candy Archives - Page 30 of 31

October 22, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Cadbury Fudge – A Slap in the Face to Fresh Fudge

Candy Bars

In my experience, fudge is generally something that has to be eaten while it’s reasonably fresh. I’ve never had a prepackaged fudge that I’ve been particularly fond of; this, unfortunately, is no exception. Actually, this may just be the worst fudge that I’ve ever had.

Cadbury Fudge is, as the name implies, just a stick of fudge. It’s also coated with a thin layer of milk chocolate, but I’m not sure if that adds much, if anything, to the flavour. My first impression, upon taking a bite, was that this bar definitely has the texture right – it has that thick, slightly grainy consistency, almost like a really thick peanut butter, that you expect from fudge. That’s pretty much the only thing that this bar has right.

The bar is ridiculously sweet – burns the back of your throat sweet. There’s really not much to it other than the extreme sweetness. It has an underlying artificially fudgey taste, but mostly it’s just sweet. Eating a handful of sugar straight from the bag would probably be less sweet, and would probably taste better, too. The bar also has an unpleasant aftertaste.

This is another candy I bought from the import shop, and boy am I glad Cadbury saw fit not to inflict this upon North America. Wow. I’m generally pretty easy going when it comes to candy, but this was awful, and certainly not up to Cadbury’s generally higher-than-average standards.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (1 bar): 115

October 21, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Lion – Crispy, Chewy, and Delicious

Candy Bars

This is another British bar that I purchased at the import store I mentioned in my Time Out review. This one’s called Lion, and it’s essentially a denser version of a Mr. Big bar (which, I suppose, will mean little to most Americans as neither bar is available in the States, as far as I’m aware). Basically, it’s a filled wafer, topped with a rather thick layer of chewy caramel, and coated with milk chocolate and bits of crispy puffed rice.

It’s good. The caramel is very chewy – it takes a while to fully chew, even after the other stuff is long gone. This gives the bar a satisfying richness. It helps that the caramel is surprisingly subtle, and not very sweet at all (by candy bar standards, at least). The whole bar is actually a bit less sweet than the usual American offering. The crispy rice and wafers provide a nice contrast to the soft caramel, making the bar texturally interesting. The wafer adds some sweetness to the bar, as well as the usual mildly wheaty/wafery taste (What’s that you say? “Wafery” isn’t a word? Sure it is! Don’t look it up, though. Just take my word for it).

I think I might prefer Lion to Mr. Big, as it seems to have a bit more substance, though I’d have to try a Mr. Big again to be sure. It’s definitely a shame that this isn’t available in North America outside of specialty stores.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (55 g bar): 277

October 20, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Big Turk – An Odd Mixture of Gummy Candy and Chocolate

Candy Bars

This has always been a candy that, alongside stuff like Eat More and Bridge Mixture, I can’t say I fully understand. It’s one of those things you never actually see anyone eat, but always seems to be in there with the rest of the candy bars at the store. So who’s buying these? Older people, I guess? The packaging proudly proclaims that it’s low in fat (with “60% less fat than the average chocolate bar”) so I suppose that it might appeal to dieters or people who are trying to cut down.

This is actually only the second time in my life that I’ve eaten a Big Turk; it definitely isn’t one of the first bars you go for when you’re a kid, but once you realize that you’ve tried everything else at the store, you start wanting to try something new – even if it looks suspiciously unappealing. Well, the kid version of me took a couple of bites, deemed this completely inedible and never looked back.

This definitely isn’t quite as bad as I remember it being – I think part of the reason I hated it so much as a kid was the shock of finding gummy candy inside of a chocolate bar, which still seems incongruous to me, but which completely horrified me when I took my first bite, completely unprepared for what lay within (the wrapper in no way indicates that’s it’s gummy candy inside there, and if you’re a kid and you have no idea what Turkish Delight is, you’re in for quite a surprise). This time around, knowing what it was, I didn’t find it to be offensively bad, but I don’t think I’ll be running out to buy another one anytime soon.

