sweet Archives - Page 22 of 26

November 14, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Valomilk – Absolutely Delicious (if you can find a Fresh One)

Marshmallow Treats

I recently took a day trip into the States, and of course, I had to stop by a Cracker Barrel in order to pick up a candy I have a definite love/hate relationship with: Valomilk. Love, because when Valomilk is fresh, it’s delicious and easily among my favourites. Hate, because finding a fresh one is ridiculously hit-and-miss.

Each package of Valomilk contains two chocolate cups – each about the size of a Reese’s Big Cup – filled with a soft, flowing marshmallow centre. The marshmallow in here is very unique; it’s not fluffy at all (or at least it shouldn’t be, assuming it’s not too stale) and is similar in consistency to the caramel inside a Caramilk or Caramello. It has a satisfyingly rich vanilla taste, and combined with the better-than-average milk chocolate, it thoroughly hits the spot.

As you can see from the picture, both cups suffered from a bit of leakage, which seems to be the norm with these (in fact, I think I got lucky with the minimal amount of leaking in these cups – I’ve seen far worse). The only way to ensure that you get a pair of cups without too much damage is to stand there in the store and feel the tops of each package, until you find one that feels smooth.

Of course, this being Valomilk, staleness has reared its ugly head – while I’ve had much worse, these cups were already a bit past their prime. You can’t tell from the picture, but the flowing marshmallow had started to partially solidify in certain areas.

Which leads me to this: I have some advice for the good folks at the Russell Sifers Candy Company: change the packaging. Seriously. Change the packaging. What you’ve got right now, which I can only assume is sealed by hand, is completely inadequate. Maybe it has some kind of old-timey appeal, but I couldn’t care less about that. You need to completely overhaul your packaging to maximize the freshness of the product. When buying your candy is like rolling the dice at a craps table, you know you’ve got trouble.

I have a suggestion: lose the flimsy paper wrapper. It does absolutely nothing to protect the delicate cups, nor does it particularly do much to slow down the product’s disconcertingly fast march towards staleness. Perhaps a small cardboard box would work better; one just big enough for the two cups so they don’t slide around at all. And vacuum pack it. I know this will be more expensive. You’ll have to raise the price. Do it! I’d pay double if I knew that I was almost certainly going to get a fresh product. I don’t buy nearly as many of these as I used to, and it’s only because finding a completely fresh, undamaged one is sort of like finding a four-leaf clover.

Finally, you need to print a “best before” date on the packaging. I know you’ll probably lose some money once the product goes past its date, and people no longer want to buy it, but in the long run I’m sure you will gain sales. People will be much more likely to buy your product if they know it’s going to be (reasonably) fresh. Perhaps I’m wrong, though I suspect otherwise.

This is starting to get a bit long, so let’s just say that I think Valomilk is great, but with a few substantial caveats. I’m going to give it three-and-a-half chips; at its best it easily deserves four, but finding a pristine Valomilk is much harder than it should be.

Manufactured by: Russell Sifers Candy Company
Calories (2 cups, 57 g): 260

November 13, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Whatchamacallit – Sweet and Peanutty, but Real Chocolate Would be Nice

Candy Bars

The oddly named Whatchamacallit is another bar affected by the recent Hershey cheapening, in which Hershey has replaced the chocolate in many of its products with a cheaper chocolate substitute (mockolate). Though real chocolate probably would have improved things, I don’t think its absence is particularly felt here (there’s so much other stuff going on in this bar that it’s doubtful that your average person would even notice that it’s mockolate rather than chocolate).

Whatchamacallit consists of a crispy hunk of peanutty puffed rice, topped with a thin layer of caramel and coated in mockolate. The bar is quite crispy with a fairly pronounced peanut flavour. The caramel gives it a lingering chewiness and adds some sweetness to the mix (this is a very sweet bar).

