Monday, December 8, 2014
Cella’s Dark Chocolate CherriesCella’s has been making chocolate covered cherries since 1864. The company was bought by Tootsie in 1985 and enjoys wide distribution at drug stores and mass marketing chains all over North America. Since I tried the an array of Queen Anne chocolate cherries, I though it would only be proper to try the best-known cordial cherries. Luckily they were on sale at Target yesterday for only $1.39 for a box of 10 cherries ... less than I paid for the lowest priced version of Queen Anne. Cella’s Cherries come in a variety of packages, I’m most familiar with the boxes that feature individually foil wrapped versions. They come in both Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate versions. I chose dark. This box of Cella’s was minimalist and efficient. The box was about half the size (flatter) than the Queen Anne and still held 10 pieces. (Though the total box only holds 5 ounces, not 6.6 ounces, so they’re smaller.) The tray plastic, but it’s easy to pull the chocolate’s out. They were all flawless, though I heard from a reader who also bought some over the weekend and half were cracked. They’re well molded, shiny and fresh. Cella’s feature a 100% cordial center, which means no sugary fondant, it’ll all syrup and cherry in there. Cella’s are also made in a peanut free and gluten free facility, so these are appropriate for a wide range of sweet-lovers. Sadly, even though this is a dark chocolate product, there is some dairy in there (and soy). It would have been nice to find a vegan cherry candy. The cherries are treated with sulfur dioxide, sodium benzoate and calcium chloride and they add red dye #40. They do smell like cherry. So much that it really overpowers the chocolate, but in general I consider the chocolate in a cordial cherry to be only a delivery vessel. The syrupy center is sweet, but certainly less so than the Queen Anne. The cherry is firm and crunchy and has just a slight tart note to it and a wholly maraschino flavor. I was never really a cordial cherry fan, but I’ve been coming around. For the price, I really can’t complain about this product. The chocolate was creamy and had some toasted notes, though could certainly be darker. It was excellently tempered and these would be a lovely treat to serve with dessert to folks at the holidays. Because there’s a lot of water in the center, these are quite low in calories per ounce, so if you’re looking for a little treat without breaking your diet, this is also a nice change as the flavors are intense and linger. There are better looking packages, though, if you’re looking for a hostess gift. Some people prefer the fondant style center to the syrup cordial, so it’s good to know what kind of person you are going in. SugarPressure did a comparison of Brach’s, Cella’s and Queen Anne and preferred the Queen Anne. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:15 pm Candy • Review • Tootsie • Chocolate • Kosher • 7-Worth It • United States • Target • |
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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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I love Cella’s, because they don’t have the fondant. However, I greatly prefer the dark chocolate version, which is much harder to find (up here, anyway).
I have a mini-ritual when eating them, which is to carefully remove the bottom “cap” of chocolate with my teeth and eat it first, then pop the rest into my mouth.
These are actually my favorites ... second only to a chocolate covered cherry that you would buy in an actual candy store.
Just bought a box of the cherries with liquid and there were bad . Went back to the store tuned it back in and he gave me a bigger box and guess what they are bad too. I wait all year for these and they were old and stall and they just got them in…
I bought 6 boxes of Cella’s chocolate covered cherries, with 10 per box. These were gifts for nieces and nephews. What a mistake! They were dried up, white edges, what appears to be mold growing, and even though the tops were intact, the bottoms had sucked up like they pulled in as the candies dehydrated. I contacted the company and they said that the code indicates that the products were made in 2015 and were fresh, but probably got too warm in transit. If so, why hadn’t they melted? I suspect they were made in 2005, not 2015, and intend to get to the bottom of it.
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