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Thursday, May 7, 2009

Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled Twists

Twizzlers Sweet & Sour TwistsIt feels like I’m reviewing a lot of Hershey’s products lately: Thingamajig, Good n Fiery, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Peanuts, Dark Chocolate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Reese’s Select Cremes. But they’re putting them out and I’ve gotta try everything at least once.

I passed this by more than once (Candy For Dinner always seems to find new products first) mostly because I wasn’t in the mood: Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled Twists. But when the weather gets warmer, I seem to crave tangy.

They seemed a bit like the now discontinued SweeTarts Rope or a long version of the Twizzlers Twerpz.

Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled Twists

I bought them in a long “bar” format that has four twists, two of each flavor: Cherry Kick! and Citrus Punch!

The twists are clean & shiny, like they’re made of vinyl. They’re similar to the Twizzlers Rainbow Twists, but I think these are just a little larger in diameter or at least not dried and stiff.

Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled TwistsEach rope is five inches long and about a half an ounce ... they feel much heavier and denser than a regular fruit licorice rope.

Of course, I gravitated towards the Citrus Punch! first. The yellow and red twists reminded me more of mustard and ketchup than lemon and cherry, but I still admit that they were glossy and appealing.

The bite is much softer than the regular Twizzlers, less like biting into some sort of extruded & dried acrylic paint. The gooey filling is soft and has a texture of buttercream frosting. It has an immediate tangy pop and a good mix of flavors, both citrus zest and the tartness. It reminded me of a fresh lemon tart.

Next up was the Cherry Kick! which I resisted. It’s lighter in color from the deep red & berry flavored Twizzlers. The texture is identical to the citrus package mate. The licorice twist is soft and chewy and has a mild sweet flavor. Then the soft center popped in with a very strong note of woodsy black cherry, cough syrup and artificial flavorings. As far as I was concerned, there are a lot of folks who are going to like the play of the mild chewy outside and the intense flavor of the inside.

I really just want to buy the Citrus by itself, perhaps I can pick them out if they package them in individual ropes for Halloween or something.

Related Candies

  1. Leaf Schoolchalk, Allsorts & Pipes
  2. Topps Blue Razz Wazoo
  3. Twizzlers (Strawberry)
  4. Shockers Squeez
  5. Rolly Pop
  6. Fazer Lemon Lakritsi
Name: Twizzlers Sweet and Sour Filled Twists
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Y&S Candies (Hershey's)
Place Purchased: Target (Burbank)
Price: $.79
Size: 1.9 ounces
Calories per ounce: 95
Categories: Chew, United States, Hershey's, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:35 pm    

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Reese’s Select Cremes

Reese's Select Peanut Butter CremesThe Reese’s Select line has finally expanded beyond the initial offering of the Reese’s Select Cluster which launched in early 2008.

I spotted these new Reese’s Select Peanut Butter Cremes at Target over the weekend. They sport no banner that says “new” but they certainly weren’t there last month.

The 8 ounce bag is long and sturdy and kind of oddly puffed up. I assumed this was to protect the candy inside from getting smashed. (And air is pretty cost effective.) Inside are approximately 18 little individually wrapped pieces.

Reese's Select Peanut Butter CremesThe description on the bag says Smooth, Creamy Peanut Butter covered in Rich Milk Chocolate. I expected peanut butter meltaways.

The pieces are about 1.5” inches square, slightly domed (a full 1 inch high). They have a little R medallion molded on the top for Reese’s.

I had a little trouble with the integrity of a few pieces. I thought I chose my bag well and was careful bringing it home, yet two of the pieces that I ate (I consumed about half the package) were smashed completely.

Aside from that, the little individual wrappers are sturdy and feature full ingredients info (many individually wrapped Hershey’s items do not).

Reese's Select Peanut Butter Cremes

The little pieces smell of sweet peanut butter.

The bite is interesting, the chocolate shell, though soft, is thick enough to give a big burst of chocolate texture and slight dairy taste immediately. The melt is smooth and rather silky. The center is not at all like a meltaway - this is a full on gooey cream. (Spreadable like room temperature butter.)

At first I was taken aback because I found it extremely salty. But it did balance the sweet milk chocolate well. The texture combination and the rounded flavors gives these pieces well earned decadence points.

