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Thursday, August 3, 2006

Make the Next Great Mentos Video

I knew that Mentos was unofficially delighted about the geyser videos circulating on the internet (with over 5 million hits) as well as the appearance of it on CBS’ NUMB3RS series and later The Late Show with David Letterman.

imageLittle did I realize that they’re looking to give it a little push to continue.

Mentos is running a promotion on a separate website called MentosGeysers.com  where they list all the stuff you can win for submitting the next great Mentos Fountain movie.

First prize is 1000 iTunes downloads and a year’s supply of Mentos (which they say is 320 rolls ... no word on whether or not Pink Grapefruit is among the choices).

Even if you just enter you get a cap, tee and towel!

Here are the full entry rules (hosted by youtube.com)

More on the story here.

Deadline is 9/30/2006

Be sure to leave a comment here with the URL of your entry!

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:40 pm     MentosPerfetti van MelleFun StuffNews

Goodbye Reed’s

There once was a company that made boiled sweets (hard candies) in Chicago. Founded in 1893, The Reed Candy Company used copper kettles to boil sugar and corn syrup and other things together to create flavorful treats. In 1931 they started making their most famous product, the Reeds’ Butterscotch candy roll. Later they added more flavors including Cinnamon, Root Beer and Butter Toffee.

At some point in their history The Reed Candy Company was bought out by another Chicago area based sweets company, Amurol Confections (known for their novelty gums like Big League Chew and Bubble Tape) ... and they in turn were bought by Wrigley’s (also based in Chicago). The larger distribution chain should have helped, but I still rarely saw them at drug stores or groceries. I usually saw them at newsstands. Reeds continued to be made with startling consistency from the taste and packaging I remember from my childhood.

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For those who have never had them, Reed’s are kind of like Lifesavers, except there’s no hole in the middle, just a slight dent. They’re individually wrapped, which makes for extra-sanitary sharing as well as the ability to pop out the individual candies and put them in your pocket for later (try that with a Lifesaver!).  They come with eight little pieces in a roll. But what was really extraordinary about them was the incredible amount of flavor packed into such a small candy. Part of this was the exceptional texture - these were high-quality boiled sugar sweets that had very few voids or holes so they were extra smooth on the tongue and dissolved well.

The Butterscotch ones used real butter and had a nice hit of salt to them. Though I’m sure the recipes changed over the years (going with artificial flavors and whatnot) they were still much more flavorful than many other candies.

image

Cinnamon was not for the faint of heart. The little dented red disk had a smooth and soft mouthfeel at first and then exploded with a very strong cinnamon flavor that could rival an Atomic Fireball. It was like the flavor popped and sparkled with itty-bitty reservoirs.

Other roll candies and mints came in cinnamon and butterscotch but no one else made a Root Beer candy. Soft and spicy with a complex flavor that just made you want to roll the little candy over and over in your mouth. Reed’s Root Beer were my go to roll candy - they had the satisfying freshness of a mint and the tingly “activate those salivary glands” stimulation of a fruit sour.

They were always a 10 in my book. But I guess I ignored them and now they’re gone. Back in April they told their distributors that they weren’t going to be making them anymore and the supply was cut off. There are still a few places you can find a reserves on the web (and happily these hard candies are pretty durable when stored correctly):

I got my last rolls at Powell’s in Windsor, CA but they said that they will not ship nor sell whole boxes at any discount.

Butterscotch Reed's (revived by Iconic Candy)UPDATE: Reed’s are coming back. Iconic Candy of New York is working on their final formulations and packaging design and hope to have Reed’s back on store shelves in a limited number of flavors by the end of the year.

You can see the preview of their new candy revivals here. They’re also working on Regal Crown Sours and Bar None.

Related Candies

  1. Candy Tease: Bar None, Reed’s and Regal Crown Sours
  2. Japanese Black Sugar & Tropical Chews
  3. Melville Candy Company Honey Spoons
  4. Pure Fun & Yummy Earth Organic Hard Candies
  5. Regennas Clear Toys
  6. Hard Candy: Juntsuyu
Name: Reed's Cinnamon, Butterscotch & Root Beer
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Reed's (Amurol/Wrigley)
Place Purchased: Powell's (Windsor, CA)
Price: $.89
Size: .90 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Hard Candy, United States, Wrigley's, Discontinued

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:36 am    

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Miette Patisserie

Part of the reason for the stop in San Francisco on my recent vacation was to experience the Ferry Terminal Marketplace. It’s home to a bunch of artisan food companies, restaurants and other people associated with the food crafts. Plus, on Saturdays there’s a farmers market.

There are a couple of sweets locations in the Ferry Terminal including a Scharffen Berger store and Recchiuti Confections but for this trip (I’ll be going back again in September) I thought I’d look at Miette Patisserie.

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The store is drop dead cute and reminds me of a forties/fifties-era cookbook. They had a huge selection of cakes and hand-held pastries. But I was interested in candies, of course. There was a large display of handmade lollipops which looked gorgeous and came in sassy flavors like cotton candy, grape and pink lemonade. None of the flavors were marked and the colors weren’t enough for me to discern the code so I passed them by for now.