Because of the crispiness/chewiness of the filling, and the strongly sweet, peanutty flavour, the mockolate is pretty much completely unnecessary – it neither detracts from or adds to the bar. A stronger chocolate flavour might have helped. I recall liking this a bit better the last time I had it (in its Canadian iteration, called Special Crisp), though it’s been a while, so it’s hard to say.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Calories (45 g bar): 220

November 12, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Mars Caramel – A Downgraded Mars Bar

Candy Bars

You can file Mars Caramel under “U” for “unnecessary” – not that it’s completely without virtue, it’s just that it’s essentially superfluous. It’s an offshoot of the Mars Bar (Milky Way in the states), which normally consists of nougat topped with a layer of caramel. Mars Caramel forgoes the nougat altogether, and consists entirely of caramel enrobed in milk chocolate.

The problem here is that the bar contains the exact same caramel you’ll find inside a regular Mars Bar, which normally, balanced out by the nougat, works quite well. Here, however, the soft, slightly chewy and very sweet caramel just seems to be missing something. You expect to taste the nougat, but of course, it’s not there. The caramel itself doesn’t really have the complexity to carry the whole bar, and while it does have that Mars Bar taste, it’s just kind of plain – sweet, but without anything to ever make you want to pick this over a standard Mars Bar.

Ultimately, Mars Caramel is unnecessary because it’s just a downgraded Mars Bar. It’s kind of like listening to a song you like with one of the main instruments removed – it’s a little bit interesting at first, but ultimately there’s a reason why all the instruments are there.

Manufactured by: Mars
Calories (45 g bar): 210

November 11, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Droste Holland: Pastilles – A Decent Mix of Milk and Dark Chocolate

Chocolate

About the size of a large coin, these Pastilles feature a mixture of half milk chocolate, and half dark chocolate, split down the middle. It’s a pretty simple product, so I’ll keep this review brief.

The chocolate has a nice snap to it, and both sides are of an above average quality. This isn’t simply a case of the two sides having a different colour but tasting the same – the milk half is quite creamy and sweet, while the dark half has a nicely rich cocoa flavour. There’s no indication on the packaging as to the cocoa content of the dark side, but if I had to guess I’d say sixty or seventy percent. The two halves work together quite well, resulting in a nice balance between the creaminess of the milk chocolate and the more intense flavour of the dark chocolate.

It’s not the best quality chocolate I’ve ever had, but it’s above average and makes for a pretty good snack.

Manufactured by: Droste Holland
Calories (8 pieces, 40 g): 220

November 10, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Pieces – Loved by Humans (and Aliens) Worldwide

Candy Bars

I don’t think there’s any other candy out there that can thank its success so thoroughly to a movie; I think it goes without saying that the movie I’m referring to is E.T.. If Reese’s Pieces hadn’t been so prominently featured in that film and subsequently found success because of it, who knows if we’d still be eating them today (and of course, there is the infamous story of the people at Mars refusing to allow M&Ms – Steven Spielberg’s first choice of candy – to be used in the movie. That’s one of those colossal blunders that you have to imagine still stings a little bit).

The question of “favourite candy ever” is one that, for me at least, probably changes on a daily basis depending on my mood. However, ask me that question, and more times than not I’ll probably say Reese’s Pieces. I mentioned in my review of Reese Peanut Butter Cups that it took me a while to warm up to their distinctive, crumbly peanut butter. I never had that problem with Reese’s Pieces; it’s always been one of my favourites.

There’s just something about the sweet, creamy peanut butter filling combined with the crunchy shell that hits all the right notes for me. The smooth peanut butter centre is sweeter than the average PB, and contrasts very nicely with the crunchy shell. They also happen to be highly addictive; once you start eating them, it’s pretty hard to stop until you’re scraping the bottom of the bag and wishing there could be just one or two more left.

I do have a small quibble with the packaging – I’m of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school of thought, and so I kind of miss the box. I guess it doesn’t make a difference, but I miss it nonetheless.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Calories (51 g bag): 250