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All Natural

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Sun Cups Dark Chocolate Mint Cups

Sun Cups Dark Chocolate Mint CupsSeth Ellis Chocolatier of Boulder, CO makes an interesting line of candy cups called Sun Cups. They’re nut free, gluten free, use all organic ingredients plus ethically source chocolate, no soy, no peanuts and is Kosher. They do contain dairy.

The first set of products they introduced were sunflower butter cups (hence the name Sun Cups) in milk chocolate and dark chocolate. This cup is accurately described by the name, they’re chocolate cups with a peppermint cream filling. They package is the same size and weight as Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups - 1.5 ounces (so 3/4 of an ounce per cup).

Their most recent addition to the line is their Sun Cups Dark Chocolate Mint Cups.

The packaging is dark and honestly looks a little more foreboding than most mint and chocolate candies I sample. The package is also compostable.

Sun Cups Dark Chocolate Mint Cups

The cups are nicely made, perfectly level and with no cracks, scuffs, blemishes or oozing. The proportions inside the chocolate cups are very nicely done. Unlike some other cups I’ve had where there’s a strange chocolate hump on the bottom of the cup or too much top crust, these are consistent throughout.

The chocolate is crisp and nicely tempered. It’s deep and rich and only barely sweet, in fact, it’s downright bitter compared to the sweet center. The fondant filling is kind of strange. It’s not a smooth gooey sauce like the center of a Junior Mint or the crumbly slightly airy center of a York Peppermint Pattie. It’s soft, though stiff enough that it doesn’t flow. It’s grainy, but in a smooth and consistent way that frosting can be. The color is like turbinado sugar, natural but still clean looking. The filling is made from cream, sugar, peppermint oil and white chocolate. So there’s a light, creamy butter flavor to it along with a clean flavor of peppermint.

The mint doesn’t overpower the dark chocolate. Nothing can overpower the darkness of this chocolate, it has a slight dry bite to it that’s hard to overcome even with what feels like a pure sugar center.

I want to love these and I had no trouble eating both for the review, but I don’t feel like I’ll find myself in the right mood for something so intense again. I’m sure that there are some folks out there who have been longing for a really bitter peppermint pattie experience, so hopefully they’ll find these and keep the product line in business.

Related Candies

  1. Sweet Earth Bittersweet Chocolate Drops & Coffee Caramels
  2. Dark Angell Organic Candy Bar
  3. Tony’s Chocolonely Chocolate Easter Eggs
  4. Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter Cups
  5. Sun Cups
  6. Sweet Earth Chocolate Cups
  7. 3400 Phinney: Fig, Fennel & Almond and Hazelnut Crunch
  8. Theo 3400 Phinney Bars


Name: Dark Chocolate Mint Cups
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Seth Ellis Chocolatier
Place Purchased: Whole Foods (Park La Brea)
Price: $1.59
Size: 1.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 133
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, Fondant, Kosher, Mints, Organic, 7-Worth It, United States, Whole Foods

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:09 pm     All NaturalCandyGreen HalloweenReviewChocolateEthically SourcedKosherMintsOrganic7-Worth ItUnited StatesWhole Foods

Friday, October 28, 2011

Six Kilos of Felchlin Arriba 72% Chocolate

Felchlin Arriba 72% - 72 HourThis is not so much a review as a recounting of an ongoing chocolate Odyssey.

I regularly watch the eBay candy auctions. And when I say regularly, I actually check the pages several times a day during the week. Partly to spy new candy products, partly to find international candies that are hard to get in the US, partly to find deals and partly to squash folks who like to use Candy Blog photos for their auctions without asking.

About a month ago I saw a new auction pop up for someone selling 13.2 pounds of Felchlin Swiss Couverture chocolate coins of Grand Cru Arriba 72% Cocoa (conched 72 hours).

The auction was priced at $95 and included local Los Angeles delivery. I bid. I won.

Felchlin Arriba 72% - 72 Hour

Because it’s for use as an ingredient, it’s packaged modestly. The mini case holds three bags. Each bag is 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds). I pulled out one bag for immediate enjoyment and put the other two, inside the box, into the bottom of my wine fridge. (Okay, I’d probably call it a chocolate fridge, which keeps everything at 58 degrees.)

