ABOUT

FEEDS

CONTACT

  • .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
  • Here are some frequently asked questions emailed to me you might want to read first.

EMAIL DIGEST

    For a daily update of Candy Blog reviews, enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

CANDY RATINGS

TYPE

BRAND

COUNTRY

ARCHIVES

Valentines

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Brach’s Valen-tiny’s

DSC_0331rbOne of the new items from Brach’s is a fun looking product. They’re called Brach’s Valen-tiny’s. They’re tiny double layer hearts in the style of SweeTarts.

I found the share size bag at Target, which is a great size for a new product like this. The bag has no further description aside from advising that they’re good for snacking or decorating. The little window in the bag shows that they are actually tiny hearts that are two layers, one white and the other a pastel.

DSC_0346rb

As far as I can tell, there are five flavors:
Green is lime. It’s tangy and sort of ordinary.
Pink is cherry and again, rather ordinary and sweet with a little tart bite.
Orange is much denser than the other flavors and tastes more like chewable aspirin. There’s a vitamin B flavor to it that’s not really pleasant for a candy.
Yellow is like a fruit flavored Tums. It’s not even lemon, as far as I can tell, it might be pineapple or fruit punch.
Purple is grape and actually a lot more intensely flavored than the others. The grape is also not Pixy Stix grape, but more like concord grape.

The quality of the flavors is so widely varied that I can’t recommend them. It’s hard to tell them apart because they’re small and only colored on one side, so it’s easy to eat the wrong one if you’re avoiding a color.

I’d like to see Brach’s try again with these because the concept shows a lot of promise. But they’re fine for decorating and I only spent a buck on them. I was disappointed to see that they’re made in China, which means that Brach’s or Ferrara Candy Company didn’t actually make them at all.

Related Candies

  1. Mega Smarties ‘n Creme
  2. Brach’s Red Velvet Candy Corn & Candyology Episode 7
  3. Brach’s Conversation Heart Jelly Beans
  4. Oak Leaf Hearts Candy
  5. Brach’s Conversation Hearts
  6. Gobstopper Heart Breakers
  7. SweeTart Hearts


Name: Valen-tiny’s
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Brach’s
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $1.00
Size: 2.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 113
Categories: Candy, Valentines, Brach's, Ferrara Pan, Compressed Dextrose, 4-Benign, China, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:55 pm     CandyReviewValentinesBrach'sFerrara PanCompressed Dextrose4-BenignChinaTarget

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Tic Tac Be Mine Mix

Tic Tac Be Mine MixLast year Tic Tac had a Valentine’s flavor called Be Mine Mix. It featured Strawberry & Wild Cherry in one box. The new version for 2016 has a couple of twists. First, there are three colors in the package, though the flavors are still listed as Wild Cherry & Strawberry Flavors. The appealing new feature though is that they’re printed.

Tic Tac introduced printed little pieces last year with the Minions promotion (which was pretty genius in appearance, though in the States the flavor was not banana as expected, instead it was Passion Fruit). Since Tic Tac invested in this new printer technology, they’re trotting it out for other versions, including the Candy Cane version for Christmas, which were just peppermint Tic Tacs with little red candy canes printed on them.

There are only three conversation starters here: I (heart) You, Hug Me and Be Mine. The type is quite wee, very hard for me to read without my reading glasses on, but love is for the young and able-eyed.

Tic Tac Be Mine Mix

The lightest pink tastes a bit like Strawberry Cake. I have no idea what it’s supposed to be but the shell part is smooth and sweet with very little flavor at first, the next layer down has a tartness and a definite strawberry flavor note. The center is softer and has more strawberry flavor but a really pronounce “cream flavor” which is not to say that it’s actually creamy, it just has a vanilla and maybe even touch of butter note. I don’t like it much.

The medium pink is Strawberry, but this one, instead of the weird vanilla, the center has a menthol note on top of the berry.

The red is Wild Cherry. This is well done. The outside is slick on the tongue with a very mild cherry sweetness. The next level down introduces the more varied cherry notes, a deeper jammy flavor and of course the tart bite. The center has a bit more chalky tartness. As a whole, it’s pretty good. I’m not usually fond of cherry, but this was the best one in the mix ... but it could be because I really didn’t like the others.

