Candy Blog

I was cruising the aisles of Cost Plus World Market looking for a pick me up after Christmas and saw this rather generic looking Sukoka Soft Coffee Candy by Unican on the shelf. It said it was made with real milk and apparently real coffee, so I figured it’d have a little caffeinated kick. So I bought it. Then I ate them all, without reviewing them. So I had to buy another bag.

It seemed a bit on the expensive side, 3.2 ounces was $1.99. But it was also only $2 and it might be great, so why not give it a try.

Mostly the package was focused on the nutritional benefits: With 6% daily value Calcium in each serving, which is 5 pieces. So a little more than 1% per piece. There are 30 pieces in the bag, so at least I know if I went wild, I wouldn’t overdose on calcium.

Each little piece was individually wrapped and sealed. I’ve noticed this is common with candy from Indonesia (also Malaysia and Philippines), I’m guessing it’s because people buy single pieces and that the weather there is very humid so sugar candy needs to be well sealed to keep from getting sticky.

The description on the back of the package goes on to extol more of the virtues of the candy:

Sukoka is crafted from the very best ingredients and enriched with calcium resulting in an irresistible coffee candy confection - that’s also a healthy option.

But I don’t think that the ingredients are the very best (that that they’re terrible):

Ingredients: condensed filled milk (sucrose, fresh milk, skim milk powder, palm oil), glucose, sugar, hydrogenated coconut oil, coffee powder, butter (milk fat, non fat dry milk, salt), tricalcium phosphate, artificial flavor, glyceryl monostearate, soy lecithin, BHT.

I don’t know what condensed filled milk is, I’m guessing it’s sweetened condensed milk.

The pieces are about the size and shape of a cough drop. Just light and creamy brown lozenges. They smell sweet and like black coffee. The flavor is immediately like coffee ice cream: milky and with a soft bitter note of coffee and burnt sugar. The toffee notes are most evident and the coffee has a good mix of bitterness, charcoal and woodsiness. They’re firm but have a give to them that’s more dense and more dairy than a caramel. The chew is smooth but never quite gets grainy or diluted.

The coffee flavor wasn’t intense but it was satisfying and rich. I have no idea if there’s a measurable amount of caffeine in them, I didn’t notice any effects, and I’m rather sensitive to it. I bought this second bag yesterday and it’s already gone, so I must have liked them. I wouldn’t eat them for the health benefits though.

These are a great summer candy. They’re exceptionally durable, even in the heat they might melt a bit, but are still perfectly edible even if they lose their shape and reform. They’re creamy and rich, so it’s kind of like chocolate without the sticky mess. The individual wrapping means you can even tuck them in your pocket.

Unican also makes a milk tea version called Suteka and a mint chocolate one called Mint Choka as well as a whole line of fruity milk candies called Milkita (strawberry & melon). The tea one sounds like it would be very good. These are marked Halal and should be suitable for vegetarians (but not vegans, obviously).

Related Candies

1. Meiji Pokka Coffee Caramel
2. Javaz - Milk & Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
3. Coffee Rio
4. Caffe Acapella - Coffee Confections
5. Coffee Beat
6. Bali’s Best Coffee & United Coffee Candy

Beechies are one of America’s older gum brands. Introduced in 1936 by Beech-Nut, maker of jarred food products like fruits, vegetables and most known for their current line of baby food. They invented the vacuum sealed gasket that makes modern canning ubiquitous.

Here in the United States the Beechies gum were like Chiclets, little candy coated rectangles of gum. They came in an array of flavors and were packaged in boxes that had a pleasant rattle to them. They’re still made, though I don’t see them often. Usually it’s the peppermint or spearmint variety in a little box with a corporate sponsors name on it, as a giveaway at a convention or trade show. Though Beechies in the US are run by Richardson Brands, in other countries they’re made by Kraft. This package of Musk Beechies is from South Africa.

Musk is a popular flavor in Australia, I’ve tried a few of their musk lollies and have a hard time getting over the idea of eating an air freshener for you car. But the gum version is something that’s a little easier for me to accept. I’ve had Choward’s Scented Gum since I was a kid and though it’s not something that I actually enjoy, I at least see that other folks might.

