Candy Blog

Today marks one year since Candy Blog was born!

If you look back through the archives, you’ll notice quite a few things have evolved in only a year. The rating system and of course the entire site design changeover back in November. Since then I’ve reviewed well over 300 candies (I don’t know the precise number) from more than 25 countries.

Of course my obsession with candy has not waivered. In fact, this week I am in New York City and have completely immersed myself in a quest for candy and candy stores. I’ve already visited Economy Candy (everything under the sun), Russ & Daughters (halvah) and Jacques Torres (chocolate). Today I’ll probably head over to Maison du Chocolat and perhaps later this week Dylan’s Candy Bar, Marie Belle, Aji Ichiban and Vosges. If you have suggestions for Manhattan candy stores, leave a comment!

One of the most exciting things about the blog for me has been connecting with so many people and hearing your thoughts and experiences on candy. Each day, each post and each comment just cements my belief that the love of candy is a celebration of community and all the great things that we have in common. I’m so honored that I have so many faithful readers and I hope you all enjoy yourselves and of course it’s great to see the traffic on the site grow and grow each month.

In celebration of the anniversary of Candy Blog, I’m planning a special drawing for some candy next week (when I get home), so everyone gets to share in the fun! (Image swiped from CandyBaskets.com)

The Original “Flowing Center” Candy Cups!

I’ve come to realize that about half of how we experience things we eat has to do with experience that we bring to it. A piece of the most amazing cake or the best chocolate during a horrible dinner or at a traumatic time in your life may, actually, leave a bad taste in your mouth. The most mundane sugar morsel might be elevated to ambrosia based on other fantastic associations. Things like candied apples, candy corn and cotton candy all seem to benefit from this phenomenon.

Candy is most often associated with good experiences, as it’s often a reward or an indulgence in the first place. So Valomilks were getting high marks before I even ate them because of my pursuit of them and the lore associated with them. 

But really, 2,400 words and four posts later, you’re wondering, what’s all the fuss about? Are they that good?

The chocolate is smooth, a little sugary and has a slight cool feeling when melting on the tongue. The cream is impossibly sticky, though I never had the “run down your chin” experience with them. The flattened marshmallow is sweet, without being cloying or sappy, but it lacks a vanilla kick I was hoping it would have. I was hoping for real vanilla bean essence here, and perhaps it’s my fault for making the candy into something in my head that it would never be. It was smooth, and it’s true that the chocolate and filling go together well, the proportions are just right, but to be honest ... I wasn’t that keen on them.

I’ve given them at least a half a dozen chances now. I’m not a neat freak, but I really don’t like being sticky. It’s just too hard to eat. As I sit here and eat another package of them, I have a moistened washcloth with me to keep wiping my hands and face. I end up taking bigger bites than I want,  and instead of thinking about what I’m eating, I’m thinking about what a mess it is. Really, if there were a candy I could advocate for the nude, this would be it (as long as they’re not sitting near an ant hill).

I know there was a lot of build up in this series, but most of that is immaterial to the candy itself. I may end up doing the same for some other coveted bar in the future, though I hope it’s one that’s more transportable.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the Saga of the Valomilk and hopefully the actual Valomilks should you get a chance to try them.

While I’m partial to Pocky, I’m trying to open up and try a few of the other dipped cookie sticks from Japan. Last week it was Yan Yan, this week I bring you Lucky Mini Almond Black.

These petite little sticks of chocolate flavored biscuit stucks are covered with a mix of dark chocolate and crushed almonds. Like Pocky, there’s a little bit of uncovered stick so you can grab it and not worry about melting the chocolate as you nibble.

The package holds a brown plastic tray with two sections filled with the sticks. Each stick is about 2.5” long. There are plenty of almonds and it’s got a good mellow crunch to the biscuit without being too sweet.

The ingredients have some oddities, including things like “cheese powder” and “cream powder” but these definitely have no hint of the cheesiness of the Yan Yan.

Overall, as a nuttier version of Pocky, this is pretty good. I actually like the high ratio of chocolate and nuts and the slightly flavored biscuit. It’s no Men’s Pocky, but it’s a great afternoon snack that doesn’t feel too decadent.