All three go together pretty well, but as mints they’re not very refreshing as breath fresheners. The box is cute, but not distinctive as a Valentine’s item. I’d really only get this for someone as a gift or myself if I knew that I liked the flavors. The printing is certainly a novel addition to the brand, but it does decrease the enjoyment of the texture (the printing does not dissolve in the same way as the regular coating does).

Related Candies

  1. Tic Tac Mixers: Peach Lemonade
  2. Theo My Cherry Baby
  3. Cacao Prieto 72% Dark Chocolate Pecan & Sour Cherry
  4. Eat with Your Eyes: Tic Tac Strawberry Fields
  5. Zitrone Honig Tic Tac
  6. Tic Tac Pink Grapefruit
  7. Gimbal’s Cherry Lovers
  8. 3 Musketeers Cherry & Raspberry


Name: Tic Tac Be Mine Mix
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Ferrero
Place Purchased: Target (Glendale)
Price: $.99
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 114
Categories: Candy, Valentines, Ferrero, Compressed Dextrose, 6-Tempting, Ireland, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:46 pm     CandyReviewValentinesFerrero6-TemptingIrelandTarget

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Candyology 101 - Podcast Episode 30 - Valentines and Strawberry

Candyology30

In this episode of the Candyology 101 podcast, Maria and wander the aisle for everything new in Valentines for 2016. And it’s all strawberry.


You can download the MP3 file directly and check out the full show notes.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:18 pm     CandyValentinesHighlightRadio Interviews

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Russell Stover Strawberries & Cream Mix

DSC_0382rbRussell Stover, the classic American boxed chocolate maker was bought by Lindt & Sprungli about 18 months ago. I was looking forward to Russell Stover becoming, well, better.

This year Russell Stover jumped on the strawberry trend quite well. They already make a Strawberry Cream Heart for Valentine’s Day, but this year they’ve also added at least three new items with the strawberry theme. I picked up two. The first is the Russell Stover Strawberries & Cream Mix which the package says is strawberry and white pastelle hearts combine for a rich strawberry and cream taste.

The pink package sports lots and lots of hearts, including a few that show the size and shape of the candies. And it’s actually pretty accurate, they do look like little drawings of hearts colored in off white and palest pink. It’s a white confection version of the iddy biddy Santas and Bunnies they do in milk chocolate. (Though they mercifully sell those in little single-serve packages.)

DSC_0387rb

The pieces do smell rather sweet, mild and with a decent strawberry note. They’re soft and matte and kind of strange because they’re very quiet. They’re light and have no candy shell, so pouring them from the package means more sound from the bag than the tumbling of the candy.

When Russell Stover says pastelle, they really mean a combination of sugar, fractionated palm kernel oil, partially hydrogenated palm oil, some milk solids & fats plus a few dabs of food coloring and flavor.

The effect is pretty much what you might think. Mostly waxy, rather sweet, a smidge milky and vaguely strawberry. The white pieces are supposed to be vanilla, but are really just less strawberry because of their proximity in the bag.

They’re not as sweet as I feared they would be. Mostly I’m disappointed that they’re so expensive when Mars was able to make actual white chocolate strawberry M&Ms for less for Easter this year. The one thing they have going for them is that they are pretty darn cute and would be great as a decorative element for a cake or cupcakes or just scattered on a dessert plate. Because they’re a mockolate product, not a coated candy, the colors won’t run and they’re not as likely to melt in most serving situations.

Related Candies

  1. Russell Stover Red Velvet Santa
  2. Russell Stover Eggs (2009 edition)
  3. Divine Fair Trade Chocolate
  4. Meiji Gummy Choco
  5. Russell Stover Eggs (2007 edition)
  6. KitKat Chocolatier (Strawberry & Green Tea)
  7. KitKat Tsubu Ichigo and Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme


Name: Strawberries & Cream Mix
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Russell Stover
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Miracle Mile)
Price: $4.99
Size: 7.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: Candy, Morselization, Valentines, Russell Stover, Mockolate, 4-Benign, United States, Walgreen's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:14 pm     CandyMorselizationReviewValentinesRussell StoverMockolate4-BenignUnited StatesWalgreen's

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Ghiradelli Valentine’s Dark and Strawberry Squares

Ghiradelli Valentine's Dark & Strawberry SquaresThough strawberry is the hot flavor of the moment, Ghirardelli has been making these Limited Edition Valentine’s Dark & Strawberry Squares for a few years.

