Snackable M&Ms

 Every week or two I see something new in the candy aisle and I'd like to start bringing more smaller posts to you showcasing some of these products. I might not have much to say, but I think its neat to see them at least. I'm still aiming for one feature story and one review a week, although this week may be shy a feature. BUT that said, I've got one or two quick hits that I can definitely send out to the Candy Aisle reader-verse.

Like these for example, M&Ms snack mix bags. in Milk and Dark Chocolate varieties. This is a great idea for M&Ms. We all already know they go greatin snack mix, so capitolizing on it in a pre-packaged bag just makes good sense. Why they went for the pretzel style party mix as opposed to straight up Trail Mix with M&Ms I'm not sure, but I'd bet trail mix is on the way soon, especially if this snack-style party mix works.

"Salty &Sweet". Seems like you just can't go wrong there :)

UPDATE - Just saw that these also come in a Peanut variety!

3 Musketeers - video review

Sorry for the delay in getting this up, but please enjoy this review for 3 Musketeers!



For more please check out the written review, or all of the review on the Review Page. TTYL :)

3 Musketeers review

Its time for another review and this week we're looking at the classic 3 Musketeers!

Well after doing my due diligence of spending 3 minutes scanning Wikipedia I've come to learn that 3 Musketeers is really a true American classic candy bar. Starting in 1932 it was once partitioned into 3 sections each flavored differently covering chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Now though of course the 3 Musketeers is just chocolate, but man what a chocolate it is. This bar will once again show my bias, because I already know that I love this chocolate bar. This is one of those candy bars from when I was a kid that I always loved, and I expect to again here.

But let's back up a second, look at this great packaging. Brilliant silver, with red and white. Its making a statement and I'm liking it, maybe not as muted or dour as the classic Dumas book would allude to... but who'd want to eat a chocolate bar that was really themed after the middle ages. Talk about depressing. No instead this channels the themes of heroism and action that the Musketeers evoke. I really like the imagery here, and think the bar goes a long way to making it work for it. On the side of the wrapper we can see that this is a "Whipped Up, Fluffy Chocolate-on-Chocolate Taste". Now if that doesn't sound kind of dirty, yet also delicious I don't know what does. Also of note the "45% less fat than average of the leading chocolate brands" quote. Ok, I guess that might make the sale for some people... For me, I understand that this is a chocolate bar and I'm not being fooled into thinking its healthy for me.

Onto the bar itself though, and I really love the design here. Sure the bar is simple, but its coated well. It's a thick milk chocolate, but not hard, just sturdy. And I really like the swirly drip chocolate marks on the top, maybe a bit reminiscent of la Milky Way, but to me this is just classic.

As for biting into the chocolate, well let me tell you, this is truly a great experience. The insides have a real lightness to them, this really feels like whipped chocolate, but with a pull almost of a toffee. It doesn't have the chew or any kind of stickiness that toffee does, it just has a nice pull. Like the way you wish marshmallows pulled only it doesn't have the annoying gummy after-texture of your average marshmallow. This is light, chocolatey goodness. I think its actually made from whipped eggs and sugar and then flavored with chocolate, so that may help. Looking at the cross section you can really see that this chocolate bar even has tiny bubbles in the fluff, its just that airy.

For my tastes this is a great chocolate bar, it smells great, looks great, and tastes great.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates 3 Musketeers - 5 / 5
 
3 Musketeers is a product of the Mars Inc, to learn more please visit http://www.3musketeers.com


Final Question - why aren't there other chocolate bars based on classic literary figures or references. Where's my Tarzan of the Apes banana bar, or my John Carter Martian Munchies? Someone should at the very least make some gummy worms called Cthulhu Crawlers... I mean these things just write themselves.

Candy incognito! - pt 2

Last week I talked about candy disguised as other food, but what about the candy made to look like living creatures? Why are there so many candy animals?! I know I get some serious satisfaction biting the head off a gummi bear but its amazing to see the variety out there. And no, I'm not talking about the real candied animals here...

If you go out in the woods today be sure to go in disguise. Jelly Belly makes bears now!

Who would win in a fight? the Bears of the Black Forest, or the Big Bold Bears? My money's on the Trolli bears. They're 4x larger and loaded with flavor!

Of course Haribo comes through again with their original Gold-bears. And despite their mascots stupid bow-tie these are gummi bears you can count on.

 We all know about Gummy worms, but snakes? I like Trolli's play on Nightcrawler with Brite crawler, that clever. I've said it before and I'll say it again, gummy worms are better than gummy bears.

But that's not all, for some reason the less than cute animals make it into candy form a lot. Why don't we see gummy kittens and puppies? I can't say, but here are a few other entries from the animal kingdom...

 Haribo comes out swinging with both frogs AND mini rainbow frogs. I'm certainly glad to live in "the happy world of Haribo".