The Results

So here I was with 20 packages of Valomilks (come on, I ate four of them while still in Pennsylvania) - ten packed into their original box and inside my suitcase, seven inside my carry on bag in a sealed plastic box and three of my precioussess inside a vacuum-sealed flask. I can only imagine what happened to my suitcase because when it arrived at LAX at baggage claim as it was soaking wet (well, it was raining). The contents were thankfully dry. My laptop bag was bumped around quite a bit as I had trouble finding space for it and then it got moved around by the flight crew.

Now, part of this experiment was not scientific (all right, none of it was). I have no clue if they were intact when they left the Sifer factory, when they arrived or left Candy Favorites or if they were affected by the drive across the state and back, nor when I put them into my luggage. Further, I didn’t open them all that the same time here at home (because I had the intention of eating them, and I do have other candy commitments that I had to keep). So any of them could have ruptured before they got on the plane or sometime after I brought them home. However, I can say that the ones in the thermos did the best ... but that may have less to do with the vacuum seal than the less bumpy treatment.

The box that was in my checked luggage has leaky cups. The packages from my carry-on “tupperware box” has leaky cups. It’s true, the cups leak, some more than others.

I can’t say that the smaller outflows don’t affect the flavor, they do tend to give it a gummy, flaky, sticky spot but they don’t bother me. However, there were some substantial losses in the filling department. Some cups were nearly void of filling (well, there was filling, but it wasn’t filling the cups, it was filling the package and tray). The longer I’ve had them, the less coherent they seem to be. In truth, I am troubled that there is such a high proportion of loss ... I don’t put up with that sort of thing with a Godiva truffle, why would I put up with it with a Valomilk? Are they really that good?

Tomorrow’s Episode: The Valomilk Review

While on that fateful trip to Pennsylvania in February I picked up some Mallo Cups. How could I not? They’re made right there in Altoona by the Boyer Candy Co. Soon, I will have tasted all the marshmallow cups there are. Boyer is known for cup candies, they also have the Smoothie Peanut Butter Cup, which has a devoted following.

The Mallo Cup is the East Coast version of the Cup-o-Gold which consists of a milk chocolate cup filled with marshmallow (of differing consistencies) and a little coconut on the top.

The coconut smell is quite apparent when raising the cup to the mouth. The chocolate is sweet and very creamy with the coconut bits providing a chewy texture. The marshmallow center is soft and runny, but not too flowing as to make a mess.

Like the Valomilk, the Mallo Cup suffers from some structural integrity issues - in this case the chocolate base is too thin, so I was not able to remove either cup in my package from the paper without leaving some chocolate behind - basically bottoming out. (If you look closely at the photo, which you can click to enlarge, you’ll see that there is no base at all as I wasn’t able to peel it off for the photo. Maybe refrigeration would help.) The marshmallow itself has a nice flavor and consistency - it’s not at all foamy but not viscous or grainy like some others marshmallows. It doesn’t have any perceptible flavor of its own so I came away with more of a chocolate/coconut vibe.

I liked it quite a bit better than the Cup-O-Gold, I liked the sweetness of the chocolate, nutty scent of the coconut and mellow filling and the proportions seem better balanced (the Cup-O-Gold seemed to be too much chocolate and of course was single cup in a package).

The unique selling proposition of the Boyer Candies, though, is the “Play Money Rebate Offer”. The tray in the Mallo Cup package is actually a coupon advertising their rebate program - save up 500 Points and you can get a $1.00 rebate. Each Mallo Cup tray is worth 5 points. Yes, you get a dollar for every 100 Mallo Cups you buy! The points are also good for other merchandise such as candy tins, sweatshirts, mugs and caps. I have no idea how long they’ve been doing this, but the copyright notice on the package says 1983.

Other opinions: Writers/Artists Snacking at Work gave it a 7.5, Candy Wrapper Museum just doesn’t like marshmallow, Taquitos.net thinks it smells like coconut and finally, read about the long road back for the Mallo Cup production line.

Related Candies

1. Melster Marshmallow Eggs
2. Mallow Blast
3. Boyer Smoothie
4. The Saga of the Valomilk - Review
5. The Mysterious Cup-O-White Gold