Felchlin Arriba 72% - 72 Hour

Each little coin is about 3/4 of an inch around and has a set of embossed cacao pods on it. They’re kind of scuffed up, as they come in a bag like chocolate chips. They work as extra large baking chips but function better as eating chocolate. At this writing I am finishing up the first bag. I’ve made one batch of chocolate pudding, one small batch of Chocolate Hazelnut Rocher (meringues from a recipe from Tartine) and the rest has simply been eaten.

The disks fit in the mouth wonderfully, especially if you’re the kind of person who likes to let their chocolate melt. (Put two together to create an oblate spheroid and they’re doubly good.) The flavor is exceptionally well rounded, there is no dominant flavor though I get notes of molasses, honey, coffee and raspberry jam sometimes. 

As noted above, this is a 72 hour conch. Conching is the process of both mixing and grinding chocolate over low heat. The longer the processing the smaller the grain size of the cacao bits and the more emulsified the chocolate becomes. This process varies in time depending on what the cacao is like and the necessities of the final product. It can be anywhere from 24 hours to 100 hours. The grinding part is done with either stones or metal rollers.

This long conch also allows Felchlin to make an uncompromising chocolate without emulsifiers. So all that’s in there is cacao mass, sugar and vanilla. (So if you must avoid soy, try this.) It’s also creamy without cream. (So if you’re a vegan, try this.) It’s made from Criollo beans from the Los Rios area of Ecuador.

Yesterday I mentioned to Coppeneur Chocolate that I loved their Chuao origin. Today they gave me these:

Earlier this year I got to try a great example of how important conching is. When I was in Germany at ISM Cologne, one of my favorite chocolate companies, Coppeneur gave me this box of two chocolate bars. They were both made from highly prized Chuao beans (review of those bars here) but inside this box were two versions - one that was conched 70 hours and one that was conched 100 hours. The difference is quite remarkable. The longer a bar is conched, the silkier it becomes.

What I’ve learned is that I love long conched chocolate. It’s so smooth that the texture itself becomes like a flavor because it’s simply so forward in the experience.

Chocolate by M NonpareilsI’m not sure why the local gal was auctioning the bulk lots of chocolate, but I did find out that she runs a local chocolate catering company called Chocolate by M. She was kind enough to leave me with these huge nonpareils along with the delivery. The photo might make them look small, but they’re huge 3 inch platters of dark chocolate (I don’t know if it’s the same as the Felchlin 72%) with a dense sprinkling of nonpareils on the bottom.

It’s just one easy idea of what I could do with my bevvy of chocolate.

Chocolate by M Nonpareils

Mostly what I think I’m going to do with my chocolate stash though is eat it. It’s incredibly munchable but also exceptionally intense. I’ve found that I can’t make it an evening snack as there are too many caffeine-like compounds in there that keep me up at night. But I’ve found that it’s a great treat during the day while I work, I’ve been keeping a little dish of them on my desk and probably eat about an ounce of them a day. They’re filling and sustaining.

But maybe the last bag will make it to December and I’ll end up making chocolate truffles for Christmas.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:29 pm     All NaturalCandyChocolateSingle Origin9-YummySwitzerlandHighlight

Monday, October 17, 2011

Bissinger’s Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummi Pandas

Bissinger's Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummi PandasBissinger’s now makes six different varieties of gummi bears with exotic flavors and extra vitamin enhancements.

The Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummy Pandas are described on the little gusseted stand up bag as exotic yuzu paired with invigorating ginger and lemon rich in vitamin C.

Like many other Bissinger’s candies, these are quite expensive. Some American made gummis sell for as little as $2.00 a pound (the Albanese World’s Best Gummis at dollar stores) where these are about $16.00 a pound, however, Bissinger’s does offer a bit more in the way of unique flavors and premium ingredients. As part of their naturals line, the Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummy Pandas are made from organic sweetners. They also use all natural ingredients including natural colors and flavors. They’re also advertised as gluten free. The only weird thing in the list was fractionated coconut oil, which is the second to the last item, which means it’s probably the coating that keeps the gummis from sticking together.

Bissinger's Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummi Pandas

They smell quite citrusy, like a combination of key limes and grapefruit. The Yuzu is related to grapefruits and has a definite pomelo note to it, bitter and a little bit on the pine side. The ginger provides a wonderful woodsy and warming note to the cold bitterness of the oily citrus. Lemon kind of mellows it all out.

