fruit Archives - Page 2 of 3

March 16, 2009January 10, 2021 Michael

Yogen Fruz Smoothies: Blueberry Breeze – Fruity and Refreshing

Fruity Candy

I’m not sure how prevalent they are in the States, but go to pretty much any mall in Canada, and you’ll find a Yogen Fruz. For the uninitiated, they sell frozen yogurt, usually mixed in with some sort of fruit. It’s not bad, if you like that sort of thing.

A pack of Yogen Fruz Smoothies consists of 36 (yes – they’re that precise) crunchy pieces of fruity candy. I’m not sure why, but when I bought this I was sort of assuming that they’d be chewy, like jelly beans. They’re actually more like Sweetarts or Pez – crunchy, with a grainy consistency.

They’re good. The flavour I bought was Blueberry Breeze (there’s also Tropical Storm and Strawberry-Banana – I’ll have to try those at some point). They’re not nearly as sweet as something like Pez, with a strongly sour, fruity taste. They don’t really taste like blueberries per se; it’s more of a general berry flavour. There’s also the yogurt (which is definitely in there – it’s the second ingredient), but I’m not sure if it adds too much to the flavour of the candy. I guess it’s overpowered by the tartness of the berry.

Despite the lack of any sort of yogurt flavour (which is kind of odd for a candy released by a frozen yogurt chain), these are not bad at all. They make for a refreshing midday snack.

Manufactured by: Big Sky Brands
Calories (36 pieces, 25 g): 100

January 14, 2009January 10, 2021 Michael

Dairy Milk: Cranberry and Granola – Better than you’d Think

Chocolate

This is a British import, and I don’t know if it’s some kind of limited edition (I’ve never seen it before) or just a new part of the Dairy Milk line in the U.K., but it’s quite good. You might even say it’s… berry good (well, there goes my credibility).

Dairy Milk – Cranberry and Granola is fairly similar to another Cadbury product, Fruit and Nut. Only instead of raisins, there are sweetened, dried cranberries, and instead of nuts, there are crispy/crunchy bits of granola. It’s good for much of the reason that Fruit and Nut is good; the foremost being that the combination of chewy and crunchy is a classic one.

There is actually a pretty generous amount of granola in this bar, which is satisfyingly crunchy as well as flavourful enough to add its own distinctive taste to the chocolate. The cranberries give the bar a slightly sour punch, along with a chewy counterpoint to the crunchy granola. The tartness from the cranberry makes this candy unique, and really allows it to stand apart from something like Fruit and Nut. As for the milk chocolate, it is the usual Cadbury chocolate, and it is pretty good.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t too optimistic about this bar being very tasty; it seemed like a strange concept to me, however I’m happy to have been proven wrong.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (49 g bar): 245

December 8, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

3 Color Coconut – Not Something I Ever Need to Eat Again

Candy Bars

I’m generally a pretty big fan of coconut in candy – Bounty, which is essentially a superior version of Mounds, is one of my favourites. But there are those who feel differently, such as Steve Almond, who described coconut as having a “creepy dead skin texture” (in his very entertaining book, Candyfreak). I can see what he’s saying with a complaint like that, though it’s not something that generally perturbs me. 3 Color Coconut, however, is drier and less sweet than the usual coconut candy, which makes the “dead skin” factor much more of an issue.

3 Color Coconut contains three sections with three distinct flavours: strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. The strawberry section definitely has the strongest flavour, with a sweet, unmistakably strawberry taste. Vanilla is just plain, sweetened coconut – only it’s not very sweet, and it doesn’t have a particularly pronounced coconut flavour (leading to the flavour running out before you’re actually done chewing it, and to the aforementioned dead skin problem). The chocolate section has a weak, vaguely chocolatey flavour (there’s no cocoa or anything even resembling chocolate in the list of ingredients, so take from that what you will).

