Candy Blog

When I was in college I worked in a bakery called Chocoholics (known for their “Truffles in a Jar”) in Eureka, California. As the kitchen assistant I mostly did dishes, some prep work for bakery items (peeling apples & carrots) and dipping truffles. But one of my other tasks was to package up the frosting after the bakers did their work of making it. The German Chocolate Cake frosting was made once a week in huge pots on the stove and finished in industrial mixers that held five gallons. When it was done and cooled, I would put it in half gallon tubs to be used for the cakes. It was an amazing mix of custard-like caramel and coconut. When the tubs were filled, I was often able to get just a few spoonfuls out and set it aside in a little bowl as a treat. Gooey, sweet, nutty and with a great burnt sugar flavor. (Technically I think it was a custard, since there were eggs in it.)

While browsing a Dollar General near my mother’s house while helping her pack to move I found this package of Crown Homestyle Candy Caramel Coconut Tips. After reading the ingredients which are a mix of sugar, coconut, oil, milk and egg whites I thought maybe these were little dollops like German Chocolate Cake Frosting.

I don’t know much about Crown Candy, they’re based in Macon, Georgia and say that they’re the largest supplier of coconut candies in the United States. They have an array of products including toasted macaroon, Neapolitan colored Coconut Bon Bons and several different versions of these Coconut Tips, including chocolate.

The little dollops do look homestyle, as the name implies. Most are about 1.5” in diameter. They smell like toasted coconut and waffle cones. They have a soft, fudgy texture that smooth with only a slight grain to it. There’s a lot of coconut, so they’re quite chewy. The chew yields several layers of flavor, at first it’s the caramel/butterscotch sugar, then that sweetness of coconut, then a little lingering salty chew of the fibery bits of coconut. There’s a hint of milk in there too, which moderates what could be insanely sweet and cloying.

I really liked them, I find them so different from many other coconut candy. I appreciated that there weren’t any weird fake butter flavors in there - it’s allowed to just be what it is. They’d probably be good covered in bittersweet chocolate, too.

Related Candies

1. Blue Ribbon Neapolitan Coconut Bar
2. Brach’s Indulge Almonds: Coconut & Caramel
3. Limited Edition M&Ms Coconut
4. Almond Joy
5. Atkinson’s Coconut Long Boys
6. Regional Flavors: Key Lime, Pina Colada & Huckleberries

In 1888 Frederick Switzer founded F.M. Switzer and Co. in St. Louis. He sold licorice and other sugar-based penny candy from a push cart along the riverfront. The company did well and even managed to make it through the sugar shortages of World War II by concentrating solely on their licorice line since it required less sugar than other candies. In 1966 the Switzer family sold the company to Beatrice Foods. The company continued to thrive and by 1968 a second factory was added and the company became the largest licorice manufacturer in North America. As I’ve chronicled elsewhere on Candy Blog, Leaf then bought the Beatrice candy companies then Leaf was sold to Hershey’s. Hershey’s split up some of the Leaf product lines and sold some off and simply discontinued others that competed with their existing lines ... Switzer competed with Twizzlers.

So about eight years ago the Switzer grandsons decided to re-boot the abandoned company. It took a while, but by 2005 the candy was on store shelves in the St. Louis area and Cracker Barrel stores. About 18 months ago I finally spotted it in Ohio, but it wasn’t until my trip last month that I finally picked up a bag of their classic, real Switzer’s Black Chewy Licorice Bits.

I remember eating Switzer’s as a kid, the “bar” format was popular in vending machines in Ohio and back then there were pricing tiers for sugar candy and chocolate candy. Sugar candy was often quite cheap and that was attractive to a gal who would get her candy money from checking phone booth coin slots and pennies on the street. Despite the achievement of acquiring it, I don’t recall how much I liked it.

The bag of nibs was well priced for something that wasn’t on sale. The 10 ounce bag is generous and I like the nibs because they’re simply one bite. The ingredients list corn syrup first, then molasses, wheat flour, corn starch, water, sunflower oil, caramel color, licorice extract, salt and anise oil.

The candies are shiny and that gloss on them is sticky. But still, they’re fresh which is a plus. The bite is firm and slightly crumbly when chewed. They don’t stick to my teeth the way that some of the Aussie style stuff does. The flavor is odd, at first I was getting a strong rose note with the bitter molasses. The anise is stronger than the licorice, but the overall effect is that the candy isn’t too sweet. It’s not as molasses-y as I prefer, but the woodsy notes are decent. The texture didn’t end up satisfying me, maybe there wasn’t enough wheat flour in there.

