Name: Wha Guru Chew
Brand: Golden Temple of Oregon, Inc.
Place Purchased: Whole Foods
Price: $.79
Size: 1.13 oz
Calories per ounce: 140
Type: Caramel (Nuts)

Reading over the ingredients list, I’m wondering what this has to do with the Yogi Bhajan. But I suppose even the most enlightened among us wants a sweet now and then. While there’s nothing bad about these caramel nut bars, they contain no trans fat and use brown rice syrup and evaporated cane juice instead of corn syrup, I’m struggling with the health food aspects of this. Aw hell, let’s just call it candy and be done with it.

These are fab. I can’t tell you how fab these are. The caramel is flavorful and soft, the nuts are fresh and crunchy and the smell is pure buttery sweetness. The only problem I have with them is that they’re very soft, so you taking them out of the package is nearly impossible and even getting the package open without scissors ended up too much of a challenge for me.

Cashew Vanilla - the right sweet notes of vanilla blended with buttery cashews. There are also sunflower seeds in here, which add an extra crunch and earthy taste to the bar to balance the sweetness of the caramel. A little touch of salt balances it all out.

Almond Ginger - it doesn’t smell quite as inviting as the cashew vanilla bar (I don’t think ginger smells that good inherently, as it has a rooty/earthy smell). But biting into this bar wipes away any hesitation that this bar will be as good as the former. The ginger pops out as a spicy base for the sugary caramel and the mild almonds. A slight trace of lemon zest links all the flavors together well.

Peanut Cashew - this one diverges from the recipe of the above two which are sweetened primarily with brown rice syrup and evaporated cane juice. This is sweetened with clover honey (and barley malt syrup). This honey base makes for a less viscous caramel but really amps up the flavor. The first tone you get upon biting into it is a strong orange essence. In addition to the peanuts and cashews are sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. Of the three this was my least favorite, though still worthy of trying.

Rating:
Cashew Vanilla - 9 out of 10
Almond Ginger - 9 out of 10
Peanut Cashew - 8 out of 10

Name: Renew
Brand: New Tree
Place Purchased: Portland, OR
Price: $4.95
Size: 2.82 oz
Calories per ounce: 142
Type: Chocolate

From the back of the package:

“Deliciously enhanced with blackcurrant and grape extract, Renew is an indulgent source of antioxidants which help fight external influences such as pollution, tobacco, stress and UV rays. Relish in a delightful, all natural Belgian chocolate treat (73% cocoa) that is a good source of minerals, Vitamin D, essential for a healthy, youthful body. “

This is fine Belgian dark chocolate (73% cocoa) infused with black currant and grape flavors. Instead of just candy or a sweet treat, New Tree seems to be pushing the health benefits of chocolate, because it contains more antioxidants than a glass of red wine and 10% of your daily vaulue of vitamin D and phosphorous, 6% of the RDA for zinc and E, 15% of your iron and 20% of your magnesium. In addition, there’s a whopping 5 grams of fiber - 22% of the daily requirement!

But health benefits and nutrition aside, unless you want to call these chewable vitamins and make them a chore (and expensive vitamins at that!), taste is what it’s all about…

The scent of black currant and grape is quite evident upon opening the inner mylar pouch. The chocolate was a dense, glossy black and heavy for its size. While the scent of the currants is there, the taste isn’t. The taste is all chocolate. A strong bitter start with a good melt on the tongue yields a slighly grainy feeling to the chocolate, but not an unpleasant one. Then the grape essence returns as the sweetness develops. It has a very dry finish, much like wine, but sometimes (not always) a bitter lingering note.

The snackability of such a rich combination of flavors isn’t really there. I can’t see myself munching on this bar, but definitely sampling it, probably in combination with some nuts or pretzels. It would probably go well with an after dinner plate of cheese and dried fruits as well (and wine or cognac).

