Russell Stover makes so many chocolate eggs, it’s taken me more than three years to get through them. (Well, I tasted all of them, I haven’t necessarily photographed & reviewed them all yet.)

The Russell Stover Truffle Egg is a rather small one compared to the other whipped center eggs. Still it clocks in at a full ounce, so it’s just very dense.

It’s a molded egg with a shiny, rippled milk chocolate shell and a milk chocolate truffle interior.

It smells like a decent rich milk chocolate. Sweet and with some hints of vanilla and milky cocoa.

The bite of the shell is good and crisp. The center is soft and fudgy, but not the slightest bit grainy ... though it’s not quite a silky melt.

The immediate flavor I got was not of chocolate but of rum. It’s a bit sweet but also has a little salt to it.

Looking over the ingredients, I was expecting tropical oils and hydrogenated fats, but instead it was pretty clean:

Milk Chocolate (sugar, whole milk, cocoa butter, chocolate, soy lecithin & vanillin), whole milk, natural flavor, salt and invertase.

It’s very rich and rather satisfying, so much so that a single egg was more than enough for me (though it only clocks in at 140 calories, so it’s not even as fatty as some other real chocolate candy bars).

Rating: 7 out of 10

The Russell Stover Caramel Egg is also on the small side. This one is a squat little buddy with perhaps too much packaging around it.

It smells milky and malty.

The bit is smooth, the milk chocolate shell flakes only a little bit. The caramel is soft and has a slight chew to it, but for the most part is more on the saucy side (though it’s thick enough that when I left the half of it sitting for a while, the center didn’t ooze out).

The caramel is satiny smooth, no hint of grain at all. The toasted and boiled sugar flavors aren’t pronounced, nor is the butter, but the overall dark sugar notes are there and go well with the sweet milk chocolate.

As I’ve mentioned before, I prefer a stiffer caramel chew, but this was enjoyable and actually more appetizing to me than a Cadbury Caramello or Cadbury Caramel Egg.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Another set of eggs that I haven’t included on the blog specifically in this ovoid shape are the Marshmallow Egg and the Chocolate Marshmallow Egg.

The have other shapes for different holidays. Just a couple of weeks ago I reviewed the Russell Stover Marshmallow Rabbits. They’re available for Halloween as a Pumpkin (also in orange flavor), a Valentine’s Heart and these eggs come back as Footballs in the Autumn/Winter.

The nice thing about this version is that it’s an actual portion. The Rabbits are a bit big for one sitting, unless you’re voraciously hungry or sharing. And they’re bound to be around at deep discount after the holiday. But eat them quick ... I’ve found that the marshmallow items don’t keep as well as the Coconut Eggs.

Previous Reviews:

2008 - Creme Eggs (like Cadbury Creme Eggs):

2007 - Russell Stover Eggs

2006 - Russell Stover Cream Eggs

I think the only ones I’m missing in review are the Vanilla Cream Egg and the Chocolate Brownie Egg. I haven’t seen them this year at the stores I frequent.  But that means there’s something to look forward to next year.

Related Candies

1. Elmer’s Dark Chocolate Heavenly Hash & Gold Brick Eggs
2. Nestle Creme Eggs
3. Lindt Lindor Truffle Eggs
4. Princess Marshmallow Eggs
5. See’s Egg Quartet
6. Kinder Egg

I picked up this package of Necco Paas Gummi Baby Bunnies at the Dollar Tree. I was a bit miffed even before I purchased it. As you can see from the photo, the bag is mostly empty. The product takes up, at most, a third of the bag ... though I have to say it did weigh a hefty nine ounces, which is a generous amount of candy for a buck. (The back of the package says “this product is packed by weight”, which I’m guessing means they’ve gotten some comments.)

The package design is rather lame. The illustration of the Easter Bunny with his basket of baby bunnies isn’t really very contemporary, and I don’t even know what’s going on with the yellow fluffy duck with red hiking boots in the background.

The package promises gummi bunny shaped candies in six creamy flavors. I’m accustomed to transparent gummis, these are opaque, but also apparently creamy.

