Candy Blog

Name: Shigekix Super Cola
Brand: Shigekix
Place Purchased:  gift (but you can get them at JBox)
Price: $1.75
Size: 50 grams
Calories per ounce: unknown
Type: Sour Hard Gummi

My blogging buddy, Lisa, sent this to me. She didn’t pick it up in Japan, she got it in New York, which makes the trip it’s taken extra special.

They look like little incense cones, little hard cones covered in a salty, sour powder. I wasn’t quite sure what they were, as the package is in Japanese, but what I could glean from the package was that these were sour. (I’m not quite sure what the female schmoo thing is on the front, but she sure is cute.)

They smell like cola, which is an odd smell in and of itself, really. The gummy isn’t really gummy either, it’s a hard little piece that’s not quite hard enough to be considered hard candy. Pop one in your mouth and you pucker. There’s no way to not describe these as incredibly sour. The flavor of the sour is a bit lemony but a little salty too. Then that subsides and you get the cola flavor and a little hard gummy bit. Then you want another one. They took a little getting used to, but with a lot of the extreme candies, they’re rather addictive.

They remind me a lot of the So Wonderful Lemon Drops I tried months ago. I think I might pick up the grape ones sometime, but for now, cola is a great choice for a sour treat. I have to say that eating to many will eventually burn the tongue. And give you a tummy ache. But I’ve found that to be true with most foods.

Rating - 7 out of 10

Name: Extra Dark with Cranberries and Macadamias
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: Target
Price: $1.89
Size: 3.52 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Type: Chocolate/Nuts

It took me a long time to actually like Hershey’s milk chocolate. I was never fond of their Special Dark, but I ate it quite a bit when I was younger because it was often the only dark chocolate I could get my hands on easily. Sometimes a girl just needs dark chocolate. Call it medication.

I was curious when I saw this at Target a couple of weeks ago. I know that all the major chocolate companies are into this whole “chocolate as a health food thing” (which by the way, I’ve been saying for about twenty years) so it’s only natural that they start packaging stuff with that sort of market in mind.

If I were to create the ideal fruit and nut bar, I would definitely start with dark chocolate and cranberries are a good choice. I think I’d prefer cashews or pecans over macadamias (especially if we’re going healthy - pecans have a load of good stuff in them). Check out the site I link to up there, they talk about the benefit of antioxidants, which can be found in many fruits (especially dried ones), wine, tea and of course chocolate.

The bar itself was nice. A good woodsy flavor, the nuts were barely perceptible for me as a flavor but added good texture. The cranberries were a good tart, chewy snap. The chocolate was crisp, not bitter with a decent creamy melty quality and good flavor. Not the best chocolate I’ve ever had, but if this were as available as a regular Hershey bar, I’d probably pick it up as a less-sweet snack with 60% cocoa solids. The price is just right as well, a good value for less than $2.

Rating - 8 out of 10

Name: Lemon Lakritsi
Brand: Fazer
Place Purchased: gift
Price: unknown
Size: 20 grams
Calories per ounce: unknown
Type: Licorice

One of the best things to come out of doing the candy blog is meeting other folks all over the world and having folks give me candy! Who knew that getting candy from strangers was as easy as spending hundreds of hours documenting your obsession on theinternets ! Last week I got a package from Anne all the way from Sweden. She included some spiced truffle Dala horses, which I promptly ate without photographing, but she also sent some other cool things. The first of which is this lemon licorice:

It’s a tube of soft molasses style licorice with a lemon fondant center. Mmmm.

It’s hard to describe how well the flavors go together. They’re both rather woodsy, aromatic flavors. The bite of the molasses (treacle) in the licorice and the intense sweetness and lingering coolness of the licorice goes well with the zesty, mellow essence of the lemon.

I didn’t understand the little face on the package until I opened it and cut the licorice piece in half ... that’s what it looks like. A glossy black licorice piece with the lighter reddish licorice inside and then the lemon cream. Like an emoticon!

I believe they use real licorice with this stuff, so be sure not to overindulge. This licorice comes from Finland (not Sweden, where Anne and her amazing all-food blog are) from a company called Fazer ... which many folks may know from their ubiquitous Fazermint. 

Rating - 8 out of 10

UPDATE: 2/5/2007 - Fazer has announced that it will phase out the use of the caricatured face of a black person on their licorice wrappings.

Name: KitKat Orange & Cream
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: 7-11 (Hollywood)
Price: $.85
Size: 1.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 147
Type: White Chocolate/Cookie

I think Hershey introduced these first for Halloween in miniatures. I shyed away from them then because I didn’t really want to buy 14 ounces of something I might detest. (Well, I suppose I could have given them to the kiddies.) I’m glad I restrained myself and waited for the full sized bar.

First, the bar looks weird. It’s a creepy orange, like a bad jell-o mold or maybe I’m associating it with hospitals (I can’t figure why). It smells like a cross between orange sherbet and aspergum. Very sweet and oddly artificially orange.

The taste isn’t bad. The white chocolate is infused with orange flavor which diffuses what is often a “too sweet” taste for white chocolate. The crisp of the cookie part is nice and balances well, good texture and crunch and it adds a bit of vanilla hit to the whole escapade. I’m pleased to see that Hershey is using real cocoa butter for their white chocolate instead of trans fats but it’s just not my style of a bar. I can see other folks liking it - it has a good texture and smoothness.

I have higher hopes for the mint bar (I hope to get to that next week) and if you’re really into orange and chocolate, go the extra mile to get a hold of the Candian/Euro Orange KitKat. You can see all the KitKats I’ve reviewed so far here.

Rating - 5 out of 10

Name: Revels
Brand: Masterfoods
Place Purchased: Sainsbury’s (West Los Angeles)
Price: $1.29
Size: 35 grams
Calories per ounce: no info
Type: Chocolate/Caramel/Malt

Made by the same company that makes Malteasers, I thought this would something like bridge mix. And it is, except it’s all milk chocolate. Inside the package are an assortment of little chocolate coated spheres. The largest ones are Malteasers, which I rather like. There are also some little dense disks of pure milk chocolate and some chocolate covered raisins. After that it gets a little more curious. There are what I have to assume are caramels but they’re so hard, I didn’t dare try to eat them. The package also mentions two other surprise items: coffee and orange. I think I found the coffee one, which was a crumbly center with a light coffee taste to it. I don’t think I got an orange one.

The chocolate is milky but not creamy. Sweet but not chocolatey. The chocolate is good for the malt because it’s such a strong flavor itself, but for the rest of the mix, it’s rather cheap tasting. And the fact that you only get 35 grams (1.2 ounces) is pretty sad, too when you consider that M&Ms come in 1.7 ounce packages.

I will avoid this little packet as much as possible in the future.

More reading: Review Center & Doo Yoo Review - they all seem to like the, so it must be me or a bad bag or something.

Rating - 4 out of 10