Friday, July 18, 2008

Mini Charleston Chews

Mini Charleston ChewsAfter my stellar experience with the Look! bar last month, Christine suggested in the comments that it was like Charleston Chews.

Honestly, I’ve avoided Charleston Chews, mostly because they have the dreaded mockolate coating. I bought a bar once before and upon opening, it was apparent that it wasn’t fresh or maybe that’s the way they were supposed to look, so I opted not to review it.

However, at the Walgreen’s the other day they were having a sale on theater box candy. I really wanted some Good & Plenty, but the sale was 3 for $3.00 instead of $1.50 each, so I obviously bought three boxes of candy. (The other was Crows.)

Charleston Chews are named after the dance craze of the 20s. Introduced in 1922 by the Fox-Cross Candy Company they’ve changed hands a few times, manufactured by Warner-Lambert and then Nabisco before being picked up by the Tootsie company in the 90s. Tootsie understands a good taffy chew. The design of the box is classic, as are many Tootsie items. It conveys what to expect, some sort of small white bar of chew covered in a delicious chocolatey coating.

Though the box tells me that these are Vanilla, I know that the long bars come in other flavors including Chocolate and Strawberry. I’ve never seen those in the mini chew size. (Which is too bad, because I think it’d be fun to be able to buy a mixed box.)

Mini Charleston Chews

This box was so much better than the first bar I had, so things were encouraging. First, it has a cellophane overwrap. Second, the Walgreen’s where I usually shop has pretty good control over their temperature. I’ve never been in there and found it to be sweltering (and there are plenty of other drug stores in Southern California that have that problem and I won’t buy chocolate candy there ... or even chocolatey candy.)

The mockolate coating is kind of chalky looking but I figured that was because of the friction of rattling around in the box. The coating is thin, but enough to usually contain the fluffed chew in the center.

They smell sweet, like vanilla candles. It’s soft enough to bite in half or simply chew up. It’s a smooth chew to the very end (not like Starbursts or Sugar Babies which both disintegrate into a grainy mess).

The flavor is pleasant, the fake chocolate contributes next to nothing here, not even a little cocoa pop. But the chew is enjoyable enough that I ate most of the box (but didn’t have access to much other candy as I’m traveling). As a movie treat, they’re easy to eat mindlessly.

However, having had the Look! bar, which is a chew covered in real chocolate, this is a silly waste of my time. But I still think I’ll try the Strawberry & Chocolate varieties at some point.

Rosa at ZOMG Candy also wasn’t thrilled with them.

These contain egg whites (and oodles of milk products) so are not suitable for vegans. Kosher.

Related Candies

  1. Now & Later
  2. Tootsie Rolls & Fruit Rolls
  3. Bit-O-Honey
  4. Eat-More
  5. Doscher’s French Chew Taffy
Name: Mini Charleston Chews
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Tootsie
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Echo Park)
Price: $1.00
Size: 4.75 ounces
Calories per ounce: 128
Categories: Mockolate, Chew, United States, Tootsie, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:51 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I LOVE the mini Charleston Chews - much better ratio of chew to chocolate.  I would love to see a box of minis mixed between the three flavors.  The strawberry is quite good.  They’re also great frozen.

    I hated Charleston Chews as a kid, though, which was a shame because the people who owned the company lived down the street and would hand out giant bars at Halloween.

    Comment by Pam on 7/18/08 at 6:56 am #
  2. Synesthesia's avatar

    This is my first post….yay!

    I just wanted to say, I love your blog.  I read it every day - it serves as my candy fix since I’m on a calorie restricted diet and don’t get to indulge too often.

    And I second freezing Charleston Chews!  In fact, I don’t really like them if they’re NOT frozen.  One would think they would just get firmer, really cold, and a little more difficult to chew, but they actually become sort of crunchy!  Not my favorite candy in the world by far, but they’re alot of fun eaten that way.  I’d freeze the bigger bars though, they’re fun to smack on a hard surface into bite-size pieces.

