fruit Archives - Candyrageous

June 20, 2021 Michael

Aero Truffle: Black Forest Cake – A Delicious Combo of Cherry and Chocolate

Candy Bars, Chocolate

The last Aero Truffle bar I tried was the chocolate mousse variety, which I enjoyed, but probably wouldn’t ever buy again. I sort of figured that this would be more of the same. I also wondered about the black forest cake element; is that just a fancier way of saying that the truffle part is cherry-flavoured?

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It’s delightful.

I should note that I quite like black forest cake; your enjoyment of this bar very much depends on your fondness for the cherry/chocolate combo. The cherry flavour is not subtle.

If you do like that combo, however, you need to try this bar ASAP — it’s great. There’s no actual cherry in the ingredients, which seems like a red flag, but there’s absolutely none of the cloying, medicine-like flavour that you sometimes get from cherry candies. The cherry flavour is quite nice.

The bar features a dark chocolate coating and a milk chocolate interior, which does a great job of tempering the intense sweetness that you normally get from an Aero bar, and adds a nice punch of rich dark chocolate flavour.

Maybe I wouldn’t have come up with the connection if I had eaten this blind, but the whole thing is actually pretty reminiscent of a black forest cake. It’s a lot better than I was expecting it to be.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (8 segments, 40 grams): 230 calories, 15 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 15 mg of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 16 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, unsweetened chocolate*, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter*, cocoa powder*, modified palm oil, beet red, natural flavour, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate. *Rainforest Alliance Certified

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.

February 17, 2021February 20, 2021 Michael

Huckleberry Gems – Like Viva Puffs without the Cookie

Marshmallow Treats

I learned something today: I had assumed that huckleberry wasn’t an actual thing, like a bumbleberry, but nope, it’s real. It apparently tastes like a blueberry, and it’s the state fruit of Idaho. So I suppose there are a bunch of Idahoans currently shaking their head at my disturbing lack of huckleberry knowledge.

Here’s the other odd thing: Huckleberry Gems, which the wrapper describes as “huckleberry marshmallow creme covered in rich milk chocolate,” contains zero huckleberries or anything even huckleberry-adjacent. A quick perusal of the ingredients confirms that no fruit was harmed in the making of this product.

That’s never a great sign, but this turned out to be decent enough. The marshmallow is creamy and not too rubbery, the chocolate is okay if overly sweet, and despite the odd lack of fruit in the ingredients, it has a pleasantly berry-tinged flavour. It reminded me of a more chocolatey version of Viva Puffs (which I just discovered is a Canadian thing; sorry Americans, you’re missing out) but without the cookie.

It’s fine, but honestly, if I’m craving something like this, I’d rather just have a Viva Puff.

Manufactured by: Idaho Candy Co.
Nutritional info (2 pieces, 34 grams): 140 calories, 4 grams of fat (2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 20 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, soy lecithin (added as an emulsifier), and vanilla), corn syrup, sugar, invertsweet congealed sugar, sorbitol, gelatin, egg albumen, natural and artificial flavors, invertase (glycerine and aqueous extract of invertase from yeast and sodium citrate), and glycerine.

October 18, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Apple Pie – Nails the Apple Pie Flavour

Candy Bars

I’ll admit that I was actually pretty excited to try this one. I mean, it’s Apple Pie Kit Kat; if you don’t think that’s irresistible then you and me are very different people.

I got a bit less excited when I looked at the ingredients list and noticed that there isn’t anything even remotely resembling an apple in what is ostensibly a candy bar all about apples.

But then I took a bite and got excited again because holy cow this thing tastes a surprising amount like a slice of apple pie. Like, it’s weird how much it tastes like apple pie. It nailed that flavour way more than I thought it would, particularly after perusing the ingredients.

Specifically, it tastes like apple pie a la mode, with a hint of tartness from whatever scientific magic they used to replicate the apple flavour, a subtle hint of cinnamon and other spices, a decent amount of pie crust flavour from the wafers, and a milky creaminess that made me think of pie a la mode. I’m shocked that this is as good as it is; I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Between this and the birthday cake variety, Kit Kat is absolutely knocking it out of the park with these novelty flavours that have the potential to be horrible but are actually amazing.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 package, 42 grams): 220 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 40 mg of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), wheat flour: skim milk, corn syrup solids, lactose (milk). Contains 2% or less of: chocolate, natural flavor and artificial flavor, lecithin (soy), salt, yeast, baking soda, artificial color (yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, blue 2 lake, red 40 lake), PGPR.

June 28, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme – Is it Supposed to Taste Like Medicine?

Candy Bars

Hershey recently released three white chocolate bars with ice-cream-inspired flavours: Birthday Cake (which I just reviewed), Strawberries ‘n’ Creme, and Cookies ‘n’ Mint (which is up next). I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Birthday Cake variety, which had an appealingly junky flavour that reminded me of store-bought frosting.

This one, on the other hand? Swing and a miss.

It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but nothing here particularly works. The slightly sour strawberry flavour is neither here nor there; it’s muddled, with a medicinal quality that I found to be vaguely unpleasant. I guess it’s supposed to taste like strawberry ice cream, and it kinda does if you use your imagination, but mostly it tastes like lousy white chocolate with a watered-down strawberry-like flavour.

It doesn’t help that the chocolate isn’t particularly creamy, with a slightly grainy consistency (which, to be fair, seems to be an issue with all Hershey chocolate).

There are little crispy bits interspersed throughout, but unlike the sprinkles in the Birthday Cake variety, I’m not sure what they’re supposed to be or why they’re there. They lack the pronounced crunch of the sprinkles, and only serve to emphasize the white chocolate’s lack of creaminess.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 39 grams): 200 calories, 11 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, corn syrup solids, lactose, strawberry juice, maltodextrin), cocoa butter, milk ingredients, sunflower oil, modified palm oil, corn starch, lecithin (soy), natural and artificial flavors, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, beetroot concentrate, citric acid.