The New Tree site heralds the other versions of their chocolate, all with enigmatic power names and functions. Pleasure is just pure chocolate. Vigor is chocolate with a boost of coffee and caffeine with guarana. Forgiveness is chocolate with lemon essence and added fiber and purports to halt absorption of fat. Tranquility is milk chocolate (more sugar than the other chocolates) with lime and lavender. Rejoice is milk chocolate flavored with orange and lime and crisped rice added.

They sell these in 2.8 oz bars or in little boxes with 3 x .9 oz bars of the same flavor. What I’d like to see is one box that has one of each for tasting. You can’t buy from their website and I haven’t seen them anywhere in the stores yet, but I’ll keep my eyes open. If you’re interested you can email them from the website about availability.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Name: Chocolate Sunflower Seed Drops
Brand: Trader Joe’s
Place Purchased: Trader Joe’s
Price: $2.79
Size: 7.5 oz
Calories per ounce: 150
Type: Nuts/Chocolate

These were a huge surprise. I was in Trader Joe’s over the weekend, enjoying the fabulous views of candy in the frozen foods aisle and these little fellows just screamed “buy me!” and I did. They’re just so adorably cute, with their sunny colors and perfect sunflower seed shapes.

First, I’m a little curious about the actual production of these guys. I mean, it seems like a lot of engineering went into these. The sunflower seeds have a consistent, thin coating of sweet milk chocolate on them and then over that is the thinnest sheath of candy shells. They’re all glossy and still have the little point at one end like a bare seed does.

Because the shell is so thin, they crunch immediately and release that familiar sunflower seed taste along with the sweet balance of the light chocolate. The snackability of these is amazing - I could just shovel them into my mouth all day. Whoops, I think I have!

If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, these, available from Candy Warehouse may be similar. I’m not keen to find out on my own, as the last thing I need is FOUR POUNDS. But I’ll keep my eye out for the little packages.

As candy goes, they are a bit more wholesome than some other choices. A single serving (about an ounce) boasts 2 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein and 4% of your daily value of calcium and iron. No trans fats at all.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Dovetailing with my earlier post about revisiting classics with new interpretations, Hershey’s recently launched “Candy to Go!” It’s just smaller packaging of their previously introduced Bites, but what I found interesting is that I thought most candy was packaged for going ...

These are perfect little bites of candy bars. I picked up three at the store on the lot today. Kit Kat Bites, Reese’s Peanut Butter Bites and York Bites. Each is about the size of a small marble, more or less. The York bites are exactly what you’d expect, dark chocolate covering a mint cream center. The Reese’s bites are covering a peanut butter cup filling (not that waxy Reese’s pieces stuff) and the Kit Kat bites are like little Kit Kat cubes.

Here’s my thing: I like appropriate ratios. In the case of the Reese’s bites and the York bites, the ratio of chocolate to filling is appropriate. Though the chocolate in these little poppers is slightly different - because it’s in a spherical shape, I think they toss a little resinous glaze on it. This makes for a slight waxy coating, which in one respect is good, because you can actually hold them in your hand for a moment without getting melty all over you, but it also means that you’re eating this resin and that you need to kind of get past that when you put it in your mouth.

In the Kit Kat bites, it feels like too much chocolate (Kit) and not enough crisp wafers (Kat).

The other odd thing about these are the portion size: 2.75 oz and that’s a full serving. Most candy bars are about 1.5 oz and have about 200 calories. The Reese’s bites have 410 calories! If you can control yourself and not eat them all at once, you’ll make it to fifty without a coronary. Me? I ate the whole York Bites and then moved on to the Reese’s and of course had to open the Kit Kat for a taste. Sadly, all that’s left now are some of the Kit Kats.

Name: York Bites
Brand: Hershey’s
Price: $.99
Size: 2.75 oz
Calories per ounce: 116
Type: Mint/Chocolate Candy

Good chocolate, nice mint, pretty much a tiny spherical peppermint patty. The only problem I had with these was the variation in quality. Some were soft and fresh, but others were rather hard. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they’re spoiled, maybe the chocolate didn’t seal in the filling completely and they dried out.