The chocolate coating that you’d generally find in a coconut confection such as this (like Mounds or Bounty) is definitely missed here. It’s kind of dry and not particularly flavourful; while the three different flavours make this an interesting novelty, I can’t say it’s something I’ll ever buy again.

Manufactured by: Friesinger’s Candies
Calories (71 g bar): 320

December 2, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Chunky – A Raisin-Lover’s Dream

Chocolate

Chunky isn’t sold in Canada and isn’t exactly a high-profile bar, so I hadn’t even heard of it when it was memorably referenced in an episode of Seinfeld (“I know the chunky that left these Chunkies!”). Of course, at that point I had to try it, and I do recall being somewhat disappointed in discovering that Newman’s candy-of-choice was so plain. It’s just chocolate, peanuts and raisins.

Your enjoyment of this bar is highly dependent on whether or not you like raisins. It is extremely raisiny, with a very generous amount of raisins in each segment. Also, the milk chocolate seems to be imbued with the flavour of raisins, as the chocolate itself has a fairly pronounced raisiny/fruity flavour.

There are also peanuts in there, which add subtle crunchiness as well as a slight peanutty flavour, however the star of the show remains the numerous raisins, along with the very sweet, slightly fruity chocolate. The whole thing is quite similar to Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut, though that is clearly the superior product; the chocolate is better, and it isn’t quite so overwhelmingly raisiny (okay, I’ll admit it – I’m not a big fan of raisins).

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (40 g bar): 190

November 24, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Necco Wafers – A Surprisingly Unpleasant Classic Candy

Sugary Candy

I think with a lot of the foods we like – candy in particular – nostalgia can be a pretty powerful force. We all have a handful of foods that we enjoy despite the fact that, deep down, we know aren’t very good. Perhaps they’re associated with pleasant childhood memories, or maybe years of eating them with our undiscerning and still-developing palates have blinded us to how they really taste. Either way, there’s no denying that nostalgia can have a pretty strong effect on our tastebuds.

That’s really the only explanation I can think of for the ongoing success of Necco Wafers, which have been around for almost a hundred years. People eat them as kids, like them (because kids will like pretty much any candy) and then pass them on to their own kids. It’s a vicious circle, really.

Necco Wafers are very chalk-like, complete with a powdery residue left on your fingers. They’re quite crunchy – they’re kind of like a crunchier Pez, at least texturally.

The flavours, which aren’t mentioned anywhere on the packaging (thanks Wikipedia!), break down as follows:

Lemon: This is probably the best flavour in the roll. It’s sweet, with a mild lemony taste. It’s also the most Pez-like of the flavours, which is a good thing.

Orange: This is also pretty decent. This and lemon were the first two flavours I tried, so I was initially thinking “Hey, this isn’t nearly as bad as I remember!” That’s when I tried…

Lime: This has a much stronger citrus flavour than Lemon or Orange. It tastes almost exactly like a lot of bathroom cleaning sprays smell, which is off-putting to say the least.

Clove: Yeah, that’s right – clove. I’m really not sure what to say about this other than that it’s not entirely disgusting, but also not something I’d ever want to eat again.

Cinnamon: This one was decent; it’s mildly spicy with a strong cinnamon flavour, kind of like cinnamon gum or a milder version of those spicy cinnamon hearts you find around Valentine’s Day.

Wintergreen: Odd. Hot, with a somewhat toothpastey flavour.

Licorice: This one isn’t bad, assuming you like black licorice. It’s not the best licorice ever, but considering the calibre of the rest of these, I’ll take anything that isn’t completely gross as a win.

Chocolate: Very sweet, with a strongly sugary / fake-chocolatey taste.

It’s pretty clear that despite Necco Wafers’ stature as a classic American candy, they’re just not very good. After eating about half of the pack, I felt nauseous, and my tongue had an oddly tingly, numb feeling, which persisted even hours later. This is my second time trying Necco Wafers, and I can pretty much guarantee that it’ll be my last.

Manufactured by: Necco
Calories (57 g roll): 220