Despite being siblings, my brother and I had differing opinions on everything. He was a Los Angeles Dodgers fan while I preferred the Angels. He liked sci-fi stuff, and I… well, I just didn’t like/understand it.

And even on Thanksgiving, the day of the year where all families sit down together, he and I were contentious. You see, my mom had this tradition where she would let one of her kids pick the dessert to create. He always wanted pumpkin pie while I craved blueberry cheesecake. It was always a tempestuous dinner if your dessert wasn’t picked.

All these years later, I still like my preference over his, but in honor of the spirit of Thanksgiving, here is a candy recipe that combines both loves: A blueberry pumpkin cheesecake fudge bar that I call the Harmony Bar.

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I love caramel. Anything dipped in it will do - apples, pretzels, onions… you get the picture. I still crave the old Marathon bar, the one with chocolate, braided caramel and a ruler on the back of the package. I rejoiced when Cadbury came out with a king-sized Caramello bar. At Halloween time, I eat the caramel discs that come with taffy apple kits and toss the apples. (Well, I don’t actually buy the apples, but, again, you get the picture.)

So I’ve been wanting to try Werther’s Original caramel chocolates ever since I saw the commercial on TV. Werther’s candies are marketed as treats handed down through the generations. They’re always showing some older gentleman (I hope it’s that kid’s grandpa) handing out candies to young tykes in short pants. There might be a little vaguely European candy shop where robust workers joyfully toil away on their sweet confections. (“I may be making minimum wage, but this caramel is off the hook!”) After eating their candy, folks generally hug, smile and live happily ever after. I don’t know if you can get this same feeling from a Twix bar.

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New Improved Flavor! Companies everywhere seem to think that changing their products will increase sales. From the “new” Coke to putting purple horseshoes in Lucky Charms, big businesses love to change. And doesn’t it seem that the best tasting treats get changed the fastest?

In the late spring of 2008, the 117 year old Wrigley company – best known for its gum – was purchased for $23 billion by Mars, Incorporated. Mars is well known for making candy (such as M&Ms, Snickers, and Starburst) but also markets rice, coffee, and pet food.

Since acquiring Wrigley, Mars has made quite a few changes. Doing away with the traditional five-sticks-per-pack narrow rectangular package, they now offer Wrigley’s gum in a Slim Pack™ – a larger rectangle that now contains 15 sticks. Anyone could live with the new package, but the new “improved” flavor? Well, let’s just say I wish I’d stocked up on gum prior to the Mars acquisition.

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I have always known that Jelly Belly manufactures more than their trademark jelly bean; however, my knowledge of the rest of their product line is rather limited. I attribute this fact mostly to price issues.

As anyone who sees Jelly Belly products already knows, they are considered to be a gourmet line of candy widely accessible to the public. And while their candy won’t hurt your wallet as much as designer chocolate would, you’ll still be required to lay out a few more dollars for a product you could easily find cheaper, but most likely at a lesser quality.

One such product is their gummy raspberries and blackberries. These confections have arcane origins that originate in Europe, and the most association I have ever had with them was that a former boss of mine loved to consume the Haribo version.

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I love Christmas. I am a fool for all things holiday. I celebrate September, October, and November 25th as 3 months, 2 months, and 1 month until Christmas, respectively. The tree goes up and the carols come out as soon as the turkey is finished, and December 26th is the darkest day of my year.

To reiterate, I love Christmas. And, have no doubt, that all-encompassing amour most certainly extends to holiday candy, be it candy canes and red and green M&M’s or gourmet assortments with appropriately hued ribbons. So I was Deck-the-Halls, All-I-Want-For-Christmas-Is-You happy to get into the spirit of things a little early this year, in order to preview and review Divine Chocolate’s holiday line of treats for 2008. As I did for my review of their standard products, I again enlisted my chocolate-covered-Christmas loving pals for opinions, and here’s our take on their seasonal goods:

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A side-effect of doing the Great Chocolate Experiment posts is that I’ve become a lot more inclined to try unusual chocolate bars when I see them in stores. After all, if even my hopelessly amateurish attempts at candy-making can make unlikely combinations like garlic and chocolate taste good, then how much better will a professional chocolatier’s efforts be? So, when I found this Dolfin Chocolat au Lait Hot Masala bar in Montreal, I decided to give it a try.

According to the Food Lover’s Companion, masala is “a word used throughout India for a spice blend with myriad variations. It can refer to a simple combination of two or three spices (such as cardamom, coriander and mace) or a complex blend of 10 or more ingredients.” Masalas, especially the most popular variety, garam masala, are often used as a spice base for curries. Chocolate and curry couldn’t be any worse than chocolate and pickles… right?

Once I’d brought the bar home, a look at the ingredients quickly dispelled my hopes of rocking the chocolate/curry combo. The bar’s spices of cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, cloves, ginger and vanilla were more consistent with a different type of masala – tea masala, used to make the popular sweet beverage known as masala chai, usually just called chai in North America. Now, I love a good cup of chai almost as much as I love a good plate of curry, so I wasn’t really all that disappointed.

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To me Godiva is like the Starbucks of chocolate. It’s a bit pretentious, often overpriced and it’s available everywhere, lurking in book stores, airports, hotels, even clothing stores.

But, just like Starbucks, Godiva knows how to deliver. The company’s chocolates are pricey but consistently good. The Godiva people also know how to saturate a market, just like their Starbucks friends: The chocolate behemoth has perfected the art of offering up the same product in hundreds of variations. From bars to liquors to cookies, there’s plenty of ways to get a Godiva fix. I’m waiting for the Godiva intravenous drip to dispense chocolate into my bloodstream 24 hours a day.

Now Godiva has created chocolate ‘pearls’ that come in a can. The company Web site plugs these with the tagline “Decadence goes mobile.” Please. Do we really need another temptation from these people?

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The first thing my little sister said to me when I told her that I scored a gig reviewing candy went something along the lines of the following:

“So what sort of candy are you going to give me?”

I had not even written my first review, and she was already trying to milk the perks. Being the good, older brother that I am, or maybe just feeling guilty remembering all the stuff big brothers put their little sisters through when growing up, I send her care packages every now and then with candy.

When we spoke several weeks ago, I inquired if she had received my latest shipment. She told me she had and continued to explain how she disliked everything I sent her. Mind you, she and I have very different ideas of what constitutes tasty when it comes to candy.

She did explain that as a candy reviewer, I was letting down the general public and her by not devoting enough time to Reese’s products, her all-time favorite. I tried explaining that there were simply no new products to review. This fact failed to placate her. Knowing the wrath a little sister could release, I picked my battle and told her the next time I saw a new Reese’s product, I’d not only review it, but also send her a box of whatever it was.

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Being a Jolly Rancher fan, I immediately gravitated to the Jolly Rancher Creepy Pops. Plus, I love lollipops so I couldn’t wait to try these.

The bag has four flavors: wacky watermelon, spooky blue raspberry, ghastly grape, and eerie apple. Each pop is individually wrapped but you can tell what flavor you’ll be getting because you can see the color through the wrapper.

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