In case you were curious, the ingredients are:

Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk, chocolate, milk fat, soy lecithin, vanilla beans), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, less than 2% salt, partially hydrogenated palm oil, cornstarch, PGPR, soy lecithin, TBHQ, natural flavor.

The sodium content isn’t as extreme as it tastes. It’s 95 mg for 36 gram serving, which is actually less proportionally than regular Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

These are not made in Mexico, like the Clusters, and these are also Kosher.

Overall, an interesting addition to the Reese’s line, a smoother melt and much higher quality than I expected. I enjoyed them quite a bit, and found that everyone else in the office did. Perhaps an 8 ounce bag isn’t big enough?

Related Candies

  1. Reese’s Enigma & Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Eggs
  2. Malley’s Chocolates
  3. Hershey’s Bliss
  4. Reese’s Pieces
  5. Choxies in Boxies
  6. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Line
Name: Reese's Select Peanut Butter Cremes
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Reese's (Hershey's)
Place Purchased: Target (Burbank)
Price: $3.49
Size: 8 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Categories: Chocolate, Peanuts, United States, Hershey's, Reese's, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:16 am    

Monday, May 4, 2009

Dark Chocolate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Dark Chocolate Reese's DarkThe Dark Chocolate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have finally returned as a regular product (teased here in CandyForums.net).

Dark chocolate Reese’s come and go from Hershey’s. Last summer they were a limited edition product as a tie in with the Batman: The Dark Knight movie.

The new package design is different enough that I was able to spot them from the next checkout aisle at Target (though I definitely have candy-vision) on Saturday.

I have to say that the wrapper is rather spare, though bold. As someone who has to look at design pretty often in her day job, I wasn’t really pleased with the mix of fonts. (The script logo, the italic san serif “dark chocolate” and then the regular san serif of the “2 peanut butter cups” and weight info ... but then the use of black outline on white in a serif font for “dark” feels like an afterthought.)

image

But enough of this judging a book by its cover. It’s what’s inside that matters, right?

So what does the package say is inside?

Semi-Sweet Chocolate (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin, vanillin, artificial flavor, PGPR, milk), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, salt, TBHQ.

Okay, so it’s not really dark chocolate, it’s dark chocolate with some milk fats ... not that big of a deal. It’s pretty common in mass-marketed semi sweet chocolate candies. 

Reese's DarkThe encouraging part is that these cups are full sized. When Mars makes a limited edition or dark chocolate version of a milk chocolate product, they have a tendency to make it smaller. This package is 1.5 ounces, the standard these days for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup two packs.

Each 3/4 of an ounce cup is lovely to behold. Satiny smooth with lightly fluted sides. It may be that these were fresh (as it’s a new product) but there was no little oily pool on the top of the chocolate.

They smell very dark - like deeply roasted nuts and woodsy charcoal.

Like most other Reese’s products, the chocolate is a very soft bite. The dark chocolate, though it lists sugar as the first ingredient, is not at all sweet. The first impression I get is bitterness - a nutty toasted bitterness that goes well with the deep peanut flavors.

The salty hit from the crumbly & grainy peanut butter went well against the creamy chocolate. It has a nice melt without the fudgy grain that the classic milk chocolate has.

Overall, this is a winner. I can see craving these in the evening (I usually don’t want super-sweet after dinner) and keeping the Reese’s Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups for daylight hours (afternoon pick-me-up).

They also come in the little foil-wrapped miniatures, but Target didn’t seem to have those in stock yet. If you’ve tried though (they were also available about three years ago), let me know how they are.

Related Candies

  1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Bar
  2. Reese’s Select Clusters
  3. Reese’s Whipps
  4. Factory Fresh Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
  5. Reese’s Crispy Crunchy Bar
  6. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Line
Name: Dark Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey's
Place Purchased: Target (Burbank)
Price: $.69 each
Size: 1.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: Chocolate, Peanuts, United States, Hershey's, Reese's, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:31 am    

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Hammond’s All Natural Lollipops

Hammond's All Natural LollipopsThey say we eat with our eyes first. If there’s one candy that capitalizes on our attraction to bright and shiny things, it has to be lollipops.