The gummi texture is soft and bouncy, moist and overall rather sweet and smooth.

I love yuzu, citrus in general and ginger. Plus, these are nicely made gummis. But I’m still not able to love them. Partly because of the price and partly because of the brand. So as a candy taken in a vacuum without any other information, they’re an 8 out of 10, with all the other baggage, they’re barely more than a 6. (Continue reading if you like for more support for that, or just move along to the specs box at the bottom.)

On the whole, my confidence level in Bissinger’s is rather low. I’ve tried contacting them multiple times over the years and got conflicting answers about the gelatin origin and kosher status previously, and in the past month I’ve only gotten a reply to a tweet, neither of my emails with simple questions have been answered.

One of my concerns is with accurate labeling. They sell a variety of foil wrapped hollow “chocolates” around the holidays, including Halloween. They have them on their website and at Whole Food stores, so I’ve seen them in person. I believe that these are not actually made by Bissinger’s, but by Confiserie Riegelein of Germany. (Previous review of their Halloween Chocolate.) Bissinger’s affirms on their website that they use fair trade cocoa. Riegelein will not be fair trade until 2012 and there is no fair trade markings on the package in stores (just mentioned on the website). The biggest issue is that they’re calling this confection chocolate. By US FDA standards, it does not meet the definition because it contains whey, considered a filler ingredient. So it is labeled inaccurately. I’m really surprised that Whole Foods permits this sort of liberal misuse of the word chocolate and the addition of fillers in a product like chocolate. Also, if this is made by Riegelein, it’s made in Germany and there’s no indication of that on the packaging - again other violation of Whole Food’s policies and standard labeling in the United States. Finally, back to the product at hand, the package says Gluten Free and then says it’s packed in a facility that also handles wheat (and eggs, soy, milk, peanuts and tree nuts). So is it gluten free or not?

Related Candies

  1. Tea Forte Minteas Lemongrass Yuzu
  2. Bissinger’s 100 Calorie Bar
  3. Bissinger’s Pink Grapefruit Gummy Pandas
  4. Dr. Doolittle’s Pastilles (Lemon, Grapefruit & Wild Berry)
  5. Candy Dump 2008 part 2
  6. HiCHEW Yuzu & Valencia
  7. Ginger Bears


Name: Lemon Ginger Yuzu Gummy Pandas
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Bissinger’s
Place Purchased: Whole Foods (Park La Brea)
Price: $3.99
Size: 4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 92
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Bissinger's, Gummi Candy, 7-Worth It, United States, Whole Foods

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:47 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewBissinger'sGummi Candy7-Worth ItUnited StatesWhole Foods

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Covered Potato ChipsTrader Joe’s continues its introduction of comfort candies. Recently they released a few licorice items and today I have their new Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Covered Potato Chips.

The package is easy on the eyes, a soft robin’s egg blue and mellow orange-brown. The package shows the product, which is exactly what you’d think from the name: potato chips covered in milk chocolate. The reality of the candy once out of the bag was a bit different, as you’ll see with my pictures.

The ingredients list is short (milk chocolate and potato chips, basically) but sadly enough their list of allergens is long: milk and soy are ingredients but also may contain traces of wheat, egg, peanuts and tree nuts. So this crunchy confection may be off limits to gluten free friends. They are Kosher.

Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

I’ll let Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer do the description here, since they went through so many drafts and have an approval process:

These are thick, ridge-cut potato chips that have been drenched in creamy milk chocolate. Nothing more. Every crunchy bite brings a symphony of flavors and textures that please the palate and bring joy to the world. Or at least to your taste buds. Let’s be frank: this is not health food. This is comfort food, pure and simple. And simply delicious. In the name of “moderation in all things,” we think a moderate amount of Milk Chocolate Covered Potato Chips, at their moderate price of $2.99 for each 6.5 ounce bag, fits right in with a balanced lifestyle.

My chocolate covered potato chips were rarely flat and even more rarely single. Most were big, fused lumps of chips. Some were easy to pull apart but sometimes that meant that the chocolate went with the other piece and I ended up with an open faced chocolate covered chip.

Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

By far the biggest proportion of my bag was made up of folded chips covered in chocolate. This was an interesting predicament, because it meant less chocolate and more chip. They were also messier, as they were more likely to flake off chip bits (or sometimes have other chips within the fold).