It’s a unique flavor profile, much richer than Twizzlers or Red Vines but still in the same price range. The flavor was more like the new Broadway Rolls than Kookaburra or Panda licorice. I would probably buy these in the single-serve bars in a vending machine or convenience store if I was in the mood for mass-manufactured licorice. But it in no way dethrones my favorite, Good & Plenty.

More information about Switzer’s history: St. Louis Business Journal (2005), News Tribune (2005), a faded ad mural plus more shots of the old factory, a 1955 ad featuring Switzer’s as a low calorie candy,  and a trade ad that also shows licorice suckers from the 70s.

Related Candies

1. Goetze’s Licorice and Double Chocolate Caramel Creams
2. Panda Soft Herb Licorice and Licorice Cremes
3. Twizzlers Licorice Twists
4. Kookaburra Licorice
5. Organic Finnska Soft Licorice
6. Haribo Licorice Wheels

Every once in a while at Whole Foods they have interesting bulk chocolate, usually by the fine cheeses. One of the items they were actually sampling (this was about two years ago) were Belgian Chocolate Marbles. They were milk, dark and white chocolate swirled pearls. Well, flash forward a few years and I was at the Fancy Food Show where I finally found out who makes them: Callebaut.

Callebaut recently started moving into selling directly to consumers, previously they did most of their products for other confectioners or as ingredients. So maybe these will show up in stores. They’re fun little nuggets, pretty and made from good quality chocolate - real cocoa butter in the white chocolate and a strong dairy flavor.

This is an early review of an upcoming product: Jolly Rancher Awesome Twosome Chews that should hit store shelves in December 2010.

About five years ago Twizzlers, a Hershey’s company, introduced Twerpz (original review). They were cute little nibs of flavored “licorice” that had a grainy and flavored cream filling. They were around for about three years then slowly faded away. Twizzlers introduced a few similar products such as the Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled Twists, but didn’t relaunch the Twerpz line. In a completely unrelated area, Hershey’s had a line of chocolate bar “Awesome Twosome” brand mashups around the same time. They were regular Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars with bits of other bars mixed in, like Whoppers, Heath, Almond Joy and Reese’s Pieces.

So it appears that this new product, now under the Jolly Rancher brand is taking over the Twizzlers Twerpz product, but giving it a little twist by combing two flavors in each piece (that’s the Twosome part).

The flavors of the Awesome Twosome Chews are standards in the Jolly Rancher palette. One is Watermelon on the outside and has a Green Apple filling. The other is Cherry on the outside and has an Orange filling. Each has a sour grainy dusting.

The Watermelon/Green Apple is kind of fun because it’s a reverse of the colors of an actual watermelon. That’s about where the fun for me ended. The package itself smells rather plastic and artificial, like bubble gum, wood glue and one of those discount movie palaces that always smells a little damp. They’re soft and chewy and the sour coating isn’t that powerful, just a nice zap.

The tube of watermelon licorice is well flavored, in the Jolly Rancher arena, which is good if you like that sort of thing. The green apple inside goes pretty well, but again, horribly artificial and acidic in a way that reminds me of burps.

The Cherry/Orange was at least made up of one flavor that I generally like. The cherry chew part was very flavorful, but sadly it was a very bad flavor. The use of food coloring and one note of medicinal cherry kept me from enjoying it at all. There were only four of these in my bag, so I didn’t get a lot to try. The paste filling was an interesting texture but in the case of the orange one, far too mild and like Tang instead of a well rounded zesty orange to stand up to the cherry.

The aftertaste was like I’d chewed on PlayDoh for a while and then swallowed Country Time Lemonade drink mix. However, I know that there are folks who are really looking forward to these. I like the concept but the texture, flavors and general execution just doesn’t fit my style.

Related Candies

1. Chewy Sour Extinguisher
2. Wonka Kazoozles: Cherry Punch & Pink Lemonade
3. Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled Twists
4. Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews

Jelly Belly Confections makes a classic licorice bridge mix that has jelly beans, buttons, mellocremes and pastels. Personally, the pastels (candy coated licorice nibs) are my favorite. But I found this abridged mix that just has jelly beans, licorice bears and buttons at the Dollar General, certainly cheaper but missing the fun stuff.

Still, I love the look of the buttons.