Name: Reese’s Peanut Butter Bites
Brand: Hershey’s
Price: $.99
Size: 2.75 oz
Calories per ounce: 149
Type: Chocolate/Nuts

Okay, of the three, these smelled absolutely divine when I opened the package. A wonderful roasted peanut scent with the sweet overtone of chocolate. Really, these smelled awesome. They taste good, and I think I’d buy them again, especially as something to eat when at the movies, but I still prefer the miniatures for the ratio of chocolate to peanut butter.

Name: Kit Kat Bites
Brand: Hershey’s
Price: $.99
Size: 2.75 oz
Calories per ounce: 145
Type: Chocolate

My least favorite of the three, but I’ve always been fond of Kit Kats and buy them often. But my favorite thing about Kit Kats is deconstructing them while I eat, which means prying off each layer with my teeth. That’s not really feasible with this iteration, so I’d just have to eat them and where’s the fun in that?

I’m not always fond of miniatures or giganto bars, but I think that Hershey’s really did a nice job of inventing these as candy that stands alone without the other versions. As always, freshness helps, if these were old and had bloomed or something, I’d find them absolutely unappealing. But I find these to be the perfect movie food or good to tuck in your bag to share with others.

Ratings:
Kit Kat Bites - 5 out of 10
York Bites - 6 out of 10
Reese’s Bites - 8 out of 10

UPDATE: It looks like these didn’t go over very well and have been discontinued. The remaining inventory can still be found at discount stores like 99 Cent Only. (But be sure to look at the expiration date before you take a chance.)

Name: Sweet Dark Orange and Sweet Dark Espresso
Brand: Newman’s Own
Place Purchased: Whole Foods
Price: $1.89 each
Size: 2.8 oz
Calories per ounce: 145
Type: Chocolate

I probably shouldn’t buy chocolate bars called “sweet” and expect something other than sweet. And this being a candy blog, I should probably stop mentioning that I find candy sweet. I’m just calling them like I taste them.

These bars are of excellent quality. Smooth and without grain. The chocolate has good flavor, not much vanilla essence, mostly a roasty, robust chocolate flavor. Each has a flavor added to it. The Espresso has an excellent rich coffee flavor and of the two, I liked the mix of flavors best. It’s not as sweet, and stays true to espresso’s smoky vibe.

The orange one has a wonderful orange peel aroma to it, but the chocolate flavor gets lost in it and of course, I found it a little too sweet.

The chocolate yielded well, melting smoothly on the tongue. Of course it helped that it was very hot over that weekend that I picked them up. I took the bars next door and Amy and Robin agreed that the espresso was the best.

It should probably be mentioned that Newman donates all proceeds from sales to charity and the products are, to the best of their ability, fair trade and organic. But for a high priced “gourmet” bar, I expect just slightly better flavor balance and meltiness.

Rating: Espresso - 7 out of 10
Orange - 6 out of 10.

I can’t fault the candy manufacturers trying to tweak their most popular candies instead of reinventing the wheel. Sometimes they arrive at something that’s as good or even better than the original.

In the spirit of my recent review of the White Chocolate Reese’s, I picked up a few other reduxes.

Name: Nestle Crunch Dark
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: Convenience Store
Price: $.75
Size:1.4 oz
Calories per ounce: 135
Type: Chocolate (crisped)

Very fresh, the crisps were crunchy and the bar was glossy and smooth. The chocolate was not waxy, but didn’t really have the melt-in-your mouth feel. The chocolate content was pretty good, but not quite enough to soothe me completely. Maybe it was a little sweet.

On the whole, I think crunch bars are perfect the way they are. Milk chocolate and crisped rice are perfect together. Why mess with it?