There’s not much of a description on the package, just that the squares are filled with strawberry filling. The filling appears to be made from sugar, high fructose corn syrup, palm oil and freeze dried strawberries and colored with fruit and vegetable juice (very vague). It also has some added TBHQ as a preservative. There’s no indication of the cacao content of the chocolate itself, but I’d guess it’s somewhere in the low 60% range. Each square is 70 calories.

Ghiradelli Valentine's Dark & Strawberry Squares

The squares are elegant and simple. They’re 1.75 inches square and sport the Ghirardelli logo in a beveled field. In my experience the packaging protects the pieces well and they usually look stunningly gorgeous.

If there’s an issue with the filled squares from Ghirardelli is that they temper their chocolate to be very crisp and snappy ... so the filled pieces can be messy to eat when the chocolate breaks apart upon biting and the filling dribbles out. So, make an effort to bite on the diagonal, or pop the whole thing in your mouth at once.

Ghiradelli Valentine's Dark & Strawberry Squares

The chocolate is sweet but with a nice dry woodsy note to it, which goes well with the strawberry flavors. The strawberry filling is quite like a finely pureed strawberry sauce. It’s not overly sweet, has a strong tangy note and just a touch of seed flavor to it (and some actual seeds).

Because the edges are so thick and the chocolate in the center is so thin, there’s a large variation in the proportion of filling to chocolate in any given bite.

I liked them quite a bit, it was the best imitation of a chocolate covered strawberry that doesn’t spoil that I think I’ve had. Ghirardelli Strawberry Squares contain soy and milk and may also contain traces of tree nuts. There’s no statement about gluten.

Related Candies

  1. Dove Milk Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Crisp Promises
  2. Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Cranberry
  3. Ghirardelli Intense Dark Sea Salt Soiree
  4. Jelly Belly Chocolate Dips
  5. Ferrara Chocolate Strawberry
  6. Ghirardelli Holiday Squares
  7. 3 Musketeers Mini Mix
  8. Rice Milk Chocolate Bars
  9. KitKat Tsubu Ichigo and Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme


Name: Valentine’s Dark and Strawberry Squares
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Ghiradelli
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $3.50
Size: 6.38 ounces
Calories per ounce: 148
Categories: Candy, Valentines, Ghirardelli, Chocolate, Kosher, 8-Tasty, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:42 pm     CandyReviewValentinesGhirardelliChocolateKosherLimited Edition8-TastyUnited StatesTarget

Monday, January 25, 2016

Dove Milk Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Crisp Promises

Dove Milk Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Crisp PromisesYou’ll see a theme in the coming weeks: strawberry is the flavor of the moment.

The new Dove Milk Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Crisp Promises are for Valentine’s Day. I picked mine up at Target (and they may be a Target-Exclusive item).

The shortcake part is a little odd, conceptually. For a real strawberry shortcake, berries (often in a sweetened syrup) are ladled over a biscuit type baked good. Some folks prefer a spongecake or poundcake but the key here is that they’re all soft and cakey. The cookie pieces in this case are made from tapioca starch, rice flour, sugar, palm oil, baking soda and some salt.

The other odd part of this is that there’s milk chocolate ... so if anything, this is an imitation of a chocolate covered strawberry with a few gluten free cookie bits (this is not, however, a gluten free product as it’s made in a facility that also uses wheat and peanuts and tree nuts).

Dove Milk Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Crisp Promises

The pieces are not a swirl of milk & white chocolate, like some other recent versions. Instead this is a solid milk chocolate piece, flavored with some strawberry and dotted with little cookie inclusions.