The little gum pellets are long rectangles, nicely rounded. They’re bright pink for no apparent reason, except to advertise the weirdness of what one might be about to consume. The candy shell is a bit thinner and less crunchy than Chiclets, but still crispy. The flavor and pinkess goes through and through.

Musk is a bit generic, it’s not earthy or animalistic like it sounds. It’s more commercial, like an incense from a store in the mall. It has honey notes, some sort of deep rose and sandalwood to it. It’s not mouthwatering, but also not as on-the-nose as something like rose or violet.

The flavor did actually last a really long time, at least twenty minutes, which is long after I lose interest in any gum I might be chewing. I’m more of a “chew the sugar out of it and spit it out” kind of person.

I don’t plan on chewing these again, though for some odd reason I bought two packages. So I’ll save the other ones for freaking people out.

Related Candies

1. Swizzels Matlow Parma Violets
2. Musk Sticks
3. Barley Mint Mentos
4. Anis de Flavigny
5. Lifesaver Musk
6. Choward’s Violet

There’s a part of me that thinks that marshmallows aren’t candy at all. It’s probably because the traditional dusty marshmallow puffs are sold in the baking ingredient aisle in big bags instead of single serving packets.

But maybe I should rethink that; it appears that Campfire has. I spotted this little 1 ounce bag of Campfire Mini-Marshmallows at the CVS at the beginning of summer and thought it was a fun idea. Sure they’re far more expensive than the big bag a few aisle away. This was 50 cents for one ounce and the big one pound bag is about $2 - so maybe I’m a schmuck. (The same applies to plain chocolate bars and chocolate chips.)

While the bag only holds one ounce, it looks pretty bountiful. The packaging is just a miniature version of the large bag but does mention prominently that it’s a gluten free food. It also says “naturally fat free” and while that’s natural, some of the other ingredients aren’t, like the artificial flavor and tetrasodium pyrohosphate.

The mascot on the package disturbs me, though it’s hard to really say why.

It’s a boy with a marshmallow head wearing a little backpack and yellow shorts. He’s waving and I guess that’s all okay. But he’s also wearing a navy blue tee with a flaming marshmallow on it. I suppose it’s like any other kid with a Metallica concert tour tee, but it’s a little skewed by the fact that we do actually consume fire roasted marshmallows more often than fire roasted human skulls. (If the research I did is true.)

There’s not much else to say except that these are teensy little marshmallows that I associate more with winter than summer. They’re the perfect kind to toss into a cup of hot chocolate. For roasting over a campfire, well, they’re too small however for a microwave version of S’mores they might do well. As an easy to eat treat they’re pleasant but that’s about it. Like most grocery store marshmallows, they have a powdery starch coating. They smell sweet and a little like plain vanilla (but not very complex like a good vanilla bean).

They’re squishy and a little fleshy and yield a good chewy bite. I prefer mine a little firmer, so I left the package open for a week or so until they were firm and dry. Since they’re so airy, an ounce feels like a lot and if they’re savored properly it’s a good diet candy since there’s less than a hundred calories in a bag. (With regular sized marshmallows it takes about 4 to equal one ounce.) If you need a quick marshmallow fix and a big bag of the giant ones is too much, well this is a good option. They’re probably fun to add to other snacks, like trail mix or popcorn at the movies.

Marshmallows are made with gelatin so are not appropriate for vegetarians. They say they’re gluten free but no other allergen status like nuts or dairy is mentioned on the package

Related Candies

1. CVS Marshmallow Pop
2. Pete’s Gourmet Confections: Marshmallows
3. GudFud Stuffed Marshmallows
4. Frankford Marshmallow Hearts
5. Littlejohn Caramel Marshmallows
6. Artisan Marshmallows: Plush Puffs

Last year I picked up a few Krema Batna in San Francisco at the charming Miette Confiserie. I never thought I’d see them again in the states. There I was a few weeks ago, walking through the Glendale Galleria on my way to See’s and there was a tiny kiosk that had a variety of French gourmet foods. There were Jordan almonds, capers and various spreads and oils… plus a few bags of Krema Batna.