The milk chocolate is soft and sweet, very milky and sometimes a little greasy feeling. The chips are thick and have a very strong potato taste to them, they’re crunchy for the most part. There’s a lot of salt taste to the candy, though in reality it’s not that bad at 140 mg per serving. The chocolate is sweet in comparison to the chips, more sweet than it needs to be.

I really wanted to like this, as I’m a huge fan of savory and sweet combinations like chocolate covered pretzels. It could be that the potato chips are just a little too greasy for me along with the fat content of the chocolate itself. I might give them another try, when I think that a different lot is available at my store - maybe I just got the dregs - little pieces that got coated and then stuck together. Or maybe I’ll just stick with chocolate covered pretzels, they’re a tried and true favorite. It’s a real shame that these aren’t gluten free.

Related Candies

  1. Lay’s Wavy Milk Chocolate Potato Chips
  2. Kimmie Sweet & Salty Corn Bits
  3. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Crisps
  4. Trader Joe’s PB & J Bar
  5. Daffin’s Candies Factory & World’s Largest Candy Store
  6. Asher’s Milk Chocolate Covered Things
  7. Maud Borup Potato Chips
  8. Idaho Spud


Name: Milk Chocolate Covered Potato Chips
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Trader Joe’s
Place Purchased: Trader Joe's
Price: $2.99
Size: 6.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 153
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Trader Joe's, Chocolate, Cookie, 7-Worth It, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:38 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewTrader Joe'sChocolateCookieKosher7-Worth ItUnited States

Monday, September 26, 2011

Sweet Earth Bittersweet Chocolate Drops & Coffee Caramels

Sweet Earth Bittersweet Chocolate Drops - Fair Trade & OrganicWhile on vacation on the central coast earlier this month I made my regular stop at Sweet Earth Chocolates in San Luis Obispo to pick up some rations for our vacation rental.

I bought some turtles and some other items for immediate consumption and then a few items to bring back to Los Angeles for review. One item that I sampled in the store is their Fair Trade Certified & Certified Organic Bittersweet Chocolate Drops. Yup, I went on vacation and I brought back a bag of chocolate chips.

It’s 12 ounces of 65% dark chocolate with only three ingredients - organic cacao (liquor, cocoa butter & cocoa powder), organic sugar and organic vanilla.

Sweet Earth Bittersweet Chocolate Drops - Fair Trade & Organic

I love the bag. It’s simple, the same sort of wax lined kraft paper bag with a wire-fold closure that you get fresh roasted coffee beans in. It has the same bean bag heft and satisfying crunch when squeezed.

The pieces are small, some as large as a dime but most the size of a flattened standard baking chocolate chip (2/3 of an inch). The smooth disk shape makes them easy to eat and melt in the mouth, no spiky top.

Sweet Earth Bittersweet Chocolate Drops - Fair Trade & Organic

There’s a light tangy note to the pieces upon melting with a slightly dry finish. It’s much sweeter than I would have expected for a 65% chocolate. The flavors are woodsy and smokey with notes of figs and molasses, they’re on the coffee side of the rich flavors. In fact, the package was sitting on my desk one morning and a co-worker said “Your coffee smells really good today.” I didn’t actually have any coffee, it was the open bag of chocolate that smelled like that. On another day the smell was so distracting, I had to close the package up and put it away.

I’m sure this would be great for baking, hot chocolate or pudding. But I was content to just snack away on them. It was no compromise, in the sense that these were organically grown, fair trade certified and not overpackaged. It was $9.50 for the bag, but for 12 ounces, I thought it was a pretty good deal compared to some of the chocolate bars that I buy for the same price but only get 3.5 ounces.

They’re made without soy or dairy (so they’re vegan) but are processed in a facility that has both.

Sweet Earth Chocolate Coffee CaramelsAs more of a novelty item I tried their new caramels. They’re like gourmet milk duds. I picked out the Coffee Caramel. The little quarter pound bag is very simply done. A cellophane bag sealed with a little twist tie. (They had samples in the store, I tried the orange and chili one and found it a little too spicy for me, so I opted for the coffee.)

Instead of a glossy coating of chocolate on the house-made caramel nibs, these are coated in chocolate and then rolled in cocoa. They’re lumpy and mis-shapen, some are flat and others are rustically spherical.