I love lollipops in the sense that I love looking at them, I like buying them and I enjoying having them. But I’d have to guess that I only eat about half of the lollipops I ever have.

Part of it is that lollipops are simply hard candy. And I’m pretty sure that most people don’t actually like hard candy ... in the sense that they’d be willing to pay three times as much for it simply because it includes an inedible holder with it. But this is part of the amazing enigma of lollipops.

Hammond's All Natural Lollipops

If I were a sculptor, I would probably wish to make things of spun, twisted & boiled sugar.

If I were to have my wedding all over again today, I’d probably just carry a bunch of lollipops instead of a bouquet of flowers. (Or maybe some of those wondrous flowers made from sugar.)

At the moment though I just take photos of lollipops when I get a hold of them.

Today, however, I’m also eating them.

I have a set of Hammond’s Candies All Natural Lollipops.

They’re made without artificial flavors or colors and are hand crafted. They come in a variety of flavors, I have six that I’m going to profile

These are the middle-sized pops - they’re one ounce each and about two to two and a half inches across. (Honestly, I think some of these were more than generously oversized.)

Hammond's All Natural Lollipops

The pops feature thick wooden sticks and are wrapped simply in little cellophane bags with a sticker on the back that lists the flavor, ingredients & nutritional info. The front is all about the look of these hand-crafted medallions.

Cross Section of Strawberry LollipopStrawberry - magenta/red background with orange & cream stripes. (cross section above of broken pop)

The ropes of candy are built in layers, at the center is a slightly aerated hard candy center. The outer layers are smooth and for the most part “clear” boiled sugar candy. The slight aeration of the core means that it’s very easy to crunch & chew it up and has no noticeable voids. It also means the the candy has a slightly lighter feel to it than I think I would have guessed just looking at it.

The flavor is light and bright - a touch of tartness but mostly a floral berry flavor like cotton candy.

Pomegranate - satiny cream background with pink/red stripes.

This had a very light floral flavor at first, all sweetness on the outside. The core, though, has a bit of a yogurty tang to it and a mellow cherry flavor with a stronger pop of sourness towards the end. It’s not a very intense flavor - just a light and rather nondescript berry note. It’s more like a fruit punch and is an overall positive.

Hammond's Cherry LollipopCherry - alternating large stripes of bright pink and medium red with a small strip of cream between.

This was a big test for me, because for the most part I don’t like cherry flavored candies because I don’t like the aftertaste of the most commonly used red food coloring, Red 40.

The outside was sweet and has a little toasted sugar flavor to it. The interior has a nice, zesty sour pop to it along with the cherry flavor. It’s not the dark, black cherry flavor - more like a cherry pie note. I’d call it positive and definitely has no weird poisonous aftertaste. Call it a win for cherry haters.

Peppermint - deep red with a series of amber stripes inside cream bands.

The coloring on this one wasn’t what I would have picked out of the bunch as the mint flavored one.

The mint flavor is clean and crisp - fresh and cooling with a long-lasting aftertaste. The texture of the candy is a little odd at first. The outside is smooth and with few voids, but can be kind of sharp if you break or crunch it.

Hammond's Pear Lollipop
Pear - satiny light green with cream stripes (with inset green stripes)

Most of the pops at this point I was eating by breaking them first, eating the pieces and then whatever was left on the stick. For the Pear, which was just slightly smaller than the others, I ate it whole.

The outer layer was mild & sweet and had a light orchard fruit scent. In this case the center is the same ... kind of like an apple kissed toasted marshmallow. For the most part I love fresh pears but have never cared for pear flavored candies ... but this isn’t very “pear-flavored” so I give it a thumbs up.

Lemon - yellow bands with cream mini stripes

The outside is zesty but just a kiss of sweetness to it. The center is only slightly tangy. The whole thing reminds me of the flavor combination of a lemon bar. It’s not going to burn holes in my tongue, so I’ll definitely eat the whole thing.

The size of these pops was just a smidge too large for placing in the mouth whole. The texture and smoothness of the outside & inside meant that they were both interesting and pleasant from start to finish. In most cases the outside & inside also offered different flavor variations, which was a good feature to offer when selling at a premium price. They also come in a huge variety of sizes, from this one ounce version to a 4 ounce (saucer) to a full pound (dinner plate).