All my other confusion and miffed-ness aside, these were a pleasant surprise.

These juvenile lagomorph confections are a little bigger than a gummi bear, clocking in at about one inch high. They’re soft opaque colors, matte and a little milky looking. The bag smells a bit like marshmallows and maybe a hint of circus peanuts.

Though the name says they’re gummis, they’re really not. There’s no gelatin in there (so I guess they’re vegan as long as you’re happy to eat modified corn starch, partially hydrogenated coconut oil and titanium dioxide). They look like mellocremes (fondant like Candy Corn), but they’re much smoother than that. They’re firm but give easily when bitten, not as sticky as a gumdrop, not as hard a Jujyfruits.

Banana - Yellow - I think this is the one that overpowers the bag. It’s a plastic-like fingernail polish flavor that wafts like some sort of VOC emission from an auto body shop. Still, I rather liked them, because I like fake bananas even though they made my lungs hurt.

Orange - Orange - rather like the lime one, the orange flavor is quite subtle. Reminds me of a creamsicle, or maybe the distant memory of the last creamsicle I ate about three years ago.

Cherry - Hot Pink - when I looked at this, I wasn’t scared of the cherry flavor, I was immediately turned off at the thought of all that Red 40 dye. The cherry flavor is stronger than the other flavors in the set. Then there’s a bitter component that I find pretty off-putting even if the cherry was rather nice.

Grape - Lavender - this was a baffling little rabbit. It tasted like the only one with a bit of a tangy bite, kind of like yogurt. But the grape flavor was barely there. It also had a bit of a bitter aftertaste.

Marshmallow - White - a rather believable toasted vanilla flavor. Smooth chew ... these are kind of what I’d always hoped Bunny Basket Eggs would be like.

Lime - Green - mellow lime flavor that lingers for a while, a bit of vanilla and it’s definitely smooth. A little bitter aftertaste.

They candies are soft and dry to the touch, so throwing them in the Easter grass out of the packaging like jelly beans is a decent option. They’re also cute enough to display in a jar or dish. (Really, anything is better than leaving in the lackluster package.)

Overall, I had no problem eating whatever I drew out of the bag, instead of picking through. (Though when given the opportunity, I threw the grape and cherry back.) The chew is soft and pleasant, not too sweet. They did tend to stick to my teeth, but not as much as something like Dots. They’re definitely worth the dollar I paid for them, but I really urge Necco to make the bag smaller by half, if only to save themselves some space & plastic costs.

Related Candies

1. Easter Novelty Toys (with candy)
2. Peeps Chick & Bunny Candy
3. Kisses Coconut Creme
4. Peeps Mash Ups
5. Jelly Belly Deluxe Easter Mix
6. Peeps Lollipop Rings

It used to be that only Black Licorice jelly beans were sold in single flavor bags. Then Jelly Belly came along and let folks pick out just their favorite flavor and the whole world of jelly beans changed. But other than the gourmet beans, it still seemed like pre-packaged single flavors were pretty rare.

This year, as I was looking at the shelves at the drug store and grocery aisle, I was pleased to see so many different jelly bean flavor singles. (Gimbal’s also had color mixes that I might try to pick up on sale after Easter.)

Last year Nestle introduced the Nerds Bumpy Jelly Beans, this year I found a new jelly bean version of one of their classic candies, the Spree Jelly Beans.

What pleased me even more than the new product was that I could just buy the lemon ones. I found these only at Ralph’s (grocery chain) this year, not at any of my other regular Easter candy aisles. They also come in Green Apple (light green) and Cherry (pink).

The first thing I noticed about these beans was that they seemed more opaque. In fact, completely opaque. No vague translucence here. The second thing I noticed was that they’re very smooth and have no “bottom” to them like most beans.

The ingredients say dextrose first. Most jelly beans start with sugar (a disaccharide, dextrose is a monosaccharide which is also known as glucose). Dextrose is what Sprees are made of! (As well as most “chalk” candies.)

On the tongue the flavor is mild and slightly cool. Dextrose is a little lighter sweetness than sucrose. The shell dissolves pretty quickly but it’s definitely different from the usual jelly bean shell. It’s not grainy except at the margin between the jelly center and the shell.

