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Monday, March 14, 2016

Candyology 101 - Episode 32 - Easter 2016

Candyology101-32

Join me and Maria as we discuss this year’s new Easter offerings and a few other oddities of the season.

 

You can check out the show notes with links as well.

 

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:29 pm     CandyEasterHighlightRadio Interviews

Monday, February 22, 2016

M&Ms White Strawberry Shortcake

DSC_0291rbEaster is a special time in the candy cycle, because it’s really the only time of year that white chocolate is embraced. Fortunately there are some products that are actually good, not just a white confection but actually made with real cocoa butter and lots of milk. (Many white confections are just sugar and tropical oils.)

The new White Strawberry Shortcake M&Ms are a Target exclusive this year, and if you’re a fan of the other white chocolate holiday versions like the Candy Corn M&Ms and the White Peppermint M&Ms, these may be just for you. 

DSC_0335rb

The pieces are larger than standard M&Ms, they’re puffier and a little less regular. They’re delicate pastel colors in pleasing creamy pink, eggshell and white, kind of like a strawberry shortcake with a whipped cream dollop. That’s about as far as the shortcake theme goes, which is fine with me. (The Dove Strawberry Shortcake Crisp things were weird.)

The package this year holds 8 ounces. Years ago the limited edition flavors came in a 9.9 ounce bag, they’re reliably shrinking over time.

DSC_0340rb

The pieces are uncolored in the center and not layered like some. The white chocolate is creamy and sweet and has the floral flavor of fresh strawberries. There are no dried strawberry bits in there, like some previous products have included.

The shell is crunchy and the center is sweet but balanced with the more milky flavors. There’s a lot of fat in there, from the cocoa butter, but they didn’t have a greasy texture. (But that could be that it’s kind of chilly, the Candy Corn version they make in the fall comes along when things are still warm in my area, and the cocoa butter can migrate through the shell in the heat. The flavor in this case reminds me quite a bit of the old Nestle Qwik strawberry milk.

I’m keen on these, but they push all my buttons. They’re pretty and not overly colored, they have a good flavor that’s not too artificial and the ingredients (though there are artificial colors and flavors) are petty decent. I hope they return next year with a wider release.

Related Candies

  1. Candyology 101 - Podcast Episode 30 - Valentines and Strawberry
  2. Dove Milk Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Crisp Promises
  3. M&Ms White Chocolate Peppermint
  4. Meiji Corot - Strawberry Chocolate Drops
  5. M&Ms White Chocolate Candy Corn
  6. Whoppers Milkshake Strawberry
  7. KitKat Chocolatier (Strawberry & Green Tea)
  8. KitKat Tsubu Ichigo and Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme


Name: White Strawberry Shortcake M&Ms
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $3.49
Size: 8 ounces
Calories per ounce: 148
Categories: Candy, Easter, Mars, Kosher, M&Ms, White Chocolate, 8-Tasty, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:54 am     CandyReviewEasterMarsKosherWhite Chocolate8-TastyUnited StatesTarget

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Minion Milk Chocolate with Banana Cream Egg

Milk Chocolate with Banana Cream EggEaster is a time for the iconic Cadbury Creme Egg. However, it doesn’t come in a lot of flavor variations. So it’s understandable that someone else wants to get into the cream egg marketplace.

I found these Minion Milk Chocolate with Banana Cream Egg at Cost Plus World Market. It was hard to find out who actually makes them, because it’s not Cadbury. The foil wrapper was hard to read, but eventually I was able to flatten it out to see that it’s made by a company called Treat Street, that mostly makes licensed novelty treats.

It’s a great idea, to make a cream egg with a different flavored filling, and in this case it’s brilliant that they’ve picked banana and partnered that with a Minion themed foil wrapping. They’re quite arresting when viewed in the full bin. But the most notable part of this design is that all of the eggs are Stuart, as they all have one eye (I suppose they could also be other one-eyed Minions, but it’d be silly to pay a licensing fee to make candies with a minor character).

Milk Chocolate with Banana Cream Egg

My issue with only one design is minor, because the foil itself is quite adorable. The egg inside is completely ordinary looking. It’s the same as a Cadbury egg, except it’s missing a starburst.

The banana center is very yellow, in fact, one might call it Minion Yellow. Before biting the egg just smells like milky chocolate. After biting, well, it’s all banana. The filling is gooey, a little bit thinner than the Cadbury variety and a little less grainy. It is absolutely sweet and has a strong artificial banana flavor, though it’s also a little on the green side. Some banana flavors can have a lot of acetone notes, this one at least seems a little bit more unripe.

Milk Chocolate with Banana Cream Egg

The most disappointing part of the egg construction is that there is not one cream compartment in the center. In the case of these knock off eggs, they’re obviously made in halves which actually have a full coating of chocolate that creates a chocolate septum when biting into the whole egg. This means more chocolate and less filling. It also means that there’s no “yolk”. Though the filling is extremely sweet and quite strongly flavored, there’s so much chocolate to balance it.

As far as a knock-off egg, this one is very good. The chocolate is passably good for a novelty item and the filling is distinctive. Since it adds its own twist with the banana as well as the foil design to go with the Minion character, I’d call it a win. However, I can’t imagine ever buying this unless I was specifically looking for a banana Easter item or something for a Minion fan. The price of $1.49 was a bit steep as well for the quality level.

Related Candies

  1. Chocolate Covered Banana Gummi Bears
  2. Bonomo Taffy Nibbles: Vanilla and Banana
  3. Wild Ophelia Milk Chocolate Bar Peanut Butter & Banana
  4. Cadbury Chocolate Creme Egg
  5. House Brand Creme Eggs
  6. Dove Desserts Bananas Foster
  7. Elvis Reese’s Peanut Butter and Banana Cup
  8. Cadbury Orange Creme Eggs


Name: Minion Milk Chocolate with Banana Cream Egg
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Treat Street
Place Purchased: Cost Plust World Market (Farmers Market)
Price: $1.49
Size: 1.37
Calories per ounce: 136
Categories: Candy, Easter, Chocolate, Fondant, 5-Pleasant, Canada, Cost Plus

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:50 pm     CandyReviewEasterChocolateFondant5-PleasantCanadaCost Plus

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Candyology 101 - Episode 31 - Sour Power

Candyology31

Pucker up! In this episode of Candyology 101, Maria and scratch the surface of the wide world of sour candies. Listen in to find out more about the different acids that make our sour candy so tangy and all of our favorites.

Also be sure to check out our show notes.

 

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:40 pm     CandySourHighlightRadio Interviews

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

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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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