Name: White Chocolate Kit Kat
Brand: Reese’s (Hershey)
Place Purchased: Convenience Store
Price: $.75
Size: 1.5 oz
Calories per ounce: 147
Type: White Chocolate Candy

Again, there was nothing wrong with the original Kit Kat. This white Kit Kat seems a bit saltier, which helps to balance the bland sweetness of the white chocolate. It’s not something that I’d be interested in again.

Name: Milky Way Midnight
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Convenience Store
Price: $.75
Size: 1.76 oz
Calories per ounce: 125
Type: Chocolate Candy (Caramel & Nougat)

First, I congratulate them for spelling midnight correctly. This bar was very fresh but reminded me that I never cared much for Milky Ways because they’re too cloyingly sweet. I like Snickers, mostly because they mixing sweet and savory. Also, I don’t like candy bars that are too much sugar and not enough fat (and maybe a little protein thrown in). So, in that respect the dark version is much more successful. The richer taste of the chocolate balances the caramel and bland nougat much better.

I have to say, after having plenty of imported candies and things from the remainders at the 99 cent stores, having fresh candy really makes a difference. Even a middle-of-the-road candy like Hershey’s Kisses are better when they’re fresh. Candy’s a treat - if you are going to use those “discretionary” calories on something with no nutritional value, choose something fresh and satisfying. Life too short for bad dessert.

Ratings:
Nestle Crunch Dark - 6 out of 10
White Chocolate Kit Kat - 6 out of 10
Milky Way Midnight - 7 out of 10

Name: Milk Chocolate Covered Cherries
Brand: Queen Anne
Place Purchased: Vons? (a gift)
Size: 5 oz
Type: Chocolate (fruit)

First, I’m not fond of cherry anything. Fresh cherries are just about the only cherry thing I will eat. Maraschino cherries are absolutely not something I care for, they’re so artificial. My tastes have matured over the years and while I’m not fond of a lot of foods, I’ve grown accustomed to being able to assess them for what they are and even get some enjoyment out of them.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way ...

These morsels are soft cherries covered in milk chocolate. No clingy syrup, just cherries and chocolate. The cherries are soft and chewy with a strong maraschino. I like that there is not syrup to get in the way, and that the chocolate is thick. However, the sweet cherries have no tangy/tart bite to them and the milk chocolate, though smooth, is entirely too sweet and perhaps a bit waxy.

If mixed in with another bunch of chocolate covered goodies, I could see this being a fair contrast. Put it in a mix of nuts, perhaps brittles and pretzels and some good bitter chocolate and it might work out okay.

Rating: 4 out of 10 (I didn’t finish the package)

Name: Botticelli Bites
Brand: Botticelli Chocolates
Place Purchased: Big Lots
Price: $1.79
Size: 7 oz
Calories per ounce: 140
Type: Chocolate

I was excited to see these at Big Lots. I’ve been buying something called “Cookie Joys” made by Harry London Chocolates from Trader Joe’s for a few years now. I assumed that these were the same thing. And they probably were - about four years ago when these were probably manufactured.

I guess this is one of those things you learn the hard way from buying at the closeout stores. Chocolate is not something to buy on the cheap. Most often I am sorry when I do.

These came in three different flavors - Mint Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter and Double Chocolate. Only the Mint Chocolate ones did not have a bloom on them.

The Chocolate Peanut Butter looked fairly good (as they do in the photo) but the peanut oils must have gone rancid. The Double Chocolate were just plain white and chalky and I tossed them after sorting through to see if any of them were good.

Wholly disappointing.

However - if you ever find the Harry London varieties, I heartily recommend them. Hershey’s introduced a mint cookie bar a few years back which I was positively addicted to. This is the new replacement for it.

EDIT: Since writing this review I’ve found out that Botticelli is owned by Alpine Confectionery that also owns Harry London. They’re the same thing, just different packaging. Obviously these were stored improperly and were past their prime, thus got a poor rating.

Rating: 2 out of 10 (because I actually ate some of the mint ones, otherwise it’d be a 1)