The strawberry flavor is very strong, but the milk chocolate holds its own with a creamy dairy note and a little toasty cocoa flavor. The strawberry is floral sweetness, no dried berry bits in this version. The cookie bits are odd, since they’re made with starch and not actual wheat flour, they are actually rather starchy, though they don’t get sticky-pasty like some gluten free cookies I’ve had. The overall effect of the crunchy cookie bit is really nice, it aerates the experience because you kind of have to chew it instead of just letting the chocolate melt away, which I think boosts the strawberry notes.

They’re pleasant. The strawberry isn’t too artificial or plastic (it does say natural flavor on the package, though it’s kind of vague). I don’t know if I would buy these again, but I appreciated the effort and novelty.

Related Candies

  1. Dove Holiday Mint Cookie Promises
  2. Dove Milk Chocolate & Red Velvet Swirl Promises
  3. Dove Hazelnut Crisp Dark Chocolate Promises
  4. Mike and Ike Strawberry Reunion
  5. Meiji Corot - Strawberry Chocolate Drops
  6. Peeps Strawberry Creme dipped in Dark Chocolate
  7. Ritter Sport Milk Chocolate with Strawberry Creme


Name: Dove Milk Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Crisp Promises
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $3.34
Size: 7.94 ounces
Calories per ounce: 155
Categories: Candy, Valentines, Mars, Chocolate, Cookie, Kosher, Limited Edition, 7-Worth It, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:51 pm     CandyReviewValentinesMarsChocolateCookieKosherLimited Edition7-Worth ItUnited StatesTarget

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Theo My Cherry Baby

Theo My Cherry BabyIt’s hard to resist a pretty bit of packaging, especially when, as I mentioned in last week’s review of the Theo’s Love Crunch, a chocolate bar is far better than a greeting card. The bubbly design in reds and pinks is a bit feminine, but the flavors should suit anyone who likes their milk chocolate on the deeper side of the pool.

This Theo bar delivers on the promise of the package, for me. The wrapper for the Theo Chocolate My Cherry Baby bar says, Fall in love with cherries in dreamy 45% milk chocolate - tangy, sweet and yummy.

The bars are made in Seattle with ethically sourced, non GMO, no soy, gluten free, Kosher and in this case, at a darn affordable price. For some reason they weren’t $4 a bar, which Theo is usually priced, but I got mine for $1.50 each.

DSC_8596rb

The bar is a dark milk, which is a nice place to start for a high end bar. The flavor is quite deep with rich coffee notes, but also quite a bit of malt and even a hint of yeast in there. The cherry pieces are tiny and a bit on the leathery side. They’re tangy and chewy, but not freeze dried crispy bits either. The flavor combines well, though both seem to bring out bitter notes in each other - I got the cherry skin bitterness on one hand and the roasted acrid notes from the chocolate.

It’s a tasty bar, easy to eat, but I felt no need to eat more than a large square at a time, even though a half of a bar is the recommended dose.

I do enjoy Theo Chocolate’s seasonal bars quite a bit, much more than their standard just-chocolate. The gold standard for them will probably always be the Dark Chocolate Salted Almond ... but toss in a few cherries for a holiday version, and I might be inclined to revise my opinion.

Related Candies

  1. Theo Chocolate Nutcracker Brittle
  2. Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Cranberry
  3. Cacao Prieto 72% Dark Chocolate Pecan & Sour Cherry
  4. Theo Salted Almond Dark Chocolate
  5. Nestle Cherry Raisinets
  6. Theo 3400 Phinney Bars


Name: My Cherry Baby
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Theo Chocolate
Place Purchased: Whole Foods (Park LaBrea)
Price: $1.50 (on sale)
Size: 3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 147
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Valentines, Theo, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, Kosher, Organic, 7-Worth It, United States, Whole Foods

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:03 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewValentinesTheoChocolateEthically SourcedKosherOrganic7-Worth ItUnited StatesWhole Foods

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Theo Red Hot Cinnamon Love Crunch

Theo Red Hot Cinnamon Love CrunchValentine’s Day candy is disappointing because it’s usually about the packaging. So, I was pleased at Whole Foods when I spotted two limited edition varieties from Theo Chocolate for Valentine’s Day ... and on sale at 2 bars for $3 (they’re usually $4 each). I’ve often said that a fine chocolate bar is better than a greeting card and in this case, far cheaper. There’s even a “To” and “From” spot on the back of the bar. (But the ideal touch would be to include at least a personalized post it note.)

