it, which is what I guess the “wine” part is. This is most noticeable in the purple one. The flavors kind of grew on me - at first I didn’t care for the purple one so I ate them first, then I was sad that I didn’t have any more.

What really suprised me is how much I liked the red ones. I’m not a fan of red candies but these weren’t too cherry or strawberry and had a nice sort of sizzly flavor to them. The only flavor I didn’t like was the green one, which tasted just like floor cleaner smells.

Next time I go to Canada or the UK, I’ll be sure to pick a roll of these up. They’re easy to carry and a good little zesty pick-me-up.

Rating - 7 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:32 am     CandyReviewCadburyGummi Candy7-Worth ItUnited Kingdom

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Wonka Bar

Name: Wonka Bar
Brand: Wonka (Nestle)
Place Purchased: 99 Cent Only Store (the only place I’ve seen them in person)
Price: $.33
Size: 1.3 oz
Calories per ounce: 138
Type: Chocolate

The first time I ever saw (or even heard of) a Wonka bar was in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (I read the book a few years later). In the movie Charlie wolfs down a husky bar that costs nearly nothing. While this bar might look bulky in the photo, it’s the size of a standard playing card. I think it’s a petite version, as I’ve seen others advertised for sale that are larger than 1.3 ounces. But I couldn’t beat the price of 3 for a dollar at the 99 cent Only Store. Even so, it looks like a Wonka bar should - substantial and slick. I bought two and both came out of the package looking so dang edible.

The bar isn’t even all chocolate. There are graham cracker bits in there and it reminds me of a poor man’s version of those Le Petite Ecolier cookies that are a graham cracker cookie with a molded chocolate top (embossed with a little schoolboy) The cookies smell like graham crackers (vanilla & cinnamon) and chocolate. The graham adds a nice crunch to the bar without too much additional sweetness.

Overall the bar is a little sweet, a little waxy. But cheap and satisfying. There’s something really compelling about the ‘nilla Wafer-like graham.

Interesting fact from package: bar was made in Brazil.

Rating - 6 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:07 am     CandyReviewNestleChocolateCookie6-TemptingBrazil99 Cent Only Store

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Green & Black’s Maya Gold

Name: Maya Gold
Brand: Green & Black’s (Organic)
Place Purchased: gift
Price: unknown
Size: 3.5 oz
Calories per ounce: 164
Type: Chocolate

It’s strange, but I got this bar (two different sizes) as a gift from two different people the same week. They’ve got good taste (thanks Ruth & Jay)! I’d first tried Green & Black’s last Thanksgiving when my sister-in-law brought a box of the little medallions to dinner. They were super, and not at all grainy like some other organic chocolates I’d tried.

Green & Black also uses Fair Trade suppliers for their cocoa and also organic. Green & Black was purchased by Cadbury Schweppes earlier this year.

This bar is a little different because it’s flavored. Maya Gold is dark chocolate with orange and spices. Think of that orange spice tea. The chocolate is smooth, rather sweet but doesn’t overpower the chocolate flavors. The main spicy flavor note that I detect is clove, which I don’t normally like, but it works well with orange. There’s a little hint of vanilla and perhaps some nutmeg.

Overall, it’s not my favorite flavor of chocolate, but the consistency of the chocolate itself is very good. Not quite as buttery as the Chocovic last week, but sweeter and I can see myself eating more of this in one sitting.

Other reading - here’s more about G&B’s Fair Trade Maya Gold bar.

Rating - 8 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:16 am     All NaturalCandyReviewGreen & BlackChocolateEthically SourcedOrganic8-TastyUnited Kingdom

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

The Mysterious Cup-O-White Gold

Name: Peppermint Cup-O-Gold
Brand: Adams-Brooks
Place Purchased: 99 Cent Only Store
Price: $.33
Size: 1.7 oz
Calories per ounce: 124
Type: Chocolate/Mint

This candy cup has left me mystified. Is it really from Adams-Brooks? They don’t mention it on their website ... no one mentions it on their website on any of the internets. Have I stumbled across an inter-dimensional 99 cent store that sells candy unknown to us here?

Why is it called Cup-o-Gold anyway? The center is clearly white. The package is silver ... these things trouble me. But not enough to keep me from eating it.

Like the original Cup-O-Gold, this milk chocolate cup sports toasted coconut and almond bits in the chocolate. The ratio of chocolate to the filling is a little off. Upon my first small bite (not pictured), I didn’t hit filling, just chocolate. The second bite, which was sizeable (like the photo) didn’t hit filling. Finally on the fourth bite which by now meant half the cup was gone, I hit a small hidden cavity of filling. Instead of a light, frothy filling like the Cup-O-Gold, this one was a little tacky, a little stiff.  The mint was barely perceptible.

I bought this thinking it’d be like a milk chocolate Junior Mint - a gooey minty cream center. Alas, the coconut competes too much with the scant mint. If there were less chocolate and more filling, perhaps it wouldn’t seem so overpowering. However, the package does say thick rich milk chocolate, so who am I to go expecting things not advertised?

Rating - 4 out of 10.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:29 pm     CandyReviewAdams & BrooksChocolateCoconutMarshmallowMints4-BenignUnited States99 Cent Only Store

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