The flavor is a very mild sweet lemon at first, then there’s a little burst of tangy flavor at the edge of the shell and center. However, it wasn’t consistent. Every once in a while I’d run across a bean that had a really good Lemonhead burst to it, but most were much milder. I’d say most failed on the Spree motto of a kick in the mouth, which is too bad, because when they got their kicks in, they were definitely sizzling.

The crunch of the shell, if I chewed them up, wasn’t quite M&Ms style or as thick as the Nerds Jelly Beans, but still closer to that than a traditional jelly bean. The centers were basically flavorless, but a smooth and firm jelly.

On the whole, these were a very nice changeup from a regular jelly bean. They’re not quite as fun as the Nerds version, but the fact that they come in the pretty standup bags in specific flavors sets them apart. But they are a bit more expensive than regular beans. I got these on sale for $2, which I still thought was a bit high for seven ounces of sugar candy.

I spend a lot of time on Candy Blog looking for and reviewing the newest candies.

That’s kind of sad for the oldest candies.

Today I’ve got Candy Coated Fennel Seeds. From reading Sweets: A History of Candy by Tim Richardson, some of the first candies are still produced today. Those are the panned nuts and seeds.

The process is simple, a syrup of liquid sugar is drizzled over a bit that forms the center (in this case a fennel seed). After each layer dries, another is added. The most famous version of this is the Anis de l’Abbaye Flavigny, which creates a huge peanut sized pastille. In this instance the fennel seeds are coated with a little crunchy shell, like an M&M without the chocolate.

This variety is made by Al-Karawan based in Amman, Jordan (you know, Jordan, the place they named Jordan Almonds after). My mother picked it up for me at her local deli.

The summer before I went off to college I worked at an herb shop where I packaged up bulk products, including a version of this. I admit that I would sneak a spoonful when doing the little baggies. I might add that fennel is supposed to be a digestive aid, easing indigestion and suppressing appetite. It also freshens the breath. I usually see this stuff at Indian restaurants where you usually encounter a bowl of mints.

The colors are bright pastels: pink, green, yellow, blue and lavender. The size of the pieces varies greatly, some are tiny little spheres (with nothing inside) and others are the size of sunflower seeds.

The bag smells sweet and like a light anise. For those who are familiar with fennel, it does have a distinct, fresh anise flavor to it (licorice).

The sugar coating is sweet and crunchy and gives way to the seeds pretty quickly. The seeds are soft and fibrous for the most part. They have a light fresh flavor to them, soft anise mixed with some woodsy notes of beets, vanilla and root beer.

It’s kind of an odd candy. I find it very refreshing, though not terribly filling. It’s certainly pretty. For something exotic, it’s not that expensive (this bag had a price tag of 99 cents on it) for four ounces. For the most part it’s well made, but the bottom of my bag did contain a bunch of little bits that either didn’t get the full color treatment or were just single candy layered on a thread of fennel instead of a full seed. A little sifting might have eliminated that.

Al-Karawan lists Sugar Coated Cardamom on their site, now that sounds like something I’d like! The panning process is used on lots of other unlikely foodstuffs as well, like chick peas (garbanzos) and more traditional ones like almonds & pistachios.

Related Candies

1. New Flavors: Skittles Sour & Wonka Runts
2. 3400 Phinney: Fig, Fennel & Almond and Hazelnut Crunch
3. Romanego Dragees, Cordials & Fondants
4. Confetti & Agrumetti
5. Sugar Babies
6. Gold Mine Gum
7. Anis de Flavigny
8. Treat Trip: Jelly Belly Factory

When thinking of a premium bean my mind usually goes to coffee or chocolate or perhaps if I’m particularly hungry, heirloom beans like Anasazi. Very low on that list are Pectin Jelly Beans.

Jelly Beans are a rather simple sounding candy but are rather complex to make. They start with a boiled sugar, syrup and gelling agent mixture. Historically pectin was the gelling agent of choice. Pectin is a soluble fiber originally made from apple pomace (the stuff left over after pressing apples for juice) and later citrus rinds, it was easily available and previously regarded as a waste product.

