One of the things I’ve always struggled with when evaluating fudge is that it’s so unappealing looking (I have this problem with toffee, too). You usually just buy it in lackluster chunks and then you have to figure out how to slice it up and how big is a serving supposed to be? How do you close it back up without the edges getting crusty?

Flippin’ Fudge contacted me a few weeks ago to tell me about their new fudge and I was kinda skeptical, mostly because I really didn’t want to take photos of amorphous lumps of sugar and chocolate. Well, when it arrived, I realized that Tim & Liz Young at Flippin’ Fudge has figured out how to make fudge look great.

First, the box it came in. It was a white lidded corrugated shipping box that had the logo on it, you open it (easily, not with a lot of struggle) and inside is the smaller box padded by some confetti colored packing shreds.

The real treat is inside, each piece of fudge is individually wrapped in a royal purple/magenta piece of foil and labeled with the flavor.

All the fudge has a very good “bite” to it. It’s soft without being limp, firm without being chalky. None of it is particularly sweet right out of the gate, instead the chocolate flavor predominates and there’s less milky mellowness to it.

Dark Secret - a plain fudge but with a bit more of a chocolate kick. The fudge itself is smooth and dense, without being the slightest bit sticky. It’s missing that crystalline crumbliness that I kind of like in cheap fudge, but where that’s lacking the signs of bad fudge you’ll find lots of flavor.

Wake Up Call - coffee and chocolate, what could be better in the morning? This was a nice mellow chocolate fudge, but I never really got the coffee flavor kick out of it. It had a slightly more acidic bite to it, but no really smokin’ coffee to wake me up.

Skippy’s Surprise - a layer of chocolate fudge, a layer or peanut butter fudge and then another layer of chocolate fudge. The peanut butter is ultrasmooth and creamy and has a strong roasted nut taste. A little kick of salt and you’ll be searching the assorted box for more of these. Very satisfying.

Fuzzy Bubble - this is peach champagne fudge, and I’m sure lots of folks think this is a good idea, but I just have to exempt myself from this one. I really don’t care for mixing peach with chocolate for some reason and this fudge is no exception.

Citrus Shot - It’s a rich orange, with more essence to it than tart juicy taste. I’ve always loved the combo of orange and chocolate. This could be kicked up a notch, but it’s still wonderful.

Toffee Crunch - A nice salty hit with a buttery smell and taste of caramelized sugar mixed in with the chocolate.

Island Retreat - Coconut and chocolate is a great combo. If you like Mounds bars but don’t want to be bothered with all that actual coconut to chew, is a great option. All the flavor is there, that sort of floral fragrance, nutty bite and of course the chocolate smoothness to wash it down. It seriously made me think of summer and walking around the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ.

Overall the fudge is very different from what I’m used to. I looked over the ingredients and noticed that they all have

(I emailed with Tim and he said that there’s no peanut butter in the non peanut butter flavors, so his secret of how he makes it so smooth is his alone) without adding the milky-sticky texture that sometimes turns me off.

I did all this without looking at the price so as not to color my judgement one way or the other. The standard mixed box that I got is 12 ounces and contains 16 pieces. It costs $20.00 but the larger 28 piece assortment (about 21 ounces) is a better deal at $32. The site is well laid out with a good variety of product combinations and you can calculate the shipping before you check out, but all shipping is done through FedEx, which can cost a pretty penny for overnight but the ground shipping isn’t too bad.

(Not tried: Berry Nuts which is Raspberry & walnuts - it sounds awesome.)

UPDATE 10/14/2006 - you can win a $50 gift certifcate!

Yesterday I went to Oakland, CA for a meeting. I got up early, hopped on a Southwest flight from Burbank where the security personnel questioned me about the bag of 15 USB memory stick pens I had with me (that I was donating to NaNoWriMo), and then they looked in my bag to make sure that my lip balm was actually solid.

On my flight back later in the evening I had some other stuff with me that actually caught more attention from the folks at the Oakland airport. They did a THOROUGH screening of my pack (a small backpack that I carry as my purse) and took out every item and even after finding the solid lip balm, he continued to look through my stuff.

At this point my bag contained these additional items:

5 loose pieces of Russian hard candies filled with a hazelnut paste with a white wrapper and red lobster on the paper wrapper.

1 Swedish candy bar called Brejk

2 loose pieces of Russian chocolate covered wafer candies with a blue wrapper and a little drawing of a family of bears in the woods.

1 Swedish candy bar called Pigall (I’ll definitely review that one soon!)

2 Heath bars

1 partially eaten Equal Exchange dark chocolate with cocoa nibs bar

1 package of Tic Tacs

1 piece of Teaberry gum

1 large box of candy known as белка (pronounced bee-ill-jhKHA)

The guy chuckled and said that I had a lot of candy. I said, yeah, that’s why I don’t like being searched. (Luckily their sarcasm detector was offline.)

Once inside the terminal I stopped at the See’s store and though I passed up the free sample (a walnut item), I bought a box of Awesome Nut & Chew bars and ate one while waiting at the gate.

I figured as long as the TSA now knows what I carry around with me, I figured you should, too.