In case it’s not clear from the picture, the Big Turk consists solely of a piece of gummy candy coated in milk chocolate. The gummy is extremely chewy, and is of the sticks-to-your-teeth variety. I’m not sure what the flavour is supposed to be; there’s no indication on the packaging, and the ingredients list yields no clues other than the presence of citric acid. There is a mild tartness to it, but other than that it just has a generic fruity/gummy flavour. The milk chocolate is fine, but not necessarily the best accompaniment to the fruity candy.

I think this is essentially just a case of two good things that shouldn’t go together. I like chocolate, and I like gummy candy, but cram the two together and I’m not so sure you have a winner.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (60 g bar): 230

October 19, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Time Out – Crispy Wafers and Creamy Milk Chocolate

Candy Bars

I recently went to a candy store that had a pretty decent selection of imported candy bars from the U.K., so along with this review you can expect a few more British candy reviews coming up. Time Out is a bar that I distinctly recall being introduced in Canada in the early ‘90s. I remember it well because they had a widespread advertising blitz, something which is a bit unusual for a new candy bar. I liked it, and ate it on a fairly regular basis until it disappeared without a trace a couple of years later. I just sort of assumed it had been discontinued altogether, but I guess it sold well enough in Britain to keep it on the market.

Time Out essentially consists of rippled chocolate (sort of like what you’ll find in a Flake bar) sandwiched between two wafers and coated in milk chocolate. Now, I might be remembering this wrong, but I seem to recall that the Canadian version of this bar featured three wafers rather than two, and creamier chocolate rather than the Flake-like stuff found here. I could be way off on that, though. Either way, both bars (the real one, and the one that could very well be a product of my imagination) are fairly similar, and both are quite good.

The wafers in this bar are extremely crispy, and taste mildly of wheat, which helps add some flavour other than the chocolate, without being overpowering – the creamy milk chocolate is still definitely the main attraction here. The chocolate is the standard British Cadbury milk chocolate, which definitely has its own distinctive taste. That’s about it. It’s just wafers and chocolate, but sometimes it’s the simplest thing that’s the most delicious.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (2 bars, 34 g): 180

October 18, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Cinnabon Cinnamon Caramel Pecan Cluster – Cinnamon Overload

Nut Clusters

The very idea of a Cinnabon candy is pretty exciting to me – I’ve always been a big fan of Cinnabon and what they do. Diet food it is not, but when you’re on the lookout for a really rich, satisfying dessert, you could certainly do worse than one of their pastries. I also noticed, upon inspecting the wrapper, that this pecan cluster is made by the Standard Candy Company (makers of the Goo Goo Cluster), which is one of the few old-time candy companies that didn’t go out of business over the years or get bought out by the big guys. So my expectations going in were pretty high, and while this wasn’t the best candy ever, I’m glad I tried it.

They’re definitely not kidding around with the cinnamon in this thing. It smells pretty strongly of cinnamon, which is definitely the dominant flavour in this candy. This is a pecan cluster, so obviously the main components, aside from the chocolate, are pecans and chewy caramel. There are also toffee bits in there, though I’m not sure if they add much to this particular confection – all they seem to do is give the caramel a slightly grainy consistency (at least I’m assuming that was caused by the toffee). There’s also a lingering mild spiciness – nothing particularly pronounced, but it does help to add a bit of complexity to this treat.

And then, of course, there is the cinnamon. The cinnamon taste hits you almost as soon as you start to chew, and only gets more pronounced as you eat it. There’s a very strong cinnamon aftertaste, which reminded me a lot of cinnamon gum. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it was definitely interesting.

“Interesting” is actually a good word for the Cinnabon Cinnamon Caramel Pecan Cluster (that’s a mouthful) – I can’t say I’ve ever had a chocolate like this with such a strong cinnamon taste, and while I enjoyed it and am glad I tried it, I’m not sure I’d ever want to eat it again.

Manufactured by: Standard Candy Company
Calories (43 g cluster): 180