Candy Blog

The Sweets & Snacks Expo started today in Chicago, with 650 exhibitors profiling thousands of candy products. Here are a few highlight of the new products announced.

Name: Tic Tac® Mixers
Brand: Ferrero U.S.A.
Description: Introducing new Tic Tac Mixers, the newest addition to the Tic Tac family of products. Two exciting flavors in every piece. The first delicious flavor layer of Tic Tac Mixers delights you as it touches your tongue. As you let it melt in your mouth, Tic Tac Mixers transitions to a great tasting flavor combination that will surprise your senses.
Introduction Date: 05/01/2015

Notes: It’s a fascinating idea, though not original. Layering flavors so that the product experience changes over time. The two flavors (Cherry + Cola and Peach + Lemonade) aren’t quite up my alley, but I’m curious how vivid the flavor definition is.

Name: Russell Stover Freeze-it Big Bites
Brand: Russell Stover Candies
Description: A new twist on a classic favorite, ice cream! The Freeze-It candy bars are signature ice cream flavors in convenient and ready-to-go packaging. We offer two classic flavors; smooth vanilla bean or crisp mint chocolate chip both smothered in rich dark chocolate. You can enjoy them immediately after purchasing or place them in your freezer for just 30 minutes to enjoy a frozen ice cream flavored treat.
Introduction Date: Summer 2015

Notes: I like the idea of a mint chocolate chip ice cream candy treat, though I find it hard to believe that it will taste better frozen than actual ice cream.

Name: Caramel Creams® Pop
Brand: Goetze’s Candy Company
Description: Caramel Creams® Pop features the unique flavor of a nostalgic Caramel Creams®, but now in a lollipop format.
Introduction Date: 06/01/2015

Notes: I’m a huge fan of Goetze’s Caramel Creams and really enjoy eating the parts separately. But the proportions on this, based on the image, look completely odd. But I’m willing to give it a try.

Name: FLIPZ® Birthday Cake Covered Pretzels
Brand: DeMet’s Candy Company
Description: Introducing New Flipz® Birthday Cake Covered Pretzels! The perfect combination of sweet, creamy cake frosting, and the salty crunch of a pretzel. Flipz®, the most flippin’ awesome snack ever!
Introduction Date: 05/15/2015

Notes: This sounds dreadful. The only thing that sounds good is the salt. I don’t even understand the obsession with birthday cake, let alone making it into a candy that covers a snack.

Name: Lindt HELLO Bites
Brand: Lindt & Sprungli
Description: HELLO Bites chocolate covered bite sized pieces available in three flavors, packaged in re-sealable stand-up pouches. Pretzel Bites, Toffee Bites and Minty Bites
Introduction Date: 08/01/2015

Notes: Lindt does great chocolate, but this foray into panned candies and the morselization trend is a little odd. For Christmas they do make some panned nuts, but I don’t recall anything along these lines before. The descriptions for the individual products are a little vague.

All images courtesy of their respective makers.

Related Candies

1. Candy Tease Fall 2014
2. Candy Tease - Sweets & Snacks Part 2
3. Candy Tease - Sweets & Snacks Part 1
4. Birthday Cake M&Ms
5. Lindt Holiday Almonds
6. Zitrone Honig Tic Tac

In this new episode of Candyology101, Maria and I talk about one of the oldest and most flexible candy processes: panning. Stick around until the end of the podcast and we have an expanded Treat or Trick section with plenty of Sweets & Snacks Expo teases.

Download the MP3 and of course check up on the full show notes.

Brach’s has expanded their line of stand up bag offerings. I spotted these at Target: Brach’s Milk and Dark Chocolate Caramel & Nut Mix. It sounds like a much simpler Bridge Mix.

Like most Brach’s products, the package is vague about the product once you get past the name. There’s a list of ingredients, but other than that, I was kind of left to guess what was in my mix.

So, what do we have? Pretty much what the name says. There’s an assortment of two different shapes of chocolate covered nuts ... peanuts and almonds. Then there are some gumdrop looking things that are caramels and some oblong bits that are chocolate covered brittle.

The whole mix smells sweet, a little like peanuts and cocoa. The sweetness has a fake vanilla note to it that isn’t very encouraging, though the appearance of the mix is pretty attractive. The panning is good, everything is shiny and smooth.