Later, I’m not sure when as I’m not really a jelly bean historian, corn starch became more common for jelly beans (probably because corn products are so ridiculously cheap). But corn starch, as the name implies, is a starch, so it’s a carbohydrate. While corn starch may have taken over the jelly bean, at least it left our jellies & jams alone.

There are a lot of fans of pectin beans, though. They’re adamant that pectin makes the best kind of jelly bean. Smoother, milder and soothing. But pectin beans are becoming rather hard to find. I know of three brands at the moment: Jelly Belly (a special assortment, not their regular Jelly Belly), Brach’s (Peacock Eggs) and Russell Stover. I’ve been scouring the aisles of the drug stores & grocery chains and found this Russell Stover Pectin Jelly Bean mix.

They were a bit on the pricey side, on sale for $2.50 for a 12 ounce bag. As far as I could tell when purchasing them, they’re a fruit assortment. The package didn’t say what the flavors were. It also said “Made for Russell Stover” on the package, so they may be made by Jelly Belly or Brach’s for all I know. (But they’re not Kosher.)

They are big, beautiful, shiny beans. They’re about three quarters of an inch long (a Jelly Belly is about a half an inch), almost rod shaped.

I found nine flavors in the package:

My assortment seemed to be very heavy on the red and green.

Overall, I appreciated the mild flavor, consistent & smooth texture and ability to keep eating them without feeling full or regretful. The fruit flavor array wasn’t the best match for my sensibilities though. The only flavors I really liked were the orange and strawberry, though since they were so bland I found that I could eat any of them. I understand the appeal of these over a corn starch bean, which seem sickly sweet and sticky by comparison.

I really need to find these in the traditional spice flavors (besides the Hot Tamales Spice Beans I tried last year). Anyone have any suggestions of brands?

Related Candies

1. Loukoumi Artisan Confections
2. Wonka Nerds Jelly Beans
3. Blueberry Hill Spice Jelly Beans
4. SweeTart Jelly Beans
5. Starburst and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
6. Jelly Belly - Full Line

From time to time candy formulas change enough that I think the product deserves a re-evaluation.

Skittles Sour have shifted their flavor array. Originally Sour Skittles were just a sour dusted version of the Fruit Skittles in Strawberry, Orange, Lemon, Grape and Lime.

Somewhere along the way they dumped the Lime in favor of Blue Raspberry (which is a bit odd, considering that limes are the only other naturally super sour fruit besides lemon). I reviewed this version back in 2007.

The newest version of Skittles features two new flavors: Green Apple and Watermelon. They’re subbing in for Orange and Grape.

So the new version is: Lemon, Strawberry, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon and Green Apple.

I think the addition of Green Apple is a natural evolution. It’s not one of my ideal flavors but really lends itself to a super-tangy version like this. The flavor was completely artificial, like some sort of off-gassing of some fresh plastic product, but that’s not necessarily a turnoff when it comes to ultra-artificial candies like Skittles.

The Watermelon is one of those bees in my bonnet. Unripe watermelon isn’t even sour, it’s just a different texture and lacking in sweetness ... it’s not like an unripe apple or strawberry. In this instance is a fake watermelon with a super burning blast of sour powder. It reminded me, though, of salty watermelon because of the sharp shock to the tongue.

Sour Skittles have their fanatical following, so I think it’s important for Skittles to cater to them. In my ideal candy world, the Sour Skittles would be more like the Crazy Cores, with a non-powdery shell that has the super tart blast and then the nicely flavored chew center. They’re really messy and even sealed packages are dusty and leave a sour residue on my fingers before I’ve even opened it. For me, I really only love the lemon one, so it’s not worth it for me to buy them.

Rating: 6 out of 10

The other new tweak on the market is Wonka Runts which seems to change their flavors about every 18 months lately. (Here’s my last review from March 2008.)

When originally introduced in 1982 Runts were Banana, Orange, Lime, Cherry and Strawberry. Each candy was shaped in some way like the fruit they were flavored for. Bananas are banana shaped, Oranges were little spheres, Strawberries were hearts, Limes were footballs and so on.