It’s called Theo Red Hot Cinnamon Love Crunch. The description on the back said: The red-hot crunch of cinnamon brittle in smooth, rich, 70% dark chocolate - spicy and sweet.

Sounds amazing: for $1.50, I was getting a unique bar that combined cinnamon and chocolate, that was also fair trade certified, non-GMO, organic, vegan, soy-free, Kosher and made here in the USA. Goodbye, ordinary candy in a heart shaped package! (The other bar I picked up was the milk chocolate My Cherry Baby.)

DSC_8591rb

On the tongue at first it’s a little tangy. The melt is a little grainy, I wasn’t sure if it was the crunchy bits or not at first, but it seems that some of it is spices. It became apparent very quickly that this was not just a cinnamon and chocolate bar. My bad for not reading the label fully.

Here’s the deal: the package is pink, the printing on the back is brown. In full light and my reading glasses, I can read it. But not in the dim light and glassesless state I was in at Whole Foods. (My usual trick when I don’t have my glasses and the print is tiny is to take a photo with my phone and then blow it up, but I read the description and thought that was the extent of the flavors.)

The ingredients of interest here are (after you get through the chocolate stuff): cayenne, cinnamon leaf essential oil, black pepper essential oil, nutmeg essential oil and clove essential oil.

I actually like spicy things (curry, cinnamon, black pepper and ginger), but the one I can’t do is red pepper. Capsascin is one of those compounds that people experience differently because of genetic differences. For me, cayenne isn’t fun, there’s a lot of heat that doesn’t seem to dissipate and in higher concentrations it just induces nausea. So, I avoid anything other than mild chili items. While there’s a proliferation of chili peppers in confection, and for the most part they’re tolerable, though not always enjoyable for me.

This was freakishly hot for me. I got the different sensations from the various spices, I could actually discern the difference between the black pepper and the cayenne and the cinnamon. (Clove actually has a bit of a numbing effect.) The cinnamon really only came in at the beginning as a scent. The tangy bite of the chocolate did help to mellow the pepper at first, but once it hit my throat, the one-two punch of black and red pepper was too much. The little brittle crunch pieces were supposed to be cinnamon, and maybe some of them were, but other larger bits seemed flavorless.

I tried this bar twice, eating only one of the large squares each time in small bits. The warming effect from the spices lasts a long time, well over a half an hour. Though it didn’t upset my stomach, it really didn’t please me either and I don’t plan on finishing the bar.

If your loved one is partial to the extremely spicy side of things, this might be a good option, especially if you’re looking for something without dairy or soy (the Lindt dark chocolate products contain milk and soy ingredients). The bar is made in a facility that also handles peanuts, wheat, milk, eggs and soy.

Related Candies

  1. Theo Chocolate Nutcracker Brittle
  2. Artisan du Chocolat Black Cardamom
  3. Limited Edition M&Ms Cinnamon Milk Chocolate
  4. Cowgirl Chocolates Mild Milk Chocolate Sarsaparilla
  5. See’s Cinnamon (Hearts & Lollypops)
  6. Theo 3400 Phinney Bars
  7. Chuao ChocoPods


Name: Red Hot Cinnamon Love Crunch
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Theo Chocolate
Place Purchased: Whole Foods (Park LaBrea)
Price: $1.50 (on sale)
Size: 3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Valentines, Theo, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Ethically Sourced, Kosher, Organic, 5-Pleasant, United States, Whole Foods

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:57 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewValentinesTheoBrittleChocolateCinnamonEthically SourcedKosherOrganic5-PleasantUnited StatesWhole Foods

Page 1 of 10 pages  1 2 3 >  Last ›

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

 

 

 

 

Facebook IconTwitter IconTumblr IconRSS Feed IconEmail Icon

COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2537 days

Read previous coverage

 

 

Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
  •   Easter

 

image

ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

image