When I was at Miette Confiserie late last year I picked up a handful of little individually wrapped candies. One was a licorice caramel called Krema Batna.
I liked the idea of a licorice caramel, especially one that wasn’t artificially black. I also liked the wrapper, you can’t really see in the picture that it has a picture of a cougar on it (or some other large cat) that reminded me of some kind of high school mascot. (We were the Wildcats in Mechanicsburg.)
The chew was stiff and smooth with a great toasted sugar flavor mixed with a light anise. I’d love to have more, I’ve looked around on the internet and can’t find anyplace that carries them. I was even hoping to run into them at the Fancy Food Show.
I bought some licorice caramels at Dean & Deluca in SoHo (56 Broadway). They were very rich, creamy and super yummy! Don’t know the brand as they were sold in bulk at the candy counter. At $8/Lb, it is a bit pricey but well worth it.
Oh I love these!!! They are a very common confection in France, you can find them in most grocery stores, they also have a regular fruit kind named Regal’ad that I used to eat all the time as well. Batnas have been around for years, my mom sometimes puts a bag in the package when she sends me goodies from France and it’s always so comforting to chew on these little soft licorice pieces. I think Krema has been bought by Cadbury but it was originally a French brand and as far as I know they still produce the candy in France.
http://www.frenchfeast.com/products.htm
and someone based in los angeles is selling them on ebay. so i might have to buy some!
Nice to hear about batna here, batna is a town in algeria and the caramel is named in honour of it , i guess this was at least half a century ago.
The batna really made me like candy when i was a kid . In france you sometime use the metaphore ’ this person is like a krema sweetie, hard on the outside, soft in the inside”
As i can’t remember every page i don’t know if regliss mint were also on this blog but this is at least the other krema to try
I have a family member who always brings Kremas for me when she comes to visit. Nobody likes the batna flavor one at my house so we have a bunch. Let me know if you’d like them! My favorite Kremas are the cola, grenadine and the peach iced tea! Yum!
Found you a link you can order them through.
Hope it helps
http://www.frenchclick.co.uk/p-1008-krema-bonbons-batna-reglisse-360g.aspx
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