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Friday, August 6, 2010

Candy Source: Albanese Candy Factory

Albanese Candy FactoryThe Northern Indiana town of Merrillville is home to Albanese Candy. They’re known for their line of “World’s Best Gummy Bears” that sport little A’s on their chests.

One of the most exciting parts of my recent trip was a visit to a real, working candy factory. I didn’t get a special tour or anything, but I always like to get close to the source of candy - even if it’s through a wall of glass. The Albanese Candy Factory is easy to get to, at the junction of I65 and RTE30. (Though Google Maps took me on a far more direct but slower route through the neighboring Indiana towns from I80.)

The factory is nicely situated with a large parking lot and a charming “house” entry for the candy store and tour portion of the facility. Entering the space, at first it just looks like a huge candy store - probably about 2,000 square feet of not just Albanese Candy, but oodles of other bulk items in bins, novelties and classic favorites from all sorts of manufacturers. At the back of this space is the tour.

Albanese Candy Factory

No photos were allowed of their candy factory tour, which amounts to walking along one wall of the factory and peering into the active operation. I was able to see the starch molds stacked up and ready to be fed into the depositor, which squeezes out the gummy goo that becomes the bears. The next steps were a bit hidden, but the next conveyer showed the completed gummi bears on a belt being tossed around and bagged up. (The true intervening step is that the gummy bears cure for a while in their molds, are then cleaned of their corn starch coats & given a little shine in a tumbler called a panning machine.) The bears were then bagged up and robots came in and created huge boxes then pallets that were moved around.

The space is just a wide carpeted ramp with a few videos to demonstrate and explain the processes. It’s wheelchair accessible and easy for folks to spend as much or as little time on as they want.

Albanese Candy Factory

I was really interested in the candy store and I wasn’t disappointed. First and foremost they sold Albanese Candy. By the door were piles of boxes of “seconds” at reasonable prices - a 5 lb box of Peach Rings was $8. Great for a party.

Albanese Candy Factory - Gummi Bar

The perfect candy was sold either in pre-packs or at one of the three bulk candy stations. There were plenty of helpful and knowledgeable staffers there. All of the items that weren’t individually wrapped were packaged up by request by the staff. They stood there with their tongs, scoops, plastic bags and gloved hands at the ready for any request. They had every Albanese gummy candy I could think of. The standard items were all $2.49 a pound - a great price as anyone who has been to Dylan’s Candy Bar or other mall bulk candy shop will recognize. (Those shops sell Albanese Candy for anywhere between $9 and $14 a pound.)

I picked out their new Natural Sour Poppers, Gummi Butterflies (now in small and large sizes) and Gummi Fishes. I’ve actually had the last two items before, but I thought I’d try them again, especially because I wanted a standard flavor to try against the natural ones.

Albanese Gummi FishesDSC_7456rbAlbanese Gummi Butterflies - Large & Small

The packaging was nice. Just little stand-up zipper plastic bags. What I appreciated was the each one got its own label that did list the ingredients for the product - a rare service when buying in bulk. These little four ounce bags were just $65 cents, quite a deal for getting exactly what I wanted.

Albanese Natural Sour Poppers

The new Natural Sour Poppers are cute little smiley faced buttons of gummis. I have no idea what the flavors are supposed to be, or even how many are in the assortment. I didn’t try to overthink them, I just ate them.

Though there’s no sour sanding on them they’re still quite tangy right from the start. They’re soft and squishy with good, well rounded flavors but very much on the sour side. I could pick out the cherry, lemon, orange and pineapple ones, there might have been green apple, fruit punch, strawberry and maybe watermelon in there.

I liked that there were no weird aftertastes associated with the coloring, though the flavors were less vibrant than the traditionally produced ones. They recognizable “emoticon” shape will probably be quite fun for kids. I also appreciate that they’re the same price as the unnatural gummi products.

Albanese Gummi Butterflies

I’ve reviewed the stunning-looking Albanese Gummi Butterflies before. I’m not quite sure why I picked them up again, but I was enchanted by their appearance. The wingspan on the large ones is a full 3 inches. The small ones are less than half that, at about 1.33 inches across and the same thickness.

Albanese Small Gummi Butterflies

Combining the two sizes was actually more satisfying for me than one or the other. I liked the look of them together, the small ones gave context for the large sized shape (which often get folded up). The flavors are the same charming Albanese cherry, orange, grape, punch and apple. I especially liked the orange ones, but found the cherry to have the robust woodsy notes and not too much red food coloring flavor.

Albanese Chocolate Covered Caramel & Marshmallow

Albanese’s chocolate products are far less well known. I picked up only one chocolate item to review, their Dark Chocolate Caramel Marshmallow. The prices on the chocolate items varied depending on the product itself. They had a good selection of traditional chocolate treats like toffee, fruit creams, caramels and nuts. They’re packaged just like the gummis, into little zipper bags.