Milk Chocolate Peanuts are satisfying. There’s not a lot of chocolate, but far better than Nestle’s Goobers. There’s a little hint of salt to make these much more of a snack than a sweet.

Dark Chocolate Peanuts also have a hint of salt and a noticeable bitterness to the chocolate which again keeps the whole mix from getting to sticky sweet.

Milk Chocolate Caramels were lackluster. The texture was excellent, the caramel was chewy but not too stiff and it had a smooth consistency. However, it lacked actual caramel flavor and didn’t offset the milk chocolate coating much.

Dark Chocolate Covered Peanut Brittle are easy to spot. They’re large and have a thick coating of chocolate. The brittle center may be big, but it crunches easily. The nutty flavor is not front and center, this piece is more about the textures of the crushed nuts, the dark chocolate and the sugary brittle. The nut bits are quite small, so it’s almost like the sesame brittle found in Kosher delis.

Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds are one of the larger pieces, though some are small enough to be mistaken for peanuts. The almonds have a light blanching, they’re not overly roasted. They’re crunchy and hold up well to the rather sweet dark chocolate.

This mix takes a lot of guess work out of what can be candy roulette. I liked all the pieces and didn’t really long for anything else that wasn’t in here. I thought the peanuts were great, and it all looked good in a little bowl. I certainly preferred it to the actual Bridge Mix that Brach’s sells.

The product contains milk, peanuts, almonds and soy and is made on shared equipment with other tree nuts, eggs and wheat.

Related Candies

1. The Recent History of Brach’s Fiesta Malted Milk Eggs
2. Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Spiced Almond
3. See’s Bridge Mix
4. Brach’s Bridge Mix
5. Snack Mix for Traveling
6. Recchiuti Asphalt Jungle Mix
7. Brach’s Indulge Almonds: Coconut & Caramel

Years ago, at my first visit to the All Candy Expo (now known as the Sweets & Snacks Expo), I was excited to see a candy called Gazillions. They were little boxes, probably sold for a quarter, that had tiny chewy candies in them, like mini Skittles but single flavors. They came in pineapple. And then I never saw them in stores.

Here it is, 8 years later and I finally found a package at Economy Candy. Except they’re called Cajillions. They’re billed as The Tiny Tasty Candies.

Ingredients: sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated palm oil, apple juice, citric acid, artificial flavor, gum arabic, malic acid, carnauba wax, artificial color (cochineal extract)

They’re rather like teensy, rustic bits of deep fried Starburst chews. They’re about the size of lentils.

I hesitate to say that they have an actual shell, but they’re definitely coated and sealed, so they don’t get sticky.

The strawberry flavor is rather clean. The outside is sweet and a little like cotton candy at first, but upon chewing the bits, it’s tangy and pretty smooth. They’re a lot like Skittles, except there’s something that’s not quite right about them. It might be the fact that they use apple juice, so there’s a little note to it that’s just a bit like apple peels to me. But perhaps a little metallic as well.

The shape is pretty good, they’re appealing to look at, though there was a bit of a yellow cast to mine, which made me wonder about whether they were fresh. They don’t roll around, but because they’re so small, they’re not easy to pick up with my fumbly fingers. About five makes a small taste, a dozen is a decent mouthful for a flavorful chew. I could see them working well in candy buffets, especially if they’re available in a wide array of colors and flavors.

I don’t have much interest in the other flavors, which are Blue Raspberry, Green Apple and Watermelon in addition to the Strawberry. No mixes, no Pineapple. I’ll pass for now.

Related Candies

1. Candyology 101 - Podcast Episode 13 - Skittles
2. Yum Junkie Pufflettes
3. Morinaga HiCHEW Mini
4. Mentos Tutti Frutti
5. Airheads Bites
6. Russell Stover Color Me Candies
7. Mike and Ike Alex’s Lemonade Stand

If you were to make your own perfect mix of Skittles, what flavors would you include?

What new Skittles varieties would you like to see?

List in to episode 13 of Candyology 101 where Maria and discuss all things Skittles (that would fit into 50 minutes).

download the MP3 directly and take a look at our show notes.