Sweet Earth Chocolate Coffee Caramels

The chew is smooth and sweet with some good flavors. The primary flavors are woodsy, a combination of the dark chocolate and cocoa coating plus a little note of coffee. The caramel itself is interesting, the toasted and burnt sugar flavors are missing, are are the butter notes, but still it doesn’t end up tasting like syrup. There’s a little note of cinnamon and coconut in there, but that could be my imagination.

As a gourmet Milk Dud, I was happy, though they are certainly more expensive, don’t have quite the shelf life and are kind of messy with the cocoa coating.

I will continue to visit the Sweet Earth Chocolate shops in San Luis Obispo when I’m in the area. It’s easy on and off the 101 if you’re traveling through the area. My previous review of the shop is here (with photos).

UPDATE: Sweet Earth changed the name of their company to Mama Ganache.

Related Candies

  1. Sweet Earth Chocolates
  2. Meiji Pokka Coffee Caramel
  3. Ginger Chews: Hot Coffee
  4. Javaz - Milk & Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
  5. Divine Fair Trade Chocolate
  6. Coffee Nips
  7. Sweet Earth Chocolate Cups
  8. Guittard Akoma Fair Trade Chocolate Chips


Name: 65% Bittersweet Chocolate Drops
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Sweet Earth Chocolates
Place Purchased: Sweet Earth Chocolates (San Luis Obispo)
Price: $9.50
Size: 12 ounces
Calories per ounce: 152
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Sweet Earth Chocolate, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, 9-Yummy, United States


Name: Coffee Caramels
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Sweet Earth Chocolates
Place Purchased: Sweet Earth Chocolates (San Luis Obispo)
Price: $3.00
Size: 4 ounces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Sweet Earth Chocolate, Chocolate, Coffee, Ethically Sourced, 7-Worth It, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:00 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewSweet Earth ChocolateCaramelChocolateCoffeeEthically Sourced7-Worth It9-YummyUnited States

Friday, September 23, 2011

Trader Joe’s Allsorts -a- Licorice

Trader Joe's Allsorts a LicoriceBefore I started Candy Blog there was a rather short but significant list of candies that I had never tried before. One of them was Licorice Allosrts. This is mystifying for regular readers, I’m sure, who already know that I love licorice. But I didn’t quite understand what it was and as Allsorts are often sold in bulk bins, there was no package (or blog) to explain it to me.

Allsorts are various shapes and combinations of licorice mixed together. The most common items within a variety bag would be rockies (cream filled tubes), twists, nibs, sandwiches (layers of licorice with layers of either fondant cream or coconut fondant), buttons (jellies or gummies covered in colorful nonpareils) and possibly licorice flavored mellocreams. 

Trader Joe’s Allsorts -a- Licorice is a very conservative and safe assortment of little licorice shapes, perfect for those who are shy of strong licorice and want to dip their toes into the anise waters.

Trader Joe's Allsorts a Licorice

The bright and moderne fifties style design on the packaging does a decent job of demystifying its contents. It says that it includes a fun and colorful variety of licorice shapes and sizes including sandwiches, tubes and swirls. The ingredients boast that there are no artificial flavors or colors, though as is the case with most licorice, it’s not gluten free and also contains milk and gelatin ingredients. Though there is no coconut in the sandwich creams, there is coconut oil.

The assortment consists of: tubes filled with pink, orange or yellow cream; sandwiches with pink, orange or yellow cream; twisted nibs and licorice wheels. 

Trader Joe's Allsorts a LicoriceWhile they’re glossy and pretty, they’re also soft. So soft that many in my package were lumped together.

The cream element is very soft and though it’s not sticky it does like to stick to the other pieces and gets dented and malformed easily.

They’re made in France, so they’ve had a long trip (but they’re well within their expiry date - good until July 2013).

Trader Joe's Allsorts a Licorice

The texture is soft and chewy without being doughy like some Australian styles can be. It’s also not crumbly or waxy like Twizzlers can get. The addition of gelatin gives it a good bounce and helps it keep its moisture. The licorice flavors are mild. There are some nice bitter molasses notes, it’s sweet and lightly salty and only lightly anise-y. The cream is sweet and only slightly grainy, it’s soft and dissolves quickly, almost like frosting. The flavors are what you’d expect: yellow is sweet lemon, orange is a little bit like orange and pink has a floral strawberry sweetness.

