Candyrageous - Page 7 of 35 - A Blog about Candy

March 17, 2021 Michael

Cherry Blossom – It Tastes Better than it Looks

Candy Bars

The packaging for Cherry Blossom is bizarrely unappealing. If I hadn’t known how long it’s been around (since the 1890s!), I would have assumed it’s part of some sort of Producers-esque scheme to create an intentionally failed candy. But it’s been on the shelves for well over a hundred years, so I guess someone’s eating it.

It’s hard to get over how ugly the packaging is. I’ve seen it on the shelves since I was a kid, but I haven’t tried it until now, because why would I?? And let’s make something clear: I was a fat kid who wanted to try every candy bar in existence, and I still had no interest in this thing.

The ugliness persists after you open the box and unwrap it from the foil (yes, it’s still wrapped in foil, because apparently the whole experience is meant to replicate being a Depression-era hobo who can’t afford anything better). Is it impolite to say that it looks like a turd? It is? Okay, then I won’t say that it absolutely, positively looks like a turd, even though we can all clearly see that it looks like a turd.

Happily, it tastes better than it looks. It’s not great, mind you, but it’s not nearly as terrible as you’d think based on the packaging. The milk chocolate exterior features peanuts and coconut, which compliments the cherry and the goopy, cherry-flavoured syrup reasonably well. It’s a Hershey product, so the quality of the chocolate is about what you’d expect. The whole thing is way, way too sweet (a dark chocolate version of this might actually be pretty good), but if you like the cherry/chocolate combo, you’ll probably enjoy this.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 piece, 45 grams): 210 calories, 10 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 27 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified palm oil and modified vegetable oil (shea, sunflower and/or safflower), modified milk ingredients, unsweetened chocolate, coconut, peanuts, cherries, corn syrup, lactose, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, invertase, natural and artificial flavours, salt, acetic acid, citric acid, sodium benzoate, colour, sodium metabisulphite, potassium sorbate, sulphites.

March 14, 2021 Michael

Ferrero Hazelnut Eggs – A Delicious Easter Treat

Easter Candy

Do you like Ferrero Rocher? If you do, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll like Ferrero Hazelnut Eggs. If you don’t, you’re a straight-up maniac and I’m going to have to insist that you drive yourself to your local police station so that you can be put away for life. You are not to be trusted out in the world.

For everyone else, Ferrero Hazelnut Eggs are delicious, though they’re basically like a less hazelnutty version of Ferrero Rocher, so they can’t help but feel like a bit of a downgrade.

Like Ferrero Rocher, these eggs feature a milk chocolate and wafer exterior encasing a creamy chocolate/hazelnut centre. This is an objectively delicious combo, with a great contrast between crispy and creamy, so it pretty much goes without saying that these things are extremely tasty. But I missed the chopped hazelnuts that you get on the outside of a Ferrero Rocher, not to mention the whole hazelnut within.

The outer layer of milk chocolate is a bit more generous here, which is nice, but the whole thing is probably a tad sweeter than it needs to be.

If I had the choice I doubt I’d ever pick one of these over a Ferrero Rocher, which makes them feel a bit redundant, but it’s hard to deny that they’re delicious.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (3 eggs, 30 grams): 170 calories, 11 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 25 mg of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 14 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, soy and/or sunflower lecithin, vanillin), modified palm oil, sugar, hazelnuts, whey powder, cocoa, tapioca starch, wheat flour, milk powder, soy and/or sunflower lecithin, skim milk powder, salt, tara gum, vanillin, sodium bicarbonate.

March 11, 2021March 14, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Crispy Crunchy – Much Better than the Competition

Candy Bars

I mentioned in my review of the Clark Bar that I thought I had finally reviewed every candy bar in the genre of crispy, sugary, and peanut buttery (stuff like 5th Avenue, Butterfinger, and Crispy Crunch). But it turns out there is (at least) one more: Reese’s Crispy Crunchy, a bar whose very existence had somehow completely passed me by until recently.

And I guess I saved the best for last (is it the last, though? Probably not); this one is everything I wanted all the others to be.

It’s a bit different from the others — along with the crispy peanut butter candy and the chocolate exterior, it features peanut chunks and actual peanut butter.

First point in its favour: it’s coated with a very generous amount of real milk chocolate. This is in contrast to the waxy mockolate you’ll find on a Butterfinger or a 5th Avenue.