The Caramel Marshmallow is smaller than the See’s Scotchmallow. A nicely domed piece, they were in pristine, unmarred condition when I bought them but got jostled around a bit in transit (drove to Chicago from there, then flew back to Los Angeles four days later).

It has a nice dark cocoa scent, a little sweet but woodsy. The bite is not at all like I expected a marshmallow to be. Instead of a latexy puff, it was more of a light fluffed cream. It still had a little chew to it, but not at all like I was accustomed to with See’s or Russell Stover. The flavor was barely sweet and had a light hint of vanilla to it (they use both real vanilla and vanillin in them). The caramel was soft and chewy but lacking much of a salty or burnt sugar punch. The dark chocolate was decent quality and well tempered though not complex. They’re certainly edible but of course don’t hold a candle to my favorite, the Scotchmallow. Since they’re about the same price at $11.99 a pound, I can’t see myself getting these again - even though I know they’re extremely fresh.

Albanese Candy Factory - Gummi Bar

The diversity of candy offerings in the store is amazing. They had a huge selection of nostalgic favorites, such as swirl lollipops, candy buttons, wax lips and theater box favorites. I lucked out and found Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy as well as the more recent Doscher’s French Chew. They also had a great wall of individually wrapped candies which included Mary Jane’s, Anise Squares, Honey Drops and all sorts of items from Atkinson’s like their Peerless line. I picked up Angel Mints and my mother found Sen Sen and got a tin of Anis de Flavigny. Prices for the candy that they don’t make there is a little more than a drug store but less than most other candy stores.

The shop is only about one hour outside of Chicago and a half an hour south of Gary, Indiana. So if you’re in the area, it’s a nice place to stop. (Though it’d be nice if they also had coffee, we really needed some to go with our toffee that we ate in the car.)

Albanese Candy Factory Outlet Store
5441 East Lincoln Hwy
Merrillville, IN 46410
(219) 947-3070
see website for current hours

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POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:21 pm     CandyAlbanese ConfectioneryChocolateGummi Candy7-Worth ItUnited StatesHighlightShopping

Friday, July 30, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Callebaut Marbles

Callebaut Marbled Chocolates

Every once in a while at Whole Foods they have interesting bulk chocolate, usually by the fine cheeses. One of the items they were actually sampling (this was about two years ago) were Belgian Chocolate Marbles. They were milk, dark and white chocolate swirled pearls. Well, flash forward a few years and I was at the Fancy Food Show where I finally found out who makes them: Callebaut.

Callebaut recently started moving into selling directly to consumers, previously they did most of their products for other confectioners or as ingredients. So maybe these will show up in stores. They’re fun little nuggets, pretty and made from good quality chocolate - real cocoa butter in the white chocolate and a strong dairy flavor.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:45 pm     CandyHighlightFeatured NewsFun StuffPhotography

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Jelly Belly Licorice

Jelly Belly Licorice Assortment

Jelly Belly Confections makes a classic licorice bridge mix that has jelly beans, buttons, mellocremes and pastels. Personally, the pastels (candy coated licorice nibs) are my favorite. But I found this abridged mix that just has jelly beans, licorice bears and buttons at the Dollar General, certainly cheaper but missing the fun stuff.

Still, I love the look of the buttons.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:11 pm     CandyHighlightFeatured NewsFun StuffPhotography

Monday, July 26, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Butterfly Lollipop

Melville All Natural Lollipop

Melville’s Candy has always made stunning molded lollipops, they even have a new line with all natural ingredients. The flavors are more subtle, but then I feel like it’s more like the classic barley sugar pop than an intensely flavored hard candy pop.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:07 am     CandyHighlightFeatured NewsFun StuffPhotography

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Rainbow Tubes

Cherry Rainbow Stick

Actually, what kept me from eating these was the fact that they were cherry-flavored.

Cherry Stick

Great idea for a summer party - it’s a generous straw that can be used to sip lemonade and probably even milkshakes (or a float).

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:11 am     CandyHighlightFeatured NewsFun StuffPolls

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Mushroom Cap

DSC_6079rb

Following on yesterday’s Lucky Stars, this Super Mario mushroom tin with mushroom shaped candies is also made by Boston America Corp.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:46 am     Candy6-TemptingHighlightFeatured NewsFun StuffPhotography

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Eat with your Eyes: Kakosi Nibbles

Kakosi Nibbles

There are so many things to love about this. Let’s start with the package. The tin is adorable and most of all, function. The top slides open a little or a lot to dispense chocolate covered cacao nibs.

So it’s a tin of nibs? What’s so special about that these days? These are single origin criollo nibs from the Ocumare Valley (my favorite).

I picked up this sample earlier this year at ExpoWest (a natural products show). Now they just need to get them in stores.

Kakosi Nibbles  Kakosi Nibbles

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:56 pm     Candy8-TastyHighlightFeatured NewsFun StuffPhotography

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Oldies but Goodies

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.

ProCandyJanFeb10-p10

ProCandyJanFeb10-p12

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:30 am     CandyCANDY BLOG10-SuperbHighlightFeatured NewsFun Stuff

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