To heck with Christmas – summer is definitely the most wonderful time of the year. You’ve got warmth and sunshine, barbecues, beers on the patio, and outdoor sports. And in my home town of Edmonton, Alberta, summertime is Capital Ex time. That’s our local midway, recently re-branded from Klondike Days. (Considering that our claim to the old name was basically “During the gold rush, some guys stopped here for a beer on their way to the Yukon,” I figure the change was long overdue.) But whatever the name, the big draws remain the same: rides, midway games, and, of course, delicious, delicious carnival food. So on a recent Saturday, I braved the crowds at the Ex in an attempt to determine the top five carnival candies. (The things I do for you readers! Wink, wink.) The results were as follows:

Read More »

Share This

Here at Candy Addict, we’ve already determined that when it comes to sour candy, there is sour, and then there is sour. I had pretty much given up my search for anything which would satisfy my sour-deprived taste buds, until I came across X-Treme Sour Candy. It had the picture of someone’s head being blown up, the “Caution: X-Tremely Sour” warning and it even came in a cute little rocket-shaped container.

The thing which made me buy it was actually the health warning, in small print, on the label: “CAUTION: Eating multiple pieces at the same time or within a short time of each other may cause an irritation to sensitive tongues and mouth. This may vary from a slight irritation to a severe reaction depending on the individual.” Yippee! Candy eating as an extreme sport? I’m in! As you can imagine, I wasted no time on these, especially as the flavor mix included cola, strawberry, apple, and blue raspberry.

The candies are individually wrapped, with the color of wrapper relevant to the flavor inside. Each candy is about the size of a nickel - so fairly substantial, really. The first sensation you get is of extreme sourness (similar to a WarHead) - the kind which makes your tongue curl and your hair straighten.

Read More »

Share This

I have a crush. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ll be driving my car or typing away at work or sweating in the middle of a Pilates class when suddenly, wham! I’ll picture the object of my affection and my eyes will glaze over a bit. I smile just enough that one would assume I’m daydreaming about Clive Owen again. But sorry, Clive. You’ve got some competition and the name is Damla.

Damla, a Turkish import, is a taffy-like fruit flavored candy with a delicate gel center. Each piece comes individually wrapped and the flavors - apple, cherry, orange, peach and strawberry - are clearly labeled with darling little illustrations on their wrappers. The candy has a bit of a chew, but nothing that will destroy a filling. Actually, it takes on a lovely melty consistency after a bit of chomping.

And oh, the health benefits! The candy touts its fat-free status and at less than 20 calories per piece, I can easily justify eating five at a time for my daily empty calorie snack.

Is it worth it, you ask? Am I blinded by candy lust? Here’s the flavor breakdown:

Read More »

Share This

Since I adore them so much, the flavors of Jolly Rancher candies often act as a benchmark for when I taste other fruit flavored candy. As a group they make no excuses for not tasting at all like the actual fruits they represent. Jolly Ranchers are fabulous in that they are so fantastically, gorgeously artificial and yummy. The advertising tag line is “bursting with BOLD fruit flavor” and when it comes to hard candies, no truer words were spoken. Here’s a quick review of the five classic flavors:

Apple: This is far and away my favorite Jolly Rancher flavor. Sweet and tart, green apple is a classic for which there is no substitute. It sits on the knife edge of being too sweet, but balances nicely with the amount of tartness in it. Added bonuses are the bright green it turns your tongue and the fact that you can use it to make Jolly Rancher beer.

Read More »

Share This

Candy apples are one of those things that I really like, but I only actually eat once every 3 or 4 years. I get one every two or three times I go to the state fair and that’s about it. That’s a shame really, because a good candy/caramel apple is a thing of beauty - the combination of a crisp, juicy apple with some sweet caramel makes my mouth water just thinking about it. So naturally I was overjoyed when I was offered the chance to review candy apples from Monster Candy Apples.

They let me pick which four I wanted to try so I figured I’d go with two traditionals and two non-traditionals. I chose a Plain Caramel Apple, a Chocolate Toffee Apple, an Apple Pie Apple, and a Cheesecake Apple. They arrived professionally packed in clear individual containers with a layer of wax paper at the bottom and all four came out of their packages in perfect condition.

My wife helped me eat the apples since they are huge - way too big for one person to eat alone. We ate all of the apples after dinner over the space of about two weeks. So, how did they taste?