Second point in its favour: between the thin layer of peanut butter and the peanut pieces on its exterior, Reese’s Crispy Crunchy has a very pronounced PB-infused flavour that the other bars are lacking. It’s quite satisfying.

Third point in its favour: the crispy peanut butter candy in the middle is surprisingly delicate, with a wafer-like lightness that doesn’t stick to your teeth.

I have no idea why this isn’t a bigger deal, because it’s clearly the king of this type of candy bar. My only real complaint is that it is very, very sweet — unlike most Reese’s products, it doesn’t really have a salty kick to balance out the sweetness. But that’s a minor complaint for a top-notch bar.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1/3 pack, 29 grams): 140 calories, 8 grams of fat (3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 13 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Peanuts, milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milk fat, lecithin (soy), PGPR), sugar, corn syrup, vegetable oil (palm kernel oil, palm oil), contains 2% or less of: molasses, cocoa, whey (milk), salt, lecithin (soy), artificial flavor, TBHQ and citric acid, to maintain freshness.

March 7, 2021March 14, 2021 Michael

Pal-O-Mine – An Unpleasant Sugar Overload

Candy Bars

If you follow this blog at all, you’ll notice that it’s exceedingly rare that I give anything less than two out of four. I mean, it’s candy. How bad can it be?? Candy bars are like pizza; even when they’re bad, they’re still pretty good.

But there are exceptions, of course. Enter: Pal-O-Mine, an old-timey Canadian chocolate bar (the packaging proudly proclaims that it’s a “Ganong original since 1920”). How it’s managed to stick around for so long is a complete mystery to me.

It’s upsettingly sweet. It hurt my teeth and burned my throat. It gave me a mild pain behind my eyes, which basically never happens. I had to eat a pickle after just to cleanse my palate of the overriding sugariness. It’s sweet.

The wrapper describes it as “fudge & peanuts,” and I guess you can taste a mild peanutty flavour if you really concentrate, but mostly it’s just like eating pure sugar.

The soft fudge is covered in a fairly generous layer of dark chocolate, which you’d think would temper the sweetness a bit and bring the bar a nice chocolatey flavour — but it accomplishes neither of those things. It’s lost in the tidal wave of sweetness.

You know those really bottom-of-the-barrel boxes of chocolate you can get at the dollar store? The kind that makes Pot of Gold look gourmet in comparison? That’s what Pal-O-Mine reminded me of. It’s just soft and sweet and unpleasant. If you’re a real sugar fiend maybe it’ll do something for you, but otherwise there’s a reason you’ve likely never heard of it.

Manufactured by: Ganong
Nutritional info (2 pieces, 55 grams): 210 calories, 6 grams of fat (3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 10 mg of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 33 grams of sugar, 1 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, yellow sugar, glucose, lactose), dark chocolate (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin, vanilla flavour), milk ingredients, peanuts, salt, dried egg white (egg white, citric acid, baker’s yeast), natural and artificial flavour.

March 3, 2021March 6, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Gold – Almost as Delicious as the Original

Candy Bars

Though I had initially assumed that Kit Kat Gold was a spin-off of Hershey’s Gold, they’re actually not affiliated. Remember, while Hershey makes Kit Kat in America, it’s made by Nestle in the rest of the world — and Kit Kat Gold is a Nestle product. I guess the word “gold” is too generic to copyright.

Like the Hershey version, the main draw here is the presence of caramelized white “chocolate,” and like the Hershey version, the chocolate isn’t real. The label simply calls it “caramelized white gold,” and Nestle’s website calls it “caramelized-white chocolatey coating.”

However, as I’ve noticed with other Kit Kat varieties made with mockolate, the presence of the fake stuff doesn’t have much of an impact on the tastiness of the bar. There’s almost no waxiness here, and the presence of the crispy wafers covers up any of the mockolate’s textural shortcomings.

It’s really, really good. This might actually be one of my favourite Kit Kat varieties — the toastiness of the wafers and the mild caramel flavour from the coating is a boffo combination. As usual with Kit Kat varieties, the wafers do a great job of balancing out the overall sweetness of the bar. It’s surprisingly delicious.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 45 grams): 240 calories, 13 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.2 grams of trans fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 22 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, glucose), milk ingredients, modified palm and modified vegetable oils, wheat flour, vegetable oil, soy and sunflower lecithin, cocoa powder, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, natural and artificial flavours, yeast, baking soda, salt, calcium sulphate, protease, xylanase.