Then in the 90s instead of just a single substitution, Lime was removed and two new flavors were added, Watermelon and Blue Raspberry. Sometime in late 2007 there was a shift again and Watermelon, Cherry and Blue Raspberry left in favor of the more tropical Mango (a large football) and Pineapple (actually pineapple shaped!). I really liked the pineapple but many folks complained not only about the loss of their favorite flavors over the years, but also that the color variation was very citrusy.

So early this year I spotted the newest change.

Runts are now: Green Apple, Grape, Strawberry, Orange and Banana.

I was pretty excited about the Grape. They’re a big ovoid, I think the same mold as the Mango was. They’re extremely purple, but have that great fake grape flavor of SweeTarts or Spree.

The Green Apple is okay, but the addition of this flavor to the mix along with Grape makes this very similar to SweeTarts (though Banana still keeps these closer to the long-gone Wacky Wafers).

After munching on these for several days (it was a big 7 ounce box) I’m left with only the Green Apple ones, which aren’t bad so much as they were just more prevalent in my mix. (I really could have used more Orange and Grape.)

Of the two candies, simply because I bought this theater box at the Dollar Tree, it’s a really good deal - 7 ounces of candy for a buck, versus the 80 cents or so for the Skittles.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Related Candies

1. Skittles Crazy Cores
2. Gobstopper Heart Breakers
3. Skittles Chocolate Mix
4. Skittles (Fruits, Wild Berry, Tropical, Smoothies & Sour)
5. Runts Freckled Eggs
6. HiCHEW Assortment
7. SweeTarts: Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies (2006)

Easter is all about eggs. It’s all about making classic candies available in the format of little ovoids.

Brach’s Robin Eggs are a beautiful version of this. They’re simply a solid milk chocolate egg covered in a crunchy candy shell. They’re light blue, about one inch long and speckled to look like a real robin egg.

I found mine on sale at Long’s for only $1.99 for the 7.5 ounce bag.

Upon opening the bag I found that they smelled a lot like most other sweet Easter candies - like sugar & milk, fake vanilla & cereal. Not much chocolate scent, but then again, a candy shell can do a good job of sealing in the chocolate goodness.

The ingredients didn’t really give me a lot of confidence though.

Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Chocolate Liquor, Soy Lecithin, Vanillin), Sugar, Corn Syrup, Modified Food Starch, Artificial Colors, Artificial Flavor, Carnauba Wax, Confectioner’s Glaze, White Mineral Oil, Beeswax.

Mostly what I was disappointed about was how far down on the list of the chocolate ingredients the actual chocolate liquor was. But cocoa butter being ahead of milk (and whole milk at that) had me intrigued.

The shell is nice and crunchy, with a good snap to it. The chocolate inside is immediately sweet and has a slight nutty flavor to it, like peanuts or sunflower seeds. The melt of the chocolate is a bit grainy, as milk chocolate can often have that fudgy grain and this obviously has a lot of milk in it.

But it lacked a chocolate punch. I’m not saying that I didn’t find them edible and interesting, certainly better than the fake chocolate in the Whoppers Robin Eggs (made by Hershey’s) that I’ve been chowing down on for the past week.

My guess immediately was that I was expecting something else. And part of that is that my ideal egg-shaped candy shelled chocolate candy is the Hershey’s Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs (original review).

As harsh as I am on Hershey’s as a brand, part of it is because I love some of the products so much.

So I picked up some of the Hershey’s Eggs, not just for this comparison but also to give them a check since Hershey’s has been mucking around with so many of their formulas & packaging.

The package is redesigned from the previous shoot that I did. I can’t say that it’s better, but at least they’ve finally given the candy a name. (Before they were just Hershey’s Eggs, but so were the foil wrapped eggs.)

The Hershey’s Eggs are smaller than the Robin Eggs. According to the packages a single Hershey’s Egg weighs about 6.33 grams and a single Robin Egg weighs 8.60 grams.

The Hershey’s Eggs obviously come in an array of solid pastels and the Brach’s Robin Eggs are this blue with speckles.