I enjoyed the different shapes, though the sandwich pieces were the least successful because they were so malformed. It was interesting to have a cream licorice sandwich that didn’t have coconut, as so many do. I missed the chocolate flavored cream though, that would have been fun.

Trader Joe's Allsorts a Licorice

I found the mix very munchable. It didn’t really satisfy any deep cravings for licorice, but it was a great snack. As a die hard licorice fan I don’t think I’ll be picking this up, but if you’re looking for something that kids and adults can enjoy together, this has some features that both will appreciate.

Related Candies

  1. Trader Joe’s Candy Coated Licorice
  2. Natural Vines - Black Licorice
  3. Leaf Schoolchalk, Allsorts & Pipes
  4. Black Licorice Twists & Snaps
  5. Bassett’s Licorice Allsorts
  6. Haribo Licorice Wheels

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:19 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewTrader Joe'sLicorice Candy7-Worth ItFrance

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Joycup Co. Peanut Butter Cups

Joycups Box ClosedWhile on vacation I like to seek out hometown goodies. One I’ve been after for at least a year are Joycups which are handmade peanut butter cups made in Cayucos, CA.

I found them at the Baywood/Los Osos Farmer’s Market where Danna J. Dykstra Coy sells them in all sorts of formats. She makes her vegan/gluten free cups from mostly organic ingredients and whenever possible, from locally grown produce. (The chocolate is from Guittard.) For a handcrafted confection, I found them very affordable. The peanut butter cups come in three different sizes. I opted for a box called the JoybittyBox 16 which has the medium sized cups with four each of the four different flavors. I paid $13.00 for my box of goodies, which I thought was pretty fair. I also picked up two of the large sized cups (like a traditional Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup size) for $3.00 for a pair.

Joycups in Box

The cups are tucked into the rather small, unbleached kraft paper box, stacked two deep. There are Traditional Peanut Butter, Olallieberry/Raspberry, Blueberry/Lemon and Local, Raw Honey. The design on the tops of the cups are just decorative, the only way to tell them apart is the color or design on the fluted paper cup.

Joycups Profile

Each little cup is about 3/4 of an inch across on the bottom, which is about the same as a foil wrapped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup miniature. However, the top is like a spilled over, generous muffin top.

The most notable flavor of the set is the Peanut Butter & Olallieberry/Raspberry. The Olallieberry is very popular on the central coast. It’s a curious hybrid berry that’s best illustrated by this genealogical chart on Wikipedia. I’m going to start with that, because all of them effectively tasted like raspberries were somewhere nearby, even if some cups were seedless.

The peanut butter is soft and creamy, not at all dry. The seeds are large and a bit distracting, but at least tell me which variety I’m eating. The chocolate is smooth and creamy and a little cool on the tongue; though dark chocolate, it’s not too dry or intense for the combination. There are a few little crystals of sea salt in there too, which provide a strange little crunch a pop of flavor.

Joycups Assortment of 4

Traditional Peanut Butter lives up to the reputation of a tried and true comfort candy. The creamy chocolate, the salty peanut butter is all just about balanced. If I had any complaint, it was that biting into the pieces was difficult because the tops always smashed the rest of the cup, whether bitten right side up or upside down. If you find there’s too much chocolate for your ratio preference, it’s pretty easy to either pop the top off or nibble around the edges for an added treat.

Peanut Butter & Blueberry/Lemon is fresh tasting, the little hint of zest just gives it a little pop that goes well with the sea salt. The blueberry could easily be mistaken for the scent of the raspberry, as I didn’t notice any actual blueberry bits in this one but the slight note of iced tea was there that I always associate with blueberries.

Peanut Butter & Local, Raw Honey - honestly, I’m not sure which one this is. I tried two that were what I’d call plain. The one I think is the honey cup is much smoother. I didn’t get any honey notes on any of them but there was a buttery, beeswaxy note to it.

Joycups Cross Section

The big issue I had was figuring out what I was eating. The first few I knew what cup color I picked out, but later as there were fewer in the box, they tumbled out of their cups. It would make much more sense if the designs on the top said what they were.