I'm a big fan of Swedish fish. Usually I'll just go for the red ones, but I suppose I can roll with this assorted multi colored pack. Thankfully they're all assured to be Swedish...

How can you forget about Turtles? the only actual chocolate making it into these incognito posts, Turtles are pretty tasty. But given a choice I'll always reach for a Ferrero Rocher over these.

And efrutti again wins the weirdest entry award. Sour Octopus gummi candy. How can you not want to try that!

Now we get to the entries that some might say cross the line.

These Lip Pops are just the examples I could find right now in my candy aisle. I think we're all also familiar with the ... what are they called... Hot Lips, Cinnamon Lips... you know the ones you get in bulk candy sections. Eating candy human body parts is actually nothing new. I know I saw bags of arms and legs last Halloween in the store. Not to mention the deluge of eyeball chocolates. Does anyone else think this is a bit morbid?

If not that, then how about this? Of course you we're expecting it. Sour Patch Kids!

This is a bit odd right. I mean they're made to look like cute little kids. And there is just so much pleasure to be taken in biting them in half... Are we tapping into some perverse cannibalistic desire? Or is this no different than say, eating an M&M or chicken nugget after its been sold to you by the item itself. Somehow this just strikes me as odd. Delicious, but odd.

Ok, that's all for now, but please let me know if you come across any odd candy incognito. You never know what will turn up when you walk down the candy aisle :)

5th Avenue - video review

From the bustling streets of glamorous New York comes 5th Avenue... or something like that.


 
For more of the goods, please check out the written review, or the Reviews page for all of our reviews.

5th Avenue review

"Crunchy peanut butter in a rich chocolate coating" sounds like luxury wrapped in a cloud... that can only mean its time to review 5th Avenue!

The space along 5th Avenue is known by many to be the height of decadent urban New York living. From the upper west side, and past central park the street was known at one time as the most expensive area in the world for shopping. While I'm not sure if that's true to this day, having personally walked along 5th Avenue in NYC, and seen countless films and movies staged there I will say evoking that kind of luxury with your chocolate bar is a good idea. At the very least it gives the buyer a sense of what they 'should' be in for. Words like luxury, decadence, and and indulgence come immediately to mind; so lets hope Hershey's 5th Avenue chocolate bar can live up to its namesake.

looking at the wrapper doesn't give us too much. Simple brown, with bold yellow lettering. It's direct, I'll give it that, but if you want people to think chic new york living, this isn't really it. Maybe this is more of a brownstone from the other part of 5th Avenue down in Harlem...

Opening up the candy, I find mine to be a bit melty. That said the room I'm reviewing in is a bit warm so I won't hold that against it. There's no really significant chocolate odor, and nothing special about the bar itself on the outside so lets dig in.

Crunching into the bar is much akin to a Butterfinger,or maybe a Crispy Crunch experience. You can see the lines where layer after layer of peanut butter were laid onto this chocolate bar. it's like a building with floor after floor of peanut butter cemented on-top of each other. And cemented is the right word here because this peanut butter isn't smooth like a Reese bar, its hard, kind of like a Butterfinger, only not quite as flakey, and definitely not quite as smooth.

Frankly this seems like Hershey's answer to Nestlé's Butterfinger. It has something of the same texture and that same odd chew to it, but it does not have the smooth, rich, buttery quality that Butterfinger delivers. That said it holds together better than a Butterfinger ever did... But I didn't come here for a clean experience, I want flavor dammit, and 5th Avenue (while decent) fails to deliver on any kind of luxury implied in the name.

It may not be bad, but it's certainly nothing special. I'd recommend this to fans of Butterfinger. Give it a shot, but don't expect to be blown away.


Walking the Candy Aisle rates 5th Avenue - 3 / 5

5th Avenue is a product of The Hershey Company. Find more from them at http://www.thehersheycompany.com/

Candy incognito! - pt 1

Have you ever thought about the flavors of candy? Isn't it kind of odd how candy has been made to taste like other foods? Why exactly can't it just be a unique flavor? When you've got a range from sugary, to sour, and tart, even savory or salty why do some candies have to pretend to be something else?

Look, we all know the long standing tradition of candy to be patterned after fruit. From watermelon, to more traditional oranges and lemons, that all kind of fits since those foods fall into the same straightforward flavor categories as many candies, what I find more interesting are the candies that are flavored, or even just patterned after other food. Check out some of these that I found in my candy aisle.

 Haribo always delivers. Why you'd want your pasta to be fruity / extra sour or your spagetti (sorry S'ghetti) to be sour is a bit beyond me, but I love the idea of plating up some candy pasta.

The classic Boston Baked Beans are actually pretty awesome if I remember correctly. Definitely a good side dish with your candy meal.

 

This for me is where it starts getting really weird. I get that its just gummi, and they probably aren't attempting to replicate the complex flavor of a burger... but its still pretty off the wall. I mean I like Spongebob as much as the next guy, and have even talked about the variation of this candies in its alternate packaging before, but I think I'd still pass on a Krabby Patty.