In the package the Hershey’s Eggs smell like Kisses, a tangy, fudgy aroma. The Brach’s Robin Eggs don’t give away their chocolate insides.

Given a choice between the two, I’m going to have to go with the Hershey’s. The Brach’s just lack a distinct & pleasing flavor to them. I think they’re lovely, and the aesthetics of them certainly tips in their favor. The price is good, there are also certainly folks who would wish to purchase from someone other than Hershey’s at this time with the backlash over the Mexican move of some of the manufacturing. (The Eggs are still made in the US.) However the Brach’s Robin Eggs are made in the US and Canada.

I think it all goes to personal taste at this point. There are a few options for this type of candy (though Mars stopped making the Mega M&Ms which were rather close in size to the Hershey Eggs) so go with what you like.

Related Candies

1. Godiva Easter Eggs
2. Brach’s Fiesta Eggs
3. Runts Freckled Eggs
4. See’s Scotchmallow Eggs
5. Cadbury Royal Dark Mini Eggs
6. Brachs Bunny Basket Eggs
7. Cadbury Mini Eggs

One of my favorite booths to visit at any food show is Melville Candy Company. Not only is their candy pretty, the guys that run the company are always really enthusiastic and seem to really love the products they make. (Which is what we all expect from folks who work in candy, but you’d be surprised at some attitudes I’ve run across.)

There’s always someone at the aisle handing out Honey Spoons (so I always have a stash at home). The spoon line at Melville’s is expanding. They have their honey varieties, and the flavored spoons and now they’re making actual tea spoons.

This spoon is a mix of tea and sugar and, I think, honey.

It can be eaten as is or mulled in some hot water to create a beverage! Instead of being an “instant tea” though, there are actual tea leaves in there.

Even though it looks a little weird, I found this to be a really tasty combination. Like a cup of sweet tea. The dark brewed flavors & tannins were there along with the light malty taste of honey.

The second variety I picked up was the Jasmine Green Tea Spoon. This opaque spoon is dark green with a strong freshly mowed lawn scent.

Though I prefer eating my candy, I decided to see what it would be like to make this into a beverage, as it’s actually designed to do. So I made up a cup of hot water and popped in the Jasmine Green Tea Spoon.

(Well, actually, I tasted the spoon first. It was sweet, terribly bitter and very grassy tasting, just like matcha powder.)

I let it melt for a while and then pulled out the spoon. It’d gotten stuck to the bottom of the cup and made a long, soft string of hard candy. It was fun to bend around and then stir into the hot water. It turned the water green pretty quickly, too.

I left it alone for five minutes and then stirred well again to get the pictured version here.

It smells quite grassy, a lot like henna or wet hay.

I found the beverage was far too sweet for me, but I’m also not a fan of sweetening my tea or chai lattes.

As a lollipop though it was a quite a refreshing change from the normal lemon & cherry variety.

They’re not featured on the Melville website just yet. But there are some other fun items that I saw at the show but haven’t tried yet that I thought I’d mention:

Melville’s has really been thinking outside the box lately. Though their honey spoons collections are expensive, they are unique and come in a huge variety of honey types & with added flavorings.

Their other new products include tea spoons made with real cinnamon sticks, for extra flavor.

The most innovative (and perhaps silliest) is their line of Cereal Flavoring Spoons. They come in Apple Cinnamon and Cinnamon & Sugar. I’m guessing if you’re not eating already-sweetened cereal, this is no worse than spoonfuls of sugar or honey. (I do like a heaping pile of lumps of brown sugar in my hot cereal.) Eating from a spoon made of sugar would mean sweetness & flavor in every bite, especially with a real cinnamon stick for a handle.

They’re still a bit expensive, but small batch candy often is. They’re not the kind of treat I’d buy often, but definitely a fun thing for guests or when you travel.

Related Candies

1. Bit-O-Honey
2. Jelly Belly: Lollibeans
3. Charleston Pralines
4. Hanahiyori - Green Tea White Chocolates
5. Hard Candy: Juntsuyu
6. Artisan Marshmallows: Plush Puffs