Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone has a sweet Valentine's Day!

Check out this fascinating slideshow from the Necco website on the making of their Sweetheart conversation hearts, the classic way to say "KISS ME". I particularly love slide #2. The orange dough looks like silk.

Marshmallow Cones

Marshmallow Cones are one of the candies that remind me of when I was a kid. I think I was first introduced to them by my mom, who ate them when she was a kid. They are definitely a "nostalgia" candy. Marpro, the company that makes Marshmallow Cones, was founded in 1936 by John Arbino, a tailor whose livelihood was threatened by the Great Depression. At a time when people did not have a lot of money for fancy clothes, Arbino realized they did have spare change for some penny candy. He started making marshmallow candies in his spare time and became pretty successful. Somewhere in the 1950s the Marshmallow Ice Cream Cone came along, and by the end of the 1970s, Marpro discontinued all other marshmallow products and focused exclusively on the Marshmallow Ice Cream Cone.

What is it about this Marshmallow Cone that has made it last for over 50 years? Well in my humble opinion, I think a lot of their appeal belongs to the fact that they are adorable! I love the small, homemade cone topped by the whip of marshmallow streaked with lovely pastel colors. And what do they taste like? There are two components at work here, the marshmallow and the cone. The marshmallow is very light and airy. Lighter than a Peep or Kraft marshmallow, it melts a little on your tongue at first bite, then turns chewy. The cone kinda tastes like a Holy Communion wafer. In combination with the marshmallow, it's a bit strange but even that won't deter me from buying these cute little cones.

Check out the Marpro website for cool pics of Marshmallow Cones being made: www.marshmallowcone.com

My Gumball Machine

I wanted a vintage gumball machine for a long time and my friend Kurt, the flea market master, finally found me one at a great price. Here's a picture of it in all it's half-filled glory. Who would have thought this machine would fit more than 3 1/2 pounds of gumballs? Now all I have to do is find a bulk supplier.

Chi, Chi, Chi, Chick-O-Stick!

At first glance, the Chick-O-Stick appears rather strange. Is it sweet? Is it some kind of dehydrated vegetable? I'm here to tell you - do not fear the Chick-O-Stick. It is possibly one of the most delicious "retro" candies out there.

The Chick-O-Stick has been made by Texas' Atkinson Candy Company since 1932. The two main flavors of the Stick are coconut and sweet, salty peanut butter. If I was forced to compare a C-O-S to any other candy, it would have to be a Butterfinger, but only to a certain extent. They both have an crisp, orange, peanutty core, however the center of the C-O-S has what I like to think of as little tubes of real peanut butter laced throughout. On top of that, the entire stick is covered in very fine toasted coconut. Altogether, it's a delicious piece of candy. And at $0.25 a pop, you can't afford to pass it up!

The Skittles Touch

Since I just posted about Skittles, thought I would share this new Skittles commercial. It cracks me up. Hilarious!

Chocolate Mix Skittles

My latest find at Target - new Chocolate Mix Skittles! An interesting take on the original fruity Skittles, but will they stick around? Let's review the flavors:

S'mores: Believe it or not, I've never had a real made-over-the-campfire s'more. About the closet I've ever got are s'more flavored candies, which I am guessing are no match to the real thing. With that said, the s'more Skittle tastes like a s'more candy.

Vanilla: You may be wondering, what's a vanilla candy doing in a Chocolate Mix? I don't really know, but I think it works here. It tastes very much like a vanilla pudding Snack Pack. Which brings us to....

Chocolate Pudding: Tastes just like a chocolate Snack Pack

Chocolate Caramel: Kind of tastes like a Sugar Baby

Brownie Batter: Very, very similar to a Tootsie Roll

So, my final verdict on the Chocolate Mix Skittles - They are an interesting change, although I think on an average day I would probably pick original Skittles over these. I definitely couldn't imagine eating a whole bag without getting a serious case of "Skittle Stomach" (stomach ache resulting from the overindulgence of Skittles).

Yummy Strawberry Chocolates

Not only is Aldi's a good place to buy discount cookies, they also sell these delicious Choceur Mini Chocolate Bars. The bars come in a variety of flavors, but even without trying all of them I can tell you that my favorite are the strawberry which are described on the box as "milk chocolate bars with a strawberry yogurt creme filling".



Each package contains 11 individually wrapped Kit-Kat size bars. The creamy milk chocolate that surrounds the yogurt filling has a slight, but pleasant, hazelnut taste which I attribute to their being made in Germany. To me, German chocolate always seems to have a distinct hazelnut flavor to it. But perhaps my favorite part of this chocolate bar is the strawberry yogurt filling. The yogurt contains tiny bits of strawberry. I don't know if they are real, dehydrated strawberries, or something manufactured, but whatever they are, they're good. I would make a trip to Aldi's just to pick up another box of these.