When not in “review mode” I found that these were definitely an all day sucker for me. The price is a bit steep - at about $2.50 to $3.00 per pop (depending on where you buy them). I’ve seen these at department stores around Christmas (in cinnamon!), at Cost Plus World Market (they also have Root Beer, but I don’t think it’s all natural) plus upscale candy shops and of course on the internet at CandyWarehouse.com, NaturalCandyStore.com and direct from Hammond’s.

Hard candy has its place, it’s durable and can be packed with flavor or just sweet comfort. Mostly it’s an amazing concoction because it can be beautiful.

To finish this off, have a look at how they make some of their hand-crafted creations:

Related Candies

  1. Melville Candy Company Tea Spoons
  2. Hammond’s Pantry Candies
  3. Disneyland Candy Novelties
  4. Peeps Lollipop Rings
  5. Miette Patisserie
Name: All Natural Handmade Twist Lollipops
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Hammond's Candies
Place Purchased: samples from CandyWarehouse.com
Price: retail $2.50-$3.00 each
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 120
Categories: Hard Candy, Mint, United States, Hammond's Candies, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:53 pm    

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Madelaine’s Foiled Milk Chocolate

Madelaine Milk Chocolate PopsOne of the great balancing acts of candy is making it appealing as well as affordable.

As a kid I experienced many disappointments with candy that fell on both sides - candy that cost too much, but mostly candy that was no good (no matter what the price). I think the biggest candy category that has this issue is foil covered chocolates.

Think about how many times you’ve gotten a chocolate coin and thought it was far better just to keep it than to eat it ... because of all those times when you peeled back the beautifully stamped & shiny metal to find a piece of sweet & greasy mockolate.

Madelaine's Milk Chocolate PopsBack when I started Candy Blog I discovered Madelaine Chocolate Novelties via their cute & tasty poker chips & mint meltaway playing cards.

Their entire line of chocolate confections is extensive, built on a strong foundation of stunningly pretty items as well as some interesting innovations like celebratory color palettes of malted milk balls and realistic looking chocolate coins.

All of their products are Kosher (made in Rockaway Beach, NY) and some are all natural: including the little milk chocolate pops pictured here.

In the case of these cartoon animal pops, they’re quite simple. They’re .375 ounces each, plain milk chocolate on a stick.

The flavor is mild and sweet. The chocolate is quite firm and has a good snap. This means an easy and crisp bite. It’s not a lot of candy, so it’s a decent looking treat for a kid but not so much that it’d spoil anyone’s dinner.

Madelaine Milk Chocolate ButterfliesBut my favorites when it comes to Madelaine’s is to look at all their foil wrapped molded chocolates. Especially for anyone who’s planning a party ... it is wedding season, right?

They have a huge selection, not just for Easter (and their rabbits & egg array is huge): hearts, daisies, coins, balls, stars, medals, bells, poker chips, crayons, fish, bees, beetles, cars, cigars, leaves & lips.

These Solid Milk Chocolate Butterflies are huge. Each is a half ounce and measures 1.5 inches across, 1 inch wide and a half an inch high. They come in a variety of colors (they package them in these little 35 piece tubs as well as smaller sleeves).

image

The molding is lovely, the detail on the little butterfly is quite nice, with a little depth to it (because it’s such a massive piece). They’re unlikely to chip or break because of the brick-like ratios.

The chocolate for these is not in the all natural line (because they use vanillin instead of vanilla). The melt is smooth & creamy, soft & silky on the tongue. There’s a bit of a malty overtone and some light European dairy flavors unlike the American style. It’s a little darker tasting and not quite as sweet as the all natural version.

I find the chocolate extremely pleasant, very munchable and of course beautiful to just have sitting in front of me before I eat it. The foil is nice and thick as well, easy to peel off (and fold too, if you’re one of those origami at the wedding reception people).

As a party favor or something to keep in an elegant candy dish, these are an excellent option. I’ve seen these sold at upscale delis, both as single pieces for about 75 cents each or in the little tubs for about $20-25. They’re a bit more expensive, but then again it’s the kind of chocolate that adults actually want to eat, so for that I consider them a very good value.