Instead I was attracted to their Parisian Macaroons (which are not the coconut ones we’re most accustomed to in the States). These macaroons are a hazelnut or almond and egg white based cookie with a filling of some sort. Like a super decadent sandwich cookie. They were $1.50 each ... a little on the pricey side so I didn’t taste one of each flavor (I think there were six varieties).

I picked out:

Hazelnut: a vanilla cookie with a rich nutella-style filling. Sweet and rich but still light and flaky.

Rose Geranium: a delicately floral flavored cookie with a buttery light cream filling in the sandwich. My favorite.

Vanilla: a little sweeter because there was no strong flavor to balance it, but quite nice after a long walk and pleasant lunch.

By the register they also had three large jars of handmade caramels wrapped in wax paper. They were two for $1 so I had two of each.

image

Vanilla & Lemon - the wrappers were identical and I’m sorry to say that they all tasted the same. The caramels were nicely soft and sweet and of course had a wonderful slightly burnt sugar taste.

Fleur de Sel - a little darker tasting and with a nice warming sensation of instant salt. Instead of a regular caramel with a little series of grains of salt on the surface as I’ve had at other places, here the salt is completely integrated. The salt really brings out the caramelized notes, but it’s also a bit strong and made my throat sting.

UPDATE: A kind reader, Dan, has informed me that these are made by the Little Flower Candy Company, which makes sense based on the flavor array.

I’m sure their cakes are great and there’s the added bonus that they use organic ingredients whenever possible. Not that something like that makes a pastry more wholesome or anything! The macaroons can be ordered on their website, but not the caramels or lollies. The items are pricey, as is usually the case with labor intensive items. Overall I think I prefer the caramels and macaroons from Boule but since San Francisco doesn’t have a Boule, I can see myself stopping in here on my next trip for a little something to eat. I’m especially interested in trying their Lavender Shortbread (I know, I’ve totally diverged from candy all of a sudden ... I was on vacation!).

Name: Caramels & Macaroons
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Miette Patisserie
Place Purchased: Miette Patisserie (Ferry Terminal, San Francisco)
Price: $.50 for Caramels, $1.50 for Macaroons
Size: varies
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Nuts, Cookie, Caramel, United States, Bay Area

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:32 am    

Candy Source: Powell’s Sweet Shoppe

imageMany months ago a reader, Todd, told me about Powell’s Sweet Shoppe in Windsor, California.

Little did I know my summer vacation would take me right there ... twice.

Powell’s Sweet Shoppe is more than just a simple candy shop. They have a fantastic selection of retro candy bars, bulk candies like ColorWorks M&Ms, Jelly Belly and other wrapped candies like Smarties, salt water taffy and Mary Janes. They also have a large selection of Twinkle lollipops and novelty items including tins of gum and mints all displayed in old buffets and apothecary cupboards. Don’t worry, they didn’t leave out chocolate aficianados, there was a decent selection of high end chocolate bars from Scharffen Berger, Hachez, Michel Cluizel and others.

Then there’s the gelato ... and soda pop. They have a huge selection of sodas in glass bottles from the plain old Crush to the microbrewed Root Beers.

But they also had a good selection of UK import bars, classic candy boxes and huge display of Fizzies (which have returned after being off the market for decades).

imageThe prices were decent. I picked up a few classic regional bars for 89 cents each.

The biggest find there was a trove of Reeds candies in Root Beer and Cinnamon flavor. I know that there are quite a few people who have been looking high and low for them, well there are at least a dozen full boxes there in Windsor.

Windsor itself is an odd town. At first glance it looks like Healdsburg or any number of Victorian-era settlements off of Highway 101. But a closer inspection reveals that it’s all new construction. The center of town with its charming facades and pastels/terra cotta colors is pretty much turn of this century. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to live in a town that has a vibrant downtown and centralized gathering place. It just took me by surprise. For more on that see this article from SFGate.

Powell’s is completely themed with candy but a bit of a jumble. There is a soundtrack for the store and it consists of the song “Pure Imagination” sung by Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Over and over again. Add to that a little viewing area in the back with a loop of the movies. I was in the store for four loops of the song ... I don’t know how you could work there without going batty. That said, when I asked the sales staff about the Reeds candies, all they knew was that they were discontinued, they wouldn’t sell a whole box at any discount and they flat out refused to consider shipping them at all.

I also stopped at their sister store in Healdsburg (purely by coincidence) which is slightly smaller but had the same inventory.

If you’re toodling around wine country, it’s a great stop for something a little different. There were plenty of families with kids there, but also a good share of grownups shopping by themselves.

Powell’s Sweet Shoppes
720 McClelland Drive
Windsor, CA

322 Center Street
Healdsburg, CA

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:08 am     Shopping

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

July Search Strings

So at the end of every month I give my webstats a little peek. It’s a way for me to check what people are thinking about and what they’re looking for. Most of all, it tells me why people come to Candy Blog.

So I thought I’d start sharing the top candy searches that lead people to Candy Blog each month:

1. m&ms
2. kissables
3. turkish delight
4. rockaleta
5. butterfinger
6. max brenner
7. choxie
8. razzles
9. marathon candy bar
10. ice cream skittles

Of course there are other searches going on out there on the engines that didn’t lead them here.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:19 pm     Search StringsFun StuffNews

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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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COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2547 days

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Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
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ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

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