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PollsSunday, July 25, 2010
Eat with your Eyes: Rainbow TubesActually, what kept me from eating these was the fact that they were cherry-flavored. 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). Sunday, May 23, 2010
Eat with your Eyes: Meiji Strawberry LentilsIt’s fresh strawberry season. Nothing beats a great, real strawberry. But a true white chocolate with freeze dried strawberries in it can be pretty close. And pretty little candy coating and lentil shapes aren’t bad either. POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:48 am Candy • Featured News • Fun Stuff • Polls • Saturday, May 15, 2010
Eat with your Eyes: MushroomMichel Cluizel Champignon Caramel - it’s quite an engineering achievement. The cap is an almond crunch covered in chocolate, the stem is filled with caramel, covered in dark chocolate then white. POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:29 am Candy • Featured News • Fun Stuff • Polls • Saturday, April 3, 2010
The March 2010 Candy RecapMarch is over, which means that Candy Season is coming to a close with Easter on Sunday. I’ve decided to start doing a monthly recap of things related to Candy Blog and the candy world mostly because I’ve been running a lot of reports at my day job so I figured I’d do the same here just to kind of track some tends. Last year I asked readers which candy holiday was their favorite and 45% stated Halloween, but Easter was in second place with 25% of the votes. It’s by far my favorite, perhaps because of the pleasant colors but also because it’s a much more intimate candy holiday - it’s about family and friends, not begging from strangers. The latest poll was What do you prefer: Egg, Bunny, Chick or Bean?. I admit it’s a pretty vague poll and I chose egg myself, not for the Cadbury Creme Eggs but for Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs and Cadbury Mini Eggs. Previous polls revealed that while 39% of responding readers don’t like Peeps at all, ones that do prefer stale to fresh but 12% simply don’t care how they’re treated or prepared, they’ll eat them any way. Chocolate bunnies are a different matter. By the number of votes compared to the egg, bunny, chick or bean poll, people like chocolate rabbits. They also agree that if they’re for eating, they should be good quality. In candy news one of the big developments has been the old good news & bad news scenario. More studies are being done on chocolate’s positive health benefits, especially for the cardiovascular system. The latest study released shows that even small amounts are great for overall heart health and reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Chocolate, especially very dark chocolate, reduces blood pressure, increases elasticity of blood vessels and may reduce inflammation. The caution though is moderation - if you’re going to eat a lot of chocolate, which is high in calories, make sure you reduce other discretionary calories appropriately. So instead of those chips and dip and later that bowl of ice cream, have some chocolate throughout the day. But the flip side of that is news that fatty foods can be associated with addiction in the same way that drugs can. Earlier in March I also attended ExpoWest, which is a trade show for natural products held at the Anaheim Convention Center. The exhibits take up the entire show floor and though the majority were not of a candy nature, there still were at least 50 that did have candy or chocolate. Fair Trade, organic and fortified still seem to be the primary selling points. Many big companies that we’re familiar with that use artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners were exhibiting new product lines that are more wholesome versions - real natural ingredients and more traditional candy-making methods that appeal to natural product buyers. Raw chocolate has been around for a few years but this is the first time I’ve tried versions that rival the roasted stuff. (I’ll have reviews of those at some point when I get a hold of some actual whole product instead of a few bites here and there.) Most Popular Candy Blog Posts for March 2010 1. Coconut M&Ms - these were initially released as a limited edition item and I reviewed them last year, but now as they’re hitting the store shelves as a new item there’s a lot of renewed interest. 2. Cadbury Mini Eggs - I’ve loved these things my whole life even though Hershey’s has mucked with the classic recipe by adding PGPR. Based on the number of visitors to that post every year around this time, I’m not alone in my love for the little morsels. 4. Reese’s Eggs - it doesn’t matter that I’ve reviewed several newer versions, the classic is the classic. 5. Skittles - yeah, just plain old Skittles. This post from 2007 includes the classic Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies (discontinued) and Sour (reformulated). 8. Reese’s Line 9. Skittles Fizzl’d Fruits - probably should have been called Bubbling Berries. Though I treasure my faithful readers and how they spread the word about Candy Blog, a fair number of visitors are just passing through via a search engine. I like to share these because it gives a sense of what the candy conversations are out there in the real world. Here are the most popular search phrases for March 2010: 1. Coconut M&Ms At the beginning of the month I moved from my old domain (typetive.com) to candyblog.net. I was afraid that beyond my regular readers that new readers wouldn’t find me, but it turns out that Google is pretty quick to catch up on spidering the new site. For a couple of weeks some photos were missing, but I think things are humming along smoothly now. The dominant theme for March here on Candy Blog was obviously Easter, and with the 2010 season I’ve now reviewed more than 100 Easter candy products so far. I took about 1,600 candy photos this month (of course only about 200 were uploaded to Flickr and only But I’m not alone in reviewing Easter candy, check out these excellent roundups - I’m going to guess that between and and the other diligent candy bloggers we’ve covered just about everything on the market: Sugar Pressure’s Easter Candy Reviews POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:54 am Candy • Featured News • Polls • Saturday, November 24, 2007
Caramel Texture Poll ResultsIt’s odd how different caramel can be and still be called caramel. I’m pretty keen on the firm and chewy stuff, I really like a pure emulsified texture as well. I voted for that one. I was outvoted. That’s okay any soft and flowing kind is good too, if it has a nice burnt sugar and butter flavor. I’ll even eat something so hard and tacky that it threatens dental work (Sugar Daddy). It’s amazing that something so simple can be so tasty! Sunday, November 18, 2007
Poll Results: 100 Calorie PreferencesI found this fascinating. First of all, I voted for the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I know it doesn’t seem like a huge portion, but the caloric density of the peanut butter is really satisfying to me. But I was really surprised at the huge numbers of Jelly Belly fans. I think my second choice would probably be Gummi Bears, just because they take so long to eat. The big thing, I think, if you’re going to have an indulgence be aware of how many calories it is, if you’re watching them, and then pick something that will satisfy you. Nothing worse than having a “treat” you don’t like. (I don’t know who these rice cake eaters are!) POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:39 am Candy • Featured News • Polls • Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Candy Poll: Back from the DeadWhat fun results! I always like it when readers surprise me with their answers. I thought for sure that Bar None or Marathon would win (though Marathon has an adequate substitute in Curly Wurly). I voted for Bar None. Who knew there was such passion out there for Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy! What else did I miss on the list of extinct candies? Related CandiesWednesday, June 20, 2007
Poll Results - Movies & Summer CandiesI’ve been a little remiss in posting the results of the polls, but here they are: Fudge, Cotton Candy & Frozen Bananas topped the summer treats poll. I voted for frozen bananas, but I might change that if I ever try a deep fried candy bar. I was really surprised that Junior Mints are so much more popular than other movie candy ... even more surprised because I don’t always see it as an option at the theater. While there were a few items on the Summer list that I don’t care much for, I’d pretty much eat any of these. (Yes, I voted for Junior Mints, too!) |
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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