Related Candies

  1. Molasses Pops
  2. Hershey’s Bliss
  3. Plain and Fancy Laces
  4. Caffarel Figs & Chestnuts (Fico & Castagna)
  5. Rabbit Change
Name: All Natural Milk Chocolate Pops & Solid Milk Chocolate Butterflies
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Madelaine Chocolate Novelties
Place Purchased: samples from All Candy Expo & CandyWarehouse.com
Price: varies
Size: 1.5 ounces & 17.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, United States, All Natural, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:58 am    

Friday, April 24, 2009

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Peanuts (plus Mr. Goodbar)

Hershey's Milk Chocolate with PeanutsOne of the most confounding stories from last year was not that Hershey’s degraded the recipe of some of their most favored & oldest chocolate bars including the Mr. Goodbar. No, it was the introduction of the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Peanuts.

Hershey’s spokesman insisted that consumers actually prefer the new formula of the Mr. Goodbar, which has a strong, salty & burnt peanut taste over the earlier Hershey’s tangy milk chocolate flavor combined with fresh roasted peanuts. So, why, if so many people like it would they introduce a new bar that is basically the old bar instead of keeping the old bar the way it was an introducing a new bar that tastes like the old bar’s new formula? (I told you it was confusing.)

Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Peanuts

The Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Peanuts bar was introduced and sold exclusively at WalMart. I got mine at the 99 Cent Only Store. I don’t know if they’re supposed to be carrying it or these are just WalMart overruns.

So, what’s inside? First, the bar is 1.45 ounces. A standard Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar is 1.55 ounces ... so this nutty Hershey’s is even smaller.

The ingredients are:

Milk Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, nonfat milk, milk fat, lactose, soy lecithin, salt, vanillin), Peanuts. (45 mg sodium 1.45 ounces)

The bar has a soft snap, like most Hershey’s chocolate products. It smells like peanuts, but not quite the same soft scent of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. On the tongue the first flavor I get is not chocolate or peanuts but salt. The chocolate is a bit fudgy and grainy, but has a rather smooth dissolve on the tongue. The peanuts don’t taste as dark and charcoal-ish as the new Mr. Goodbar. But the saltiness made it taste like fake butter.

Hershey's Milk Chocolate with PeanutsIt’s not a bad bar ... and it’s not Mr. Goodbar. It’s just some other new bar that’s not distinct enough to warrant being more than a something in an assortment of miniatures. Which brings me to the fact that this Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Peanuts is not even, technically, a new confection from Hershey’s. I first had it when I bought at bag of Hershey’s Nut Lovers Miniatures in January of 2005. (Here’s a photo.)

I feel like the victim of an elaborate shell game where actually finding the ball under the right shell doesn’t actually mean that you get anything satisfying ... like your money’s worth. This new bar is nice enough, but why is it 1.45 ounces (same as the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Almonds) instead of the 1.55 of the Milk Chocolate bar. Did peanuts suddenly become more expensive than chocolate?

Just for the record, here are the iterations of Mr. Goodbar:

Hershey's Mr. Goodbar (2008)Mr. Goodbar made with chocolate and peanuts

Ingredients (as of 2008): Sugar, peanuts, vegetable oil (palm, shea, sunflower and/or safflower oil) chocolate, whey (milk), nonfat milk, contains 2% or less of milk fat, soy lecithin, salt, vanillin. (60 mg of sodium 1.75 ounces)

In this new mockolate version the bar tastes like it has more peanuts, the peanuts have a darker roast that gives it a slight bitterness that’s moderated by heaps more salt than before and what tastes like some sugary fudge/wax with very little cocoa taste.

Hershey's Mr. Goodbar (2006)Classic Mr. Goodbar peanuts in milk chocolate

Ingredients (circa 2006): Milk Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, nonfat milk, lactose, milk, milk fat, soya lecithin and PGPR as emulsifiers and vanillin, an artificial flavoring) and Peanuts.  (20 mg of sodium 1.75 ounces)

If you really missed the classic Mr. Goodbar, the new Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Peanuts will probably make you happier than buying the current mockolate Mr. Goodbar. (Unless you’re on a sodium restricted diet.) I’d like to say that there’s an alternative, but peanuts & chocolate are kind of the domain of Hershey’s & Reese’s ... it’s sad that they don’t have something to offer that’s better.