And efrutti manages to bring the whole shebang to the table here. I know its labeled a lunch bag but this is a practical smorgasbord. 5 Slices of pizza, a hot dog, 2 burgers, and french fries. That's a meal for a whole family! I just thank god its all fat free.

What you say you want something to wash down all this food? Well there are plenty of drinks on the market!

Again Haribo brings the goods with both Happy Cola and Fizzy Cola. What's the difference? I have no idea, other than Fizzy Cola is sweet & tangy. Remember, "Kids and grown-ups love it so,"
 

Trolli brings us cans of soda, in the form of poppers. And it comes in cherry, root beer, orange lemon and cola flavors, so you know they're not messing around.

Oh you're looking for some dessert now that you've had your meal. Well don't worry we've got you covered. What you want candy for dessert? Why bother when there is candy flavored like other desserts!

While Cookie Dough Bites are pretty awesome, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go and buy a full chocolate chip cookie. These also come in like 5 different flavors.

From Cookie Dough Bites, comes probably the most decadent dessert, red velvet cupcake bites. YUM! The only thing I'd like more would be some Tiramisu bites...

If you're looking for ice cream though Baskin Robins has got you covered, in these sugar free candies! I hope they come out with a rocky road flavor...

 Finally we can't forget Extra's Dessert Delights line of gum. From apple pie, and mint chocolate chip, to strawberry shortcake, and orange cream pop these flavors are pretty much exactly like the gum in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Again, thinking only of our health these are thankfully sugar free.

I don't know why it strikes me as odd. I like experimentation, and novelty is appreciated. I guess I just feel like its all amusingly absurd. Candy can take any form and often travels incognito. Stay tuned for next weeks incognito post part 2, with some new candy that is more than meets the eye.

Jelly Belly - video review

Another fun mix bag of intense flavors is on deck for review today, let's have a look at Jelly Belly.



For more please read through the written review, or check out all of the Candy Aisle reviews on the Reviews Page.

Jely Belly review

After talking about them earlier this week I just had to get some for myself, welcome to your review for Jelly Belly.

Please note this is a review for the 20 flavor assorted package as seen above. I'm not going to make note of every single bean flavor here. This is an overall review of the product and some general impressions. So lets get to it :)

Looking at the packaging I'm impressed right off, the logo of red and yellow just pop off the bag. And they've taken the explosion of beans you might see on a skittles bag and amped it up. The bean colors and patterns jump off the white background and showcase Jelly Belly in a very good light. I find now looking at this that I have some definitely nostalgia around these beans and this logo. It reminds me of being a kid and what a treat it was to have these.

If for some reason you don't know Jelly Beans are gourmet jelly beans. Smaller in size, and more expensive than traditional jelly beans but packed with real fruit flavors, and hitting on some totally unexpected but delicious flavor combos. Can you think of anything else in the candy aisle that might taste like toasted marshmallow, buttered popcorn, or orange sherbert? Probably not. And so Jelly Belly hits a very nice niche market that they really dominate.

On the back of the packaging we see the flavor chart. All mix packages of Jelly Bellys have this map showing what beans are to be found inside. There are some real standouts in this Assortment too. cotton candy, strawberry jam, buttered popcorn, and toasted marshmallow are all some of my favorites.


While they do feature a disclaimer on the packaging that the "package may not contain every flavor" I have to say I was disappointed to see that my bag had no cotton candy, lemon lime, or sour apple. I kind of feel like an assorted bag should feature at least one bean of every flavor. But they are upfront about it, and its not a dealbreaker by any means.

Here's my breakdown of what I got in this assortment. As you can see, lots of watermelon, and a bunch of red one I couldn't easily classify. One of the odd things about Jelly Bellys is that they don't really smell like anything from the outside. I suppose thats not odd, just surprising since the flavors inside are SO strong.



Ok, lets get into it for realsies. The beans are made well, I love the logo printed on the side, and the speckling on the ones that are patterned. Biting into a jelly belly isn't too dissimilar from any regular jelly bean. They're textured like granulated sugar. With a gummyness that perhaps goes a bit further tan I'd personally like. But you're here for the flavors, and man do they pop. Not quite as intense as say a Starburst or Skittle, these flavors are most impressive because they really live up to their names. Some of these flavors are really complex, and Jelly Belly uniformly pulls it off. Even on a flavor that I don't particularly enjoy, like say watermelon, I have to admit I am impressed with how true this tastes.

Jelly Bellys are a marvel. They are packed with flavor and even though there may be a few misses in this assortment, they are misses because I just don't dig on that particular flavor, the beans themselves are fantastic. I highly recommend you check out some Jelly Bellys in the near future... hasn't it been too long...

Walking the Candy Aisle rates Jelly Belly - 5 / 5

Jelly Belly is a product of the Jelly Belly Candy Company. Find out more about them at http://www.jellybelly.com