I recognized it immediately by the package, a large leopard with the French words Le bonbon tendre au gout sauvage which means the tender (chewy) candy with the wild taste. Even though it was $6.00 for 150 grams (5.29 ounces), I scooped it up without a second thought. I really wanted to have these creamy licorice caramels again.

The scent is only lightly sweet and herbal - a note of molasses and anise. The chew is soft and easy, kind of like a smooth Starburst. The caramel is silky and has a strong licorice note - that light and lingering sweetness with a darker smoky note to it as well. It’s creamy as well, a little like coffee with Ouzo. It had a lot more true licorice to it than many other licorice candies and not so much of the anise/fennel notes. Of course that makes it very sweet, a sort of strange throat coating sweetness that doesn’t burn in the same way that sugar does.

I would buy another bag of these in a heartbeat. They’re an excellent pocket candy as well, since they’re durable in the summer but the creamy component makes them feel much richer than they actually are.

I did a little bit of web searching and saw on a French website that Krema is a whole line of chews that come in other flavors like Tender Cherry, Lemon, Raspberry, Caramel, Cola, Green, Orange Apple. Definitely something I’m going to try to find, though I’m pretty sure the Batna is the one for me.

They have gelatin in them, so are unsuitable for vegetarians. The package says that they’re made by Cadbury France.

Related Candies

1. Goetze’s Licorice and Double Chocolate Caramel Creams
2. Walkers’ Nonsuch Liquorice Toffee
3. Leaf Schoolchalk, Allsorts & Pipes
4. J Morgan Caramels
5. Anis de Flavigny
6. Soubeyran Array

While I didn’t get to attend the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago back in May, Mars was kind enough to send me some samples of their candies that haven’t hit store shelves yet. The one that got the most buzz (after Pretzel M&Ms, naturally) was the new Snickers Peanut Butter Squared.

First, it’s a new product in the Snickers line, not a limited edition. It’ll come out in December, but they’re obviously gearing up for a big push if they were distributing fully packaged samples more than six months in advance.

There are a lot of things that are different about this bar. The packaging is a little flatter, shorter and wider than the standard Snickers “log” package. The yellow background reminded me of the recently discontinued Snickers Cruncher.

Inside the package are two squares. See, it’s not even a bar, it’s two pieces. They’re 1.25 inches square and about .75 inches high. There’s a nice ripple on the top. They’re nicely made, beautiful to look at when placed on a plate and enjoyed like a fine chocolate.

What’s different isn’t just that this is a smaller candy. It’s 1.78 ounces total (.89 ounces per piece) and the package says that you can “twist wrap” to keep the second piece fresh. It might be about portion control. There are only 250 calories in this package compared to the 2.07 ounce classic Snickers that clocks in at 271 calories. So you’re paying more, perhaps gaining the ability to stop halfway.

But it’s not just the shape that’s different. Inside is a radical change for Snickers lovers. It’s a base of peanut butter nougat layered with a dry but dense peanut butter layer then a thin layer of caramel all covered in milk chocolate. So the caramel is minimized and the peanut butter portion is upped ... but it feels like there are fewer actual peanuts.

It smells just like a Snickers. Biting into it, it’s not as thick and the layers aren’t as distinct. The caramel is just a thin layer that’s a little tougher than the others. The peanut butter and nougat weren’t very distinct. It was a little salty and very peanutty. The chocolate was creamy. But there was something just kind of bland for me. I missed the decadent chew of the caramel, especially because it combined with the other flavors to create something new and wonderful in the mouth. However, there’s a much more intense peanut butter experience; the texture is far smoother than, say, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, but not quite creamy.

I had two of these to try, so I got a pretty good sense of them. If you were a fan of the Snickers Nut ‘n’ Butter Crunch or Snickers Fudge, which I consider drier bars because they don’t have caramel, then this might be a good substitution. I actually prefer the Snickers Xtreme, which goes the other direction. It’s a bar with just caramel and peanuts. It was a limited edition item that will return in September 2010.

Other views & reviews on the Snickers Peanut Butter Squared:
Sugar Pressure
About Candy
Motivation by Chocolate
AV Club

Related Candies

1. Snickers Peanut Butter Santas
2. Snickers Rockin’ Nut Road Bar
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