(Thanks to the Elk for the strawberry chocolates!)

Hershey's Kisses - New York Cheesecake

I initially found these flavored Kisses in the Valentine candy section at Kroger, and since then I've spotted them in the Valentine section of Target. This pack contained 5 Kisses for $0.99, but I should note that they are super-sized. I would compare it to the size of a Sorry! board game piece. The Kiss is heavy on chocolate with a bit of cheesecake flavored cream in the center.

I had big hopes for the New York Cheesecake flavored Hershey's Kiss, but it really didn't taste much different than a plain ol' Kiss. Thinking my taste buds were off, I even consulted a second candy taster with the same conclusion - where's the cheesecake flavor? Cheesecake & chocolate = a great idea, I just don't think this product was very successful with it.

Russian Roulette of Jelly Beans

If you've ever tried to eat Jelly Belly's Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans , then you know sampling them can be traumatic experience. Trust me, the vomit flavored bean is a little too realistic. Regardless, this month Jelly Belly is launching Jelly Belly BeanBoozled .

BeanBoozled is comparable to playing russian roulette with your taste buds. Here's how it works, there are twenty flavors - ten gross flavors and ten pleasant flavors. The catch is that there are only 10 colors. Therefore you could pick up a black bean thinking it's licorce flavor (which would be gross in itself), but when you take a bite you discover it's "skunk spray". Sounds awful, but I can see little kids having fun with them.

Here's how the flavors pair up:

skunk spray / licorce
rotten egg / buttered popcorn
ear wax / cafe latte
booger / juicy pear
baby wipes / coconut
pencil shavings / top banana
toothpaste / berry blue
vomit / peach
moldy cheese / caramel corn
black pepper / plum

I must admit I am curious about the flavor of "pencil shavings". I love the smell of pencil shavings, but will I want to eat them? Maybe....

What's Your "Dream Bean"?

Starting today the jelly bean giant, Jelly Belly Candy Co., kicks off the Dream Bean Contest. The company is asking customers to come up with the next great jelly bean flavor. The grand prize is a wooping $10,000. Five runners up are entered into the bean-of-the-month club for one year and there are a number of instant win prizes also available. So what will I be thinking of this afternoon...the next great jelly bean flavor, of course.

To enter: http://dreambeancontest.com

Charms Fluffy Stuff Snow Balls

Perhaps the only snow ball I wouldn't mind getting whacked in the face with, Charms Fluffy Stuff cotton candy Snow Balls are an obvious seasonal take on the plain ol' Charms Fluffy Stuff we can enjoy year-round. Fluffy Stuff is no less than candy magic. Normally, cotton candy is an extremely delicate treat. Made entirely of sugar, it is easily destroyed by moisture and extreme temperatures. However, the folks at Charms developed a process where cotton candy is produced in a "state-of-the-art production facility without being touched by human hands until you open the package and have your first flavorful taste". If doesn't sound magical, show me a unicorn.

The flavor of Snow Balls is listed on the bag as strawberry, however I think they taste more like watermelon. The Snow Balls are all white, whereas the regular Fluffy Stuff features three colors: pink, blue, and yellow (not positive of their corresponding flavors but my guess is strawberry, lemon, and...blue?).

And how does the bagged cotton candy match up to the original circus/street fair variety? It's pretty close. Fluffy Stuff is much denser than fresh cotton candy, and takes a bit longer to melt on your tongue, but in a pinch it will fulfill a cotton candy craving - even in the middle of January.

Missing the warmth of July...

Ahhh, as I freeze in my apartment I like to reminisce about 85 degrees and the Chinese restaurant.

Junior Mints - don't mess with the original

To quote Kramer on Seinfeld, "Who doesn't like Junior Mints? They're chocolate, they're peppermint, they're delicious"! I agree whole heartedly, therefore when I spied a box of Junior Mints Peppermint Crunch at my local Target store, I had to try them. My first thought was "Where's the crunch"? While I could see a slight red, "crunch" texture layered over the traditional shiny surface of the mint, the actual crunch was way too slight to even register in my mouth. Overall, they taste good as far as Junior Mints go, but if you're looking for a new experience, this isn't it.

Candy Cane Pop Rocks

Candy Cane flavored Pop Rocks first made their debut in Christmas 2006. I missed them last year, but snatched up a package when I saw them at Walgreens today. The ones I purchased came sold as a 3 pack, not sure if they're sold separately, but you can always buy the 3 pack and eat them all. As for the taste, not very pepperminty, but not bad. At first I couldn't place it, but then realized that they taste more like a cherry candy cane. To be more precise, they taste like a cherry candy cane chewed up inside a stick of DoubleMint gum. That's actually one of my favorite ways to eat candy canes and other hard candies like root beer barrels - crunched up with a stick of gum, preferably of Wrigley's variety. Don't knock it until you've tried it, trust me it's delicious!

