What great results to see! It looks like giving candy is alive and well.

For the record, besides my stocking, I got several candy gifts:

A deluxe box of Leonidas
A beautiful box of CocoaVino
A hatbox from Boule
Two boxes of Naked Chocolate Malted Milk Balls

So what did you give or get?

I regret to say that I’ve had to implement comment moderation on the site.

Not because of anything that you, my sweet readers, have done.

It’s the spammers.

So many of you have opted in for notification when there’s a new comment on posts that you’ve participated in that I’d rather not expose you to the nasty spam.

Until I get that fixed it just means that any comments you submit are held until I look at them. In most cases it shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours. Thanks for your patience.

UPDATE 1-8-07: Well, that didn’t take long to fix. I’ve installed a more secure form of CAPTCHA (that little string of letters and numbers you have to input with your comments) that should do the trick. Thanks again for you patience.

Here’s a strange product line from Hershey’s in the Philippines. They’re called Mallow Blast and are described thusly on the package:

It’s a mind-blowing combination of light chewy Marshmallows bursting with luscious grape flavor, dipped in rich Hershey’s Milk Chocolate.

Hershey’s Mallow Blast(tm) - an explosion of flavors!

Also available with Strawberry and Orange Flavored Filling.

I’ve tried other Asian marshmallows before with a fruity filling in them, but this was a first to have them dipped in chocolate.

The Grape Mallow Blast packaging was certainly fun looking. The overall package is a pack with five individually wrapped pieces. Mine were slightly smashed but otherwise unharmed by their journey.

The grape ones smell very strongly of grape jelly and no hint at all of chocolate. The little twist of marshmallow is about as big as my big toe, but with a fruity filling (my toes might be filled with fruit, I’ve never checked). The marshmallow is springy and not terribly sweet. The jelly center is firm and tangy and of course grapey.

The Orange Mallow Blast smelled more of chocolate. The orange inside was actually pretty nice. A bit on the artificial side, but with a balance of zest and tang to it. The chocolate was crumbly and not terribly creamy, but all things considered, it was tasty enough for me to finish off the package of five.

Of course it’s not real chocolate on the outside, but I guess the labeling restrictions are different for other countries. The package clearly calls it Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, but the only “chocolate” in there are some milk solids and cocoa powder much later on the list after the number three ingredient, hydrogenated palm kernel oil. That said, they’d probably make a good treat for dieters, as they’re rather satisfying but not that dense in fat calories (6 of them have 3 grams of fat and 150 calories).

I could see these being popular in the States. The way that they’re packaged though makes it easy for them to get crushed, so they’d probably have to place them in a little tray with sides or something to prevent that.

The Mallow Blasts are certified Hallal.

You thought the staff meetings where they talk about who’s responsible for filling the candy jar at the reception desk were difficult!

Looks like the non-re-election of Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania will have a lasting effect on the Senate.

Santorum was responsible for the “candy desk” which has been around since the sixties. Anyone holding that desk has traditionally been responsible for supplying treats to the Senators and staff. Santorum, as the Pennsylvania Senator, was given candy by his home state producers (Just Born, Goldenberg’s & Hershey’s) as ethics rules allow. But the new occupant of the seat is from a non-sweet producing state, Wyoming.

Read more here at the Wall Street Journal. (Story found via ObscureStore)

This was a super-cute stocking stuffer that Santa gave me this year. I have to say that Whitman’s has never been of much interest to me. Perhaps it’s that I’ve found them a bit stale tasting. But it also might be the package, sure Whitman’s Samplers are retro looking, but that not-so-fresh appearance may have been affecting my taste.

But without the regular packaging, I have to say these looked pretty good. The tin has a Tiffany blue background and gold printing. It’s about the same size as a Sucrets lozenge tin, but a little deeper. Each piece of candy is nestled in a little perfect-shaped spot in the plastic tray.

The long milk chocolate rectangle was called Milk Chocolate Butter Cream, which was a kind of chewy sweet fudge. Very sweet, but a pleasant flavor combination.

The round dark chocolate piece was called Dark Chocolate Coconut and unsurprisingly had a coconut center like a Mounds bar. Fresh tasting and not too sweet, the real winner in the box.

The Messenger Boy was cute, with it’s little cross-stitch look. It was a small tablet of milk chocolate. Sweet and unremarkable.

The last one was the Milk Chocolate Caramel which was just the right consistency. Easy to bite but chewy with nice long strands of caramelized sugar and butter. It could have used some more salt to balance the very sweet milk chocolate.

Do they beat See’s (my touchstone for inexpensive boxed chocolates)? No, not even close. These were fresh tasting but a little too “middle of the road” for me. I wanted more zing, more flavor and less sweet. But I do love the tin.

I am curious to try their new Organic Sampler at some point.