Related Candies

  1. Hershey’s Website Inaccuracies
  2. Rising Cost of Candy - A Brief Study of Hershey Prices
  3. Hershey’s Special Dark Miniatures
  4. Hershey’s Miniatures
  5. Hershey’s with Crisp Corn Bits
  6. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Filled with Creamy Peanut Butter
  7. Nestle Crunch with Peanuts
Name: Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Peanuts
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey's
Place Purchased: 99 Cent Only (Sunset Junction)
Price: $.40
Size: 1.45 ounces
Calories per ounce: 145
Categories: Chocolate, Peanuts, United States, Hershey's, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:39 am    

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Wolfgang Skipjacks & Jungle Jacks

Wolfgang SkipjacksI’m often puzzled whether the mere act of covering any food item in chocolate makes it into candy.

I don’t do well in drawing that line. Fruit covered in chocolate, that’s candy. Nuts covered in chocolate, that’s candy. Cookies covered in chocolate ... hmm, if they’re bite sized, sure. Ice cream covered in chocolate? No, that’s still ice cream.

Wolfgang Skipjacks are milk chocolate covered oyster crackers (bite sized saltines).

They’re sold in stand up 7 ounce bags ...which sounds more like the packaging of a snack item than a candy item ... but I’m going to just call this candy. Otherwise I can’t review it and I’m currently eating the third bag I got from them after posting the new product announcement.

Wolfgang Skipjacks

The pieces are about one inch in diameter and a half inch high. There are little squiggles on the top of the chocolate enrobing.

The crackers are flaky and crunchy with very little flavor of their own beyond the bit of granulated salt.

The milk chocolate is very sweet and has a milky and sticky quality to it.

The light and crisp crunch combined with the dairy milk chocolate is a good combo ... it’s definitely snackable, though not quite decadent they do satisfy.

The only thing that I found disheartening about these was the fact that they’re not all milk chocolate. Reading over the ingredients there are three components listed. Milk Chocolate, Oyster Crackers and then Bottom Coating Compound. Sure enough when I turned over the candies on some of them I could see a different colored chocolate dot on them. I’m sure this was a manufacturing decision and the only thing I can think of is the fact that these crackers, before getting coated, are probably devilishly light and maybe didn’t “sit still” while going through the curtain of chocolate to coat them. Maybe they needed a little chocolate foot ... why it has to be a mockolate foot, well, I don’t know. (They show a little of their enrobing in this video.)

Overall, I thought they were definitely worth it if you’re a crunchy with salt & chocolate person. I also thought the name was pretty cool, the package design is fun and spare (no unnecessary tray or inner bags).

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Wolfgang Jungle JacksA companion product are the Jungle Jacks.

These are chocolate covered animal crackers.

This bag is 6 ounces instead of 7.

Like the Skipjacks these are milk chocolate coated (and have that same mockolate bottom coating).

The crackers vary in size - about 1.5 to 2 inches wide by one inch.

Like uncoated animal crackers, I had a hard time figuring out what creatures these were. Most I decided were zebras and rhinos, though they might have been lions or elephants.

Wolfgang Jungle Jacks

The crunch on these little light shortbread cookies is denser than the Skipjacks and has a light toasted flavor, maybe a bit of a graham cracker note.

It’s a little sweeter overall, and I was satisfied much quicker eating these than the Skipjacks - maybe the salt makes me want more.

It says there are 6 servings in the bag ... in my experience there were two.

Overall, a nice change from chocolate covered pretzels or cookies ... but I can’t see myself buying these again. But I can see kids loving them and parents liking how they can give out just two or three pieces of “candy” at a time.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Related Candies

  1. Ferrara Dark Chocolate Covered Biscotti
  2. Q.Bel Crispy Wafer Bars
  3. Cookie Dough Bites
  4. Twix PB
  5. Maud Borup Potato Chips
  6. Yan Yan
  7. Men’s Pocky
Name: Small World Chocolates: Select Origin
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Wolfgang Candy Co.
Place Purchased: samples from Wolfgang
Price: unknown
Size: 7 ounces & 6 ounces
Calories per ounce: 133 & 128
Categories: Chocolate, United States, Cookies, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:18 am    

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Seeds of Change: Dark Chocolate with Mango and Cashew

Seeds of Change 61% Dark with Mango and CashewsLong before Hershey’s got into the organic chocolate act by buying Dagoba in 2006, Mars bought a small organic & heritage seed company called Seeds of Change in 1999. Since then, Seeds of Change also became an organic food company (sauces, grains & frozen meals) and launched a line of organic chocolate bars.

