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Thursday, May 22, 2008
Roca Buttercrunch Thins
While I love the toffee center of Almond Roca (and the Mocha Roca), I’m not fond of the greasy mockolate coating and messy crushed almonds. (Yes, I sometimes scrape them off and just eat the center.) Isn’t it nice that Brown & Haley finally recognized that they can use better ingredients. The 2.8 ounce box holds 8 pieces, each in their own little slot in a divided tray. It’s about the size of a VHS box (maybe a little thinner), but it seems like a lot of packaging and protection for what are probably pretty durable little candies. The initial description of them as Thins was intriguing, I was picturing little toffee tiles like Valerie Confections sells. Instead I saw a post on Chocolate Traveler that showed that these are little sticks, which is fine with me.
The smell like toasted nuts, burnt sugar and dark chocolate. The dark chocolate coating, in my case, was slightly bloomed (and I blame myself for that, as it started to get absurdly hot in Los Angeles and didn’t follow my own precautions). The texture was just fine though. (And the last two got really bloomed, so I know what bloomed chocolate is in this case.) I love the Roca toffee, it’s crispy and buttery at the same time. It has wonderfully complex burnt sugar flavors and the added nutty bits of almonds. The dark chocolate was also a smooth and creamy, adding a little more dimension with its own dark palate of flavors. While I consider this a very successful confection, I find the packaging a little overdone. Does it really need to have both the fold over flap (hand purse style) box, plus the tray? The whole thing is then overwrapped in cellophane. The price point, as far as I can tell from the Brown & Haley website is $3.95 a box, which puts it at over $22 per pound. For that price I’d either go up a notch and have some Carey’s of Oregon, Poco Dolce or Valerie Confections, or go down a notch and have a Heath Bar (why oh, why won’t they make them in dark chocolate?). Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:57 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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COPYRIGHT NOTICEAll content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2009 by Cybele MayPlease do not use my photos without prior permission directly from me, they represent what I ate in preparation for these reviews and are not to be used for other purposes. Design by Hop Studios & powered by Expression Engine
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Thanks for the report. Like I said, I saw these at the store a month or two ago, but didn’t buy them. $3.99 seems high - but I think they were $1.99 at Winco. And…that very un “green” packaging is absurd. I almost don’t want to buy them for that reason alone. But they sound like a winner, other than that.
Yeah, what gives with Hershey’s refusal to offer Heath or Skor in dark chocolate? Although, if they did, it would obviously be the fake dark chocoate as seen in the Kiss, Reeses, etc. But still, would it kill them? Missed opportunity!
I found this candy in Walgreens for $2.49 per box. It wasn’t bloomed and tasted great. I like the fact that there is more chocolate and that it is rich tasting. It doesn’t seam like it has any more packaging than other products and you should be able to recycle the gold plastic tray and the cardboard box.
Great review- and thanx for a link to my blog! Very cool. I was thrilled to find these at Walgreens too- love the dark covered toffee- not so much the toffee caramel which just misses the mark- not enough caramel maybe? But the overall distinctive Roca flavor of all these is so awesome, I was wondering how long it would take to get dark choc Roca and here it is, finally. Now I think we need to all band together to somehow make dark Heath or Skor happen too- unless thats one of this years new items coming up….your website would know! im keeping my fingers crossed and eyes peeled, just dont know why they wouldn’t give that a whirl!
to bad you all don’t live near the factory. they have a factory outlet that has great hours and sell BOOBOOs. 1lb. containers of the thins that don’t pass visual inspection for those expensive little boxes for $6.00 a pound. $6.00 a pound!
Ed D
Cybele,
I find your review of Brown and Haley products COMPLETELY off the mark. Using terms like “mocolate”, (Thanks, “Friends”), “turds”, “poops”, and the like, show either a lack of depth, or a severe predjudice to Brown and Haley. A company that has sold for more than 80 years. I suppose Hershey to you is perfect? Look at the latest product ingrediant misinformation and selling practise lawsuits, and you will find something more to write about. I am not a native to the Northwest, but I’ll keep it just the way it is. Please stay home.
What a curious comment, Modyfied.
I see that you’ve read, as far as I can tell in this visit to Candy Blog, only the Brown & Haley reviews. And have landed on this one, the one product that I think is pretty good (a 7 out of 10 is a solid recommend) to critique my opinions.
First, I try to give an accurate description of the product (and a photo) then my opinion. And my opinion & my preferences are all just that ... mine. Some may share them, some find knowing where I stand to be indicative enough of how they may like a product.
You really have no idea about my history with Hershey’s degradation of their products (maybe a little light reading when you have a moment) or my rallying cry to demand real chocolate from candy companies. I’ve written tens of thousands of words on the subject of substitution of vegetable oils for cocoa butter. They’re all here.
For the record, I don’t care how long a company has been making products. Candy is perishable and all that really matters is what I can eat now. If it’s trash (made with substandard ingredients) why do I care if it was great when my grandmother bought it?
On top of that, there are some actually decent mockolate products out there ... so it’s not like I’m incapable of deep and unconditional love. (Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews ... that’s directed at you.)
But I’ll leave you with this ... I have a comments section and it’s a wonderful place for readers to leave their own review of the product. I welcome it, as do other readers.
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