Friday, October 30, 2009
Brach’s Peanut Butter and Caramel PumpkinsI was happy to see that Brach’s was expanding its Halloween offerings beyond candy corn. I love peanut butter and chocolate and though nothing really compares to the Reese’s products, a little foil wrapped sphere sounded good. Brach’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins say they’re Rich Chocolaty Pumpkin With a Peanut Butter Center. There’s a companion product, the Brach’s Caramel Pumpkins. They’re both sold in 9.25 ounce bags and I was a little surprised to see that they weren’t even real chocolate. (The real shock came later, as you’ll see.) The foil on the pumpkins comes in two different “faces”, one on each side of the sphere. There’s a happy one with its teeth missing (shown) and then on the other side is a triangle-eyed one. It’s an impressive look when they’re piled in a bowl. Each is one inch in diameter. The foil is easy to peel off. At first I though mine were dented, but it turns out there’s a little divot in each where they’re molded. (But they are easy to dent as well.) The chocolaty ball inside doesn’t have any imprints on it, it’s just a sphere with a slight texture to it (like a miniature basketball). The smell like wonderfully fresh roasted peanuts. Biting into it, it depended on the temperature what the filling was like. When I first got these it was quite hot, so the ambient temperature was over 80 degrees and the peanut butter center was gooey and slick. It was quite nice, not quite a meltaway, but definitely a whole different experience from the dry and crumbly Reese’s peanut butter. When the weather cooled and I tried them again the peanut butter was firmer, a bit more dry but still quite smooth. The roast of the peanuts is dark with a slight bitterness to them. It’s salty and satisfying. The coating is mockolate. Unlike mockolate products created by Hershey’s, these don’t have a trace of cocoa butter at all in them, It’s all partially hydrogenated palm kernel or palm oil. It’s quite cool on the tongue and has a bit of a greasy melt. It lacks all chocolate power, it’s more of a cardboard version of chocolate flavor. When it’s all chewed together it’s not as noticeable, but nibbled off separately it’s quite bad. The Brach’s Caramel Pumpkins were even less appealing. (Well, the one thing they had going for them was 20 fewer calories per serving, but of course lacking all the nutrition that the peanuts provide.) The foil wrapping is gold instead of orange but still has the same faces & green stem for hair. They smell like butter flavoring and sugar. The bite is similar, the chocolate-flavored-coating tastes grainier and of course lacks true chocolate flavor. The caramel filling is interesting, it’s a little like a pudding - sweet but not actually cloying. It’s smooth and not quite flowing but not stiff enough to be chewy. The whole thing was a dreadful mess. The worst part though was if you look closely at the photo above you’ll notice a tiny little logo on the sphere. It’s the R.M. Palmer logo. These are just the R.M. Palmer Creepy Peepers! And Creepy Peepers are cheap - usually about a buck for a 6 ounce bag, these Brach’s things are over $3.00 a bag in stores. I just don’t get it. Brach’s used to distinguish itself from the bagged candy as being just a little better ... this repackaging of something most of us wouldn’t dare touch is pretty creepy. I hope Brach’s gets its act together and goes back to its core value of quality candy. If you like these, well, skip the Brach’s middle man and just get the R.M. Palmer. They sell them year round in sports shapes (I think that’s the basketball texture). Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:35 am |
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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Brach’s hasn’t been Brach’s for a long time, but especially since they were bought by Farley & Sathers. Both Farley and Sathers were low-rent companies when they were independent companies - prior to the buy-out and then sell-off that created the new company. Heck, Sathers was mainly a re-packager who sold pegboard bags of other people’s candies. Brach’s WAS a quality brand, but hasn’t been for a while. I still say that Brach’s red licorice was the best ever, but I’ll never know if it’s just memory speaking, as even if they brought it back, it would probably be some repackaged stuff from someone else, not the original recipe.
For Halloween candy, I’ve become a real fan of the Russell Stover Buzzard Nest. I pull off the jelly beans, but I like the toasted coconut bits in the chocolate.
Palmer chocolate is the candy of choice in Purgatory.
Thank you for letting me know where it is lurking.
God, I bought Palmer chocolat-Y candy when my kid was little and I didn’t realize what it was. Even a 3 year old could tell. Vile, vile stuff.
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