Seeds of Change is dedicated to preserving food diversity and promoting organic growing techniques and food worldwide, and cacao is definitely one of those plants that needs that sort of nurturing. In addition to using organic ingredients they also donate 1% of their net sales to advance the cause of sustainable organic agriculture worldwide. I tried their bar called Isle of Skye last year, which I thought was an excellent and noteworthy crisped grain in milk chocolate bar.

Seeds of Change 61% Dark with Mango and CashewsThis year, while browsing ExpoWest, a natural & organic products trade show in Anaheim, I found out that Seeds of Change has shifted their product line. They changed the names of their bars, dropped a few of them and added some more classic versions (a plain dark chocolate bar, for instance) and also redesigned all their packages. (I did love their previous wrapper images.)

I was excited to see the new package, which is a wallet style paperboard package with three individually wrapped bars inside. Perfect for portion control, great for keeping all pieces fresh and excellent for sharing. The three bars in a reclosable package may look familiar ... Dove introduced it last year.

The Seeds of Change version has little plastic wrapped bars instead of foil.

I picked their 61% Dark Chocolate with Mango and Cashew as the intro to this new look & product line.

Seeds of Change 61% Dark with Mango and Cashews

The little bars are nicely molded, shiny and with a crisp snap. They’re scored into four pieces - the whole bar weighs only an ounce.

I like the thickness of it, as it allows a nice bite and a slow melt of the bar.

The dark chocolate is smooth and silky, it has a quick melt and a lot of cocoa butter feel on the tongue. Unfortunately it’s not a vegan bar, there’s milkfat in there.

The flavors are pretty simple. It’s rich coffee & woodsy flavored chocolate, a little bit of dark charcoal and then some grassy notes of the cashew pieces. The little dried mango bits are a little fibery but pack a powerful punch of tangy chew - kind of orangy-citrus with a hint of peach and green tea.

The little inclusions are rather small. The cashew pieces weren’t big enough to be crunchy, which is too bad, because I think the buttery crunch of cashews would really bolster this bar.

As it is, the shining star here is the chocolate followed by the mango notes. Aa good, fun taste combination.

The complete list of products in their line is now: Milk Chocolate (43%), Milk Chocolate with Puffed Grains (formerly Isle of Skye), 61% Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate with Cherries & Vanilla, Dark Chocolate with Coconut. It’s an interesting array because besides the plain chocolate, the flavors are different from the usual offerings when standing in the chocolate bar aisle. I’ve seen Seeds of Change at drug stores (Long’s Drugs in California). Oddly enough, Seeds of Change also just sent me some of the other new bars, so I’ll have reviews of those soon, too.

In recognition of Earth Day, Seeds of Change is running a contest (deadline July 21, 2009) - submit you video, photo or essay to tell the world what you’re doing to make a difference.

The Grand Prize winner will receive 365 days of Seeds of Change(r) Organic Chocolate, plus a variety of our other Seeds of Change Organic products. The runner-up will receive a sampling of Seeds of Change Organic Chocolate and our other Seeds of Change Organic products.

I buy their sauces and think they’re very tasty and usually well priced for organic products.

Related Candies

  1. Chocolate Dipped Altoids - Creme de Menthe
  2. Organic Zootons
  3. 3400 Phinney: Fig, Fennel & Almond and Hazelnut Crunch
  4. Zotter Candy Bars
  5. Terra Nostra Pocket Bars
  6. Green & Black’s Ginger Chocolate
  7. Dagoba Hazelnut
Name: 61% Dark Chocolate with Mango & Cashew
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Seeds of Change (Mars)
Place Purchased: sample from ExpoWest
Price: retail $3.50 a bar
Size: 2.99 ounces
Calories per ounce: 140
Categories: Chocolate, Nuts, United States, Mars, Kosher, Organic, All Natural

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:01 am    

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