Creme Eggs for Christmas?

As we gradually enter the Christmas season, loads of holiday-themed candies will be hitting store shelves. And what makes us think of Christmas more than the Cadbury Creme Egg ? Nope, that wasn't a typo, the Easter staple is now being marketed for Christmas as the Cadbury Ornament Creme Egg. A co-worker gave me two that she recently purchased at Walgreen's. The Ornament Creme Egg is exactly like the traditional Creme Egg except that it has a red, snowflake-covered foil wrapper.

I personally know some Creme Egg lovers that will be very happy to hear this. As for me, I'm still working on making it through the egg I started 30 minutes ago. I enjoy the flavor in moderation, but sometimes the ultra-sweet fondant is too much for me to handle in large quantities, especially considering I haven't even had lunch yet. I'm a bigger fan of the mini Creme Eggs which come out at Easter. Maybe they'll have mini Ornament Creme Eggs? I'll have to investigate.

Trick or Treat

Hershey has a fun Halloween website which includes tons of extras including Halloween-themed wallpapers, treat recipes, and crafts. Take a look before the day is up!

http://www.hersheys.com/trickortreats

This year's Halloween loot

Here's a picture of my 2007 Halloween candy bowl. It's dangerous setting it out this early because I'll probably be picking at it until Wednesday, but I couldn't wait any longer. I have the some Lemonheads, Reese's Pieces, Reese's Crispy Crunchy Bars, Smarties, the tasty (and beautifully decorated) Frankford Marshmallow Monster pals, and a nice Wonka mix which consists of orange and fruit punch flavored Nerds, Laffy Taffy, and skull and bone-shaped SweetTarts.

Meiji, youji, we all ji

I was recently exploring the candy section at my local World Market store and came across these intriguing packages. Like a kitten drawn to a piece of shiny tinsel, I'm a sucker for colorful or interesting packaging. Both of these products are by a Japanese company called Meiji. The first, what I will call Apollo because cannot read the entire Japanese package, are little space capsule shaped chocolate-strawberry pieces. Perhaps I should call them "chocolate-inspired" pieces because I don't think the chocolate is real, however they do have a nice, fresh strawberry flavor. Let's face it, I'm talking about candy, why should I be a stickler for "all natural", I eat neon green Skittles after all.

The second Meiji product I tried is called YanYan. Technically, it may not be considered candy because there is a cracker involved, but it's still worth mentioning if anything for the funny sayings printed on the cracker sticks including phrases such as "Elephant Jumbo", "Squid Black Ink", and "Sheep Wool Sweaters". Very strange. YanYan is called a "strawberry cream snack". World Market also stocked a chocolate version, but I opted for the strawberry. When you peel back the lid, there are two sections. One side holds the crackers and the other a well of strawberry cream to dip the cracker sticks into. Overall it tastes pretty good. The strawberry flavor is nice and the cream is quite smooth. My only objection is that the crackers are kinda greasy, other than that it's a tasty treat.

Candy Carousal

If you are interested in patronizing a small westside candy business I would suggest the Candy Carousal located at 26300 Michigan Ave in Inkster, MI. The Candy Carousal is a small chocolate shop which sells Corden's Chocolate. They keep strange hours, I've only seen it open around the major holidays, but it is well worth the trip especially for the chocolates made in vintage chocolate molds (my favs include the spaceman and bunny face). The coconut clusters are worth a taste too.

Read!

I feel bad for neglecting Sugar Hi. In case there is not enough to read here, here's a list of a few candy books which are worth checking out.

Candy: The Sweet History, by Beth Kimmerle, 2003

I love this book. It has a nice hardcover and is packed with beautiful vintage candy graphics and advertisements. The author highlights candy companies (and not just the biggies), the histories of different types of candies, and even provides a few recipes. I think Kimmerle also has a Chocolate: The Sweet History book out, but I haven't seen it yet.

Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, by Steve Almond, 2004

Candyfreak is an interesting book, if you can get past the author whining about his failed relationships and pathetic life. I want to read a book about candy, not some dude's problems with the ladies. If I was given the opportunity to tour candy factories across the country, I sure would have been in a better mood.

Candy and Me (A Love Story) ,by Hilary Lifton, 2003

Candy and Me chronicles Ms. Lifton's lifelong obsession with candy. It's a cute story. And Lifton is obsessed with Bottle Caps - I can totally relate.