If I’d planned it a little more, this week could have been Cola Flavor Theme Week. But here I am again with another cola flavored candy.

I got these cute little packets of Cherry Cola flavored Pop Rocks at the All Candy Expo. They come in a wee little lunchbox looking tin. The packets are a little larger than a packet of sugar or about a third of the size or a regular Pop Rocks package. I’m actually okay with a small packet, as Pop Rocks tend to get all sticky when exposed to humidity and I like to eat my Pop Rocks slowly.

The little grains are different colors, some pale yellow and some pink, I was guessing they were just a mix of rock flavors. They were very fizzy and popped really well, must better than my experience with the Sal y Limon ones. The cherry flavor was soft with only a slight tangy tone to it, but I completely missed the cola notes. Every once in a while there was a burst of caramelized sugar flavor, which was really nice, but didn’t ring as a cola flavor. Granted, I’ve never had Cherry Cola, but I’m guessing it tastes like cola in some way or another.

If you’re looking for stocking stuffers or party favors or a theme gift, these are an excellent choice. The packages are decorated in the style or a 50s diner or soda counter with bright red and black accents. The tins are limited edition, so they may come out with different varieties. This one was Series 1, Edition 2. (You can buy them online here at CandyFavorites and I think I’ve seen this or something similar at Cost Plus World Market.)

I wonder if they’ll ever make Root Beer Pop Rocks?

Following up on yesterday’s Japanese candies, here’s another one that a friend (Joz, of course!) brought me. They’re little hard candies flavored like Cola and Ramune.

Ramune is a Japanese flavor similar to Lemon-Lime but with something else in it that I can’t quite put my finger on, it might be kind of like tonic water. Ramune soda comes in a unique bottle, which has a bubble in the neck that holds a glass marble that seals the bottle when it’s upright and then as you tip the bottle it rolls out and allows you to drink. (The marble can’t get out of the little bubble it’s in, so you don’t have to worry about swallowing it.)

Just about every candy in Japan comes in a Ramune version. Hi-CHEW, Puccho, gum, Shigekix & gummis.

These little candies are also about the size and shape of a glass marble:

The Ramune hard candy is immediately tart and a little floral tasting and has a tingle and fizz that comes right after that. I think the fizz comes from a combination of baking soda and citric acid that’s activated by the saliva in your mouth. The fizz goes all the way through. It’s pleasant and not too tart, so you don’t have to worry about burning your tongue when you consume too many.

The Cola flavored ones came in little red packets, with different colored lettering on them. I suspect that some were lime cola, lemon cola and perhaps cherry cola, but I really couldn’t tell the difference. They were all cola and had the zippy fizz and spicy cola flavor combo. Of the two flavors, I think I preferred the Cola ones, but I’ve been on a kick for Cola flavor lately. This bag had a mix of flavors (you can also get solo flavor bags or tubs), so I could indulge whatever whim I had ... but at the end of the bag there were just Ramune left.

I’m a big fan of using hard candies on long car trips to keep you alert and your mouth moist. This is also good for planes, especially in these days where you can’t bring your own water. These are pretty cool because they’re so active in your mouth. I have to warn you though, this is no idle bubbly tingle, these will give you the burps just like real soda ... but no refrigeration needed!

The Japanese have some strange candies and these have to be right up there at the top. Puccho are pretty popular and with good reason, they deliver just about everything. They have variety in both the experience and the range of flavors, great packaging, they’re inexpensive and of course you can share them easily.

There was a wide variety of flavor combinations at the store and I was especially interested in the Cola one but wanted to stay away from the yogurt ones (I like yogurt, but not as a flavor).

The Cola (in the red package) was awesome. The little piece had white and brown stripes in the candy and every once in a while there was a little piece of cola flavored gummi or a nugget of sour foamy grains. The grains gave it a lemon-cola zap and the gummis gave the soft, Hi-CHEW-like taffy a little bump of longevity.

The second one is a bit more of a mystery. The English sticker on the label calls it Genki Drink, which didn’t really help me to narrow it down because I didn’t know what a Genki Drink is. A little time on Google and I knew EXACTLY what they are ... you’ve probably seen them before, those mysterious brown glass bottles by the checkout at the Asian markets and tea shops that claim to boost your mental acuity and, um, other things.

The saffron colored chews are similarly soft and have a tangy, lemon tea flavor to them but also a floral note that reminded me of violets. There are similar nuggets of white powder that release a little zap of fizz and tartness, but these seem to have a bitter bite to them. The little gummi bits linger and have a little fruity taste to them and help to scrub away any lingering taffy bits in the teeth (that’s how they’re described on the Puccho website).

I definitely found the Cola ones fun and practically addictive except for the later burps that the little fizzy bits seem to generate. The Genki, not so much, even though it probably has infusions of all sorts of healthy things (the only one I’m sure of is vitamin C). I’ll probably stick to my tried-and-true Hi-CHEW but the Cola ones are definitely compelling if I’m in a mood.

Interesting note: the motto for UHA Mikakuto is “Deliciousness is Gentleness”