Read More »

Share This

As a hardcore Candy Addict, I consumed a good deal of candy during my childhood. My mother even packed full-size candy bars in my sack lunches! Mysteriously, Mike and Ike candies were absent from my candy-eating repertoire. I wasn’t exactly sure why, since I did like candies in the jellybean category. Well, I recently had the honor of reviewing five selections of Mike and Ike candies, and I think I know why.

The five kinds of Mike and Ike candies included Original Fruits, Berry Blast, Tropical Typhoon, Tangy Twister, and Lemonade Blends (which is due to be released nationwide in the summer of 2008). We’ll start with the bad then work up to the good, okay?

Read More »

Share This

Given that they were “born” in 1962, Lemonheads have aged pretty well. However, the iconic candy from Ferrara Pan has had a bit of a make-over. Along with his friends Orangehead, Applehead, Grapehead and Cherryhead, they’ve all gone chewy! I had high hopes for this candy re-invention, as I’ve always loved Lemonheads and I figured this could only be an improvement. It brings me great joy to report that the chewy version is just as nice as the classic version.

Read More »

Share This

A few quick reviews to make you hungry:

Twix PB: It’s not too sweet, which is nice. The Twix PB had some good flavor, but overall, it just didn’t do it for me. It’s just not truly a Twix for me unless it has caramel in it. The chocolate cookie was a nice touch though. Overall, it’s not bad, but not great.

Snickers Dark: Snickers Dark is back on the market for good after being a Limited Edition. If ever there has been a case for milk chocolate over dark, this is it. Regular, milk chocolate Snickers is sooooo much better. This barely tasted like a Snickers! Skip the Dark.

3 Musketeers Mint: Rachel tried this a while back and wasn’t thrilled with it. I thought it was great. It had plenty of minty goodness for me and tasted like a York Peppermint Patty in bar form. Good stuff.

Hi-Chew Green Apple: Hi-Chew is a Japanese favorite and this is the first flavor I have tried. WOW! Loved it! Oddly rubbery at first but turns chewy and super-delicious. If you like sour apple flavor you must try it. Now I want to try all the Hi-Chew flavors!

Tung Toos: We first mentioned these over a year ago and I finally got to try them now. They don’t have a ton of flavor since they are more for fun than for “eating”, but they are definitely fun. They’re the kind of thing my six-year old daughter loves. It’s just not really an adult thing.

Links:

• Twix
• Snickers
• 3 Musketeers Mint
• Tung Toos

Buy these candies online:

• Twix PB at Amazon
• Snickers Dark at Amazon
• 3 Musketeers Mint at Amazon
• Hi-Chew at JBox
• Hi-Chew at AsianFoodGrocer

More candy articles about: Twix, peanut butter, chocolate, Snickers, mint, 3 Musketeers. Japanese, Japan

Share This

When the long school day was over, the afternoon bus seemed like a sanctuary. True, there were always spit balls to dodge, boys to avoid, and backpacks to trip over. Despite these hazards, I welcomed the world of the school bus for one particular reason: it was prime candy trading time.

Once we settled in for the drive home, my bus companions and I would whip out our respective stashes and embark on a journey through a smörgåsbord of sweets. The candies that would appear most frequently from our backpacks were Fireballs, Red Hots, Jolly Ranchers, Warheads and Blow Pops.

Blow Pops were always a favorite because they combined lollipops with gum, which was forbidden both in school and on the bus. We would consume the Blow Pops with gusto, giddy with our secret rebellion. It was with this same excitement that I approached a bag of Blow Pop Minis - the “Blow Pop with NO Stick.” How would my Blow Pop experience fare now that I was no longer encumbered with a stick?

Read More »

Share This

Most sour candies aren’t nearly sour enough for me. I am one of those weird people who will quite happily eat a fresh lemon wedge without flinching. When I happened upon this bag of Zours, which shows two aliens suffering from a serious case of Sour Eye*, I had to give these a try!

The Zours come in four flavors - sour blue raspberry, sour green apple, sour tangerine, and sour watermelon. Without even opening the packet I knew I was going to love these little babies.

A product from the Just Born company (makers of other treasures such as Peeps and Hot Tamales), Zours take almost a week to produce and over 100,000 of them are produced every single day. With that much sour power in one factory and such a rich candy pedigree, these little jelly delights were bound to be good.

Read More »

Share This