    Anywho, hooray for Candy Blog!!

    Comment by Synesthesia on 7/18/08 at 7:48 am #
  3. It’s true, freezing is the way to go.

    Comment by SL on 7/18/08 at 8:20 am #
  4. I’ve always found that candy from Walgreen’s is better than the other local drugstores- much fresher!

    I had my first Charleston Chew in probably twenty years the other day, I was surprised to find I liked it a lot more than I remembered.

    Comment by VMisery on 7/18/08 at 2:23 pm #
  5. Hi Cybele,
    This is a good day for a frozen Charleston Chew. Or a frozen anything!
    I tagged you for a meme on my blog: http://www.candyyumyum.net.
    Keep cool!

    Comment by Patti on 7/19/08 at 8:22 am #
  6. If you have any left, stick them in a freezer! They become texturally amazing and weirdly addictive. The change is significant enough that I recently gave them a re-review of sorts: http://zomgcandy.com/2008/07/04/charleston-chew-chocolatey/

    Comment by Rosa on 7/19/08 at 1:14 pm #
  7. I like to freeze the mini Charleston chews. I usually pick them up on sale and just toss in the freezer for when I want something sweet.

    Comment by Wyn on 7/20/08 at 11:34 am #
  8. Charleston Chews are one of my guilty pleasure candies- I know its fake chocolate, fake vanilla, masses of sugar, but I can’t help but love ‘em anyway… Plus they last forever at a movie!

    Comment by Pumpkin on 7/20/08 at 5:39 pm #
  9. I agree—frozen is the way to go.  Buy the big bar, freeze it, then whack it on the counter and eat all the shards before they thaw out.  Yum!

    Comment by MusicalMom on 7/20/08 at 6:47 pm #
  10. Hi Cybele funnily enough I just reviewed the original Charleston Chew Chocolatey over @ ChocMiss…seems like we shared alot of the same views on this one! Despite the mockolate I really enjoyed the nougat centre! Definately worth sticking in the freezer and enjoying that way! It made eating it immensly enjoyable…just a shame about the ‘chocolate’ really :(

    Jim

    Comment by James@ChocolateMission on 7/22/08 at 12:00 am #
  11. I was born in 1954. My candy memories are based on the 5 cent 10 cent reality.  We used to get 50 cents to go to the movies. Thirty five cents to get into a double feature with a cartoon in the middle and 15 cents for treats . Usually 3- 5 cent candy bars. A good choice was a look bar a big hunk and a roll of necco’s ( either all chocolate or assorted each FIVE CENTS.
    You couldn’t blow your money on a 15 cent bag of popcorn or a 10 cent almond joy unless you were feeling opulent.  We used to study the candy display carefully each week and mix up our selections with great care, NEVER REALIZING OUR PARENTS WERE GETING RID OF US FOR 5 HOURS.  We even walked to the theater.

    Comment by Dale on 8/04/08 at 11:43 am #
  12. Charleston Chews have been one of my favorite candies for years. I try to ignore the fake chocolate coating and just enjoy the chewy parts. Freezing them makes them even better than before, but I like them both ways. I wish they offered the other flavors out here.

    Comment by Rethia on 8/27/08 at 5:40 pm #
  13. Loving them Charleston Chews, I just finished two of the 1.875 oz (53.2g) chocolatey bars; although I must say my favorite is the strawberry despite how difficult it is to find.

    I’m probably going to start special ordering cases.  According to wikipedia there is a blueberry flavor available, yet at the Tootsie Industries website they only list chocolatey, strawberry, and vanilla.

    I like the “mock” chocolate coating, although I second the suggestion that the cocoa content should be increased a bit.

    Comment by Papa Tom on 12/05/09 at 8:48 am #
  14. Personally, I think Charleston Chews are the most addicting candy evarrrr.

    Comment by Austin on 3/15/10 at 2:14 pm #
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