I don’t know if I’d order these via the web, but that’s mostly because I have such issues getting chocolate in good condition in Los Angeles (it’s hot here and every delivery company seems to insist on driving my packages around in a hot vehicle for about 6 hours before delivering, even if it’s an overnight package). If I’m back in the area, I’d definitely find a way to hit the local shops or farmers market that carry these cups. They’re just different enough from the commercial fare and the fact that they’re ethically sourced makes the price tag seem inconsequential.

I’m going to say that these are all natural, however, I’m not certain about the colorings used in the transfer designs on the tops, so if you’re sensitive, ask first.

For the record, as far as the raspberries go, I’m most fond of Black Raspberries.

Related Candies

  1. Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter Cups
  2. Sun Cups
  3. Green & Black’s Peanut Milk Chocolate
  4. Dove Peanut Butter Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate
  5. Dark Chocolate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
  6. Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cluster
  7. Trader Joe’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups
  8. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Line


Name: Joybitty Box
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: The Joycup Co
Place Purchased: Baywood Farmer's Market (Baywood/Los Osos, CA)
Price: $13.00
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Chocolatier, Review, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, Organic, Peanuts, 8-Tasty, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:46 pm     All NaturalCandyChocolatierChocolateEthically SourcedOrganicPeanutsUnited States

Monday, September 5, 2011

Trader Joe’s Candy Coated Licorice

Trader Joe's Candy Coated LicoriceTrader Joe’s has been stepping up their introduction of classic candies lately. They have their gourmet versions of Milk Duds and Dutch Mints. I was quite shocked and delighted to see these Trader Joe’s Candy Coated Licorice a couple of weeks ago.

The box has a great, comforting design on it that conveyed everything I needed to know about the product. It’s licorice, it comes in pastel colors and it’s candy coated. But the really appealing part of this product for many people will be that it’s made without artificial colors or preservatives and contains no animal products. (It is missing the Trader Joe’s vegan symbol though I can’t find anything on the list of ingredients that would be considered non-vegan, except perhaps titanium dioxide, which is neither animal or vegetable, it’s mineral.)

Trader Joe's Candy Coated Licorice

If you were afraid that natural colors would be muted and bland, let me allay that fear. These are bright - a deep purple, bright yellow, brilliant orange and a clean white.

Trader Joe's Candy Coated Licorice

The candies are short little pieces, squat and with all the candy coating, rather rounded. They reminded me a bit of the Wiley Wallaby Outback Beans, made by Kenny’s Licorice. However, these have a few key differences. First, they’re made in Mexico and Kenny’s is made in the USA. Second, the Kenny’s had a rather soft shell to it. The Trader Joe’s Candy Coated Licorice is quite crisp.

Trader Joe's Candy Coated Licorice

The shell is thick and very crunchy. As with many natural or artificial colors, some taste different from others. The purple and orange candies have a light violet floral note to them. Otherwise the candy is all about sweetness, licorice and molasses. The candy shell provides a long, sustained sugar zap while the center is quite soft and has a slightly doughy chew. The molasses is a little bitter, smoky and woodsy. The licorice is light and sweet with a hit of anise as well as a grassy note of fresh fennel.

They’re a lot more affordable than the new Panda Candy Coated Licorice, which is also slightly different as the shells are flavored.

As much as these have going for them, first they’re dirt cheap at 99 cents for a 6 ounce box, I can’t say that they’re my absolute favorite candy coated licorice of all time. For me there’s too much shell and not enough intense licorice flavor. But the texture mixes are balanced very well. I’ve eaten three boxes so far, so these are definitely my go-to munching licorice. But I’d like an Extra Licorice version, maybe that has a little hint of anise in the shell itself.

Related Candies

  1. Panda Candy Coated Licorice
  2. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Mints
  3. Goetze’s Licorice and Double Chocolate Caramel Creams
  4. Trader Joe’s Jelly Beans & Citrus Gum Drops
  5. Wiley Wallaby Outback Beans
  6. Sugar Coated Fennel
  7. Boston Baked Beans
  8. Good & Plenty (Fresh from the Factory)


Name: Candy Coated Licorice
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Trader Joe’s
Place Purchased: Trader Joe's (Laguna Woods)
Price: $.99
Size: 6 ounces
Calories per ounce: 99
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Trader Joe's, Kosher, Licorice Candy, 7-Worth It, Mexico

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:04 am     All NaturalCandyReviewTrader Joe'sKosherLicorice Candy7-Worth ItMexico

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