Candy is serious business. Well maybe not exactly, but it’s generally thought to be a bad idea to muck with things that people are personally invested in. No matter what it is, someone out there loves it and they’re going to be angry when it changes.

Case in point: Willy Wonka substituted cherry and lime with pineapple and mango in its popular Runts candy this past year with less than stellar response. Mango is a highly unusual flavor to see as far as candy goes, although I found the Runts version to be adequately pleasing. Pineapple, while usually popular enough, is executed horribly for Runts. Both the shape and the flavor are crude representations of actual fruit and it is not very pleasing to the eye or the tongue.

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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?

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Chocolatiers these days have it tough. Not only are consumers becoming more and more aware of what good chocolate is, but they’re also discovering new flavors to go with it and the potential health benefits. That is partly why I was so excited when I discovered Chuao Chocolatier when I was at the All Candy Expo. They have a product, called the ChocoPod, which combines all three things - good chocolate, new flavors and health benefits.

Each ChocoPod is wrapped in its own brightly colored wrapper which really makes these very portable. Inside, there are attractive chocolates in the shape of a cacao pod with the beautiful lettering of “ChocoPod” decorating the lightly lined surface. The chocolate is a beautiful dark color and it smells rich and sweet. I’d expect no less from El Rey, where Chuao gets all their chocolate. The ChocoPods come in two kinds: solid and filled. On to the tasting!

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It’s always fun to come home to a big package from FedEx, especially when it’s something you didn’t have to pay for and it contains chocolate treats. This time the sender was Chuao Chocolatier and based solely on their packaging, they appeared to be a fairly upscale brand. As we all know though, packaging is probably the least important part of eating chocolate - we all know it’s about the taste.

The samples they sent me were from the ChocoPod line, which are small individually wrapped chocolates, shaped like cacao pods. Aside from banana, all of the flavors are made with Dark Chocolate and all of the flavors except Candela are filled with a gel-like filling.

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We first mentioned the “Elvis Cup” about six months ago and it made a small splash in the internet candy world at the time. The new Reese’s are set to release to the world next month and we received a shipment of them to give our readers a sneak peek at what to expect.

The Elvis Cup is a Reese’s cup with an additional layer of banana creme below the peanut butter. The banana tastes just like they put a real banana slice in there - they absolutely nailed the taste of a banana. Banana flakes are listed on the wrapper so the taste is real bananas.

I am not a big fan of bananas in general (except banana Runts), so I really didn’t think I’d like these much. They definitely aren’t my favorite, but they are pretty good, even with the banana flavor. I can see a lot of people that like banana really enjoying these. The mixture of chocolate, banana, and peanut butter is not one I would think would mix well, but it actually does.

Reese’s have really taken the “Limited Edition” title to a new level as these packages are labeled “Collector Edition”. “Hawaiian” Elvis is on the “King” size packs, regular size has two Elvis images - young Elvis and another “mature” Elvis, and the miniature packs have young Elvis in black with a guitar. Collectible? Why, yes - and tasty too!

The Elvis Reese’s Cups should be available on store shelves sometime in July in mini, standard, and “King” size. get them while you can - whether you are a fan of Elvis or just love the taste of bananas and peanut butter. If you want to enjoy them before they hit stores, check out the collectible Elvis Cup Tin at Hershey’s Gifts.

More candy articles about: candy, sweets, Hersheys, Reeses, peanut butter, banana, bananas, Elvis

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(banana-flavored Monkey Mints)

Along with the Bacon Mints I reviewed earlier this week, I also received two tins of banana-flavored Monkey Mints and two tins of grog-flavored Pirate Mints. Thankfully, the horrid smell of the Bacon Mints didn’t permeate the sealed Monkey Mints and Pirate Mints tins.

Monkey Mints: The first thing that you notice about Monkey Mints is the cool monkey-face-shaped tin. It’s almost worth the cost of the mints just for the cool green tin. Once you actually open the tin, you’ll see 100 round yellow mints. When I first popped one in my mouth, I immediately thought of a banana Runt. After a second, the mint taste came through. Banana and mint isn’t a flavor combination I had ever considered before, but it’s not bad. Neither flavor is overwhelming and they mix rather nicely actually. And seriously - who doesn’t like monkeys?

(grog-flavored Pirate Mints)

Pirate Mints: The Pirate Mints say they are “Grog Flavored”. I had heard the word “grog” bandied about in pirate movies and always thought it meant beer. After looking at the ingredients list and Googling the word “grog”, I found out that grog is watered-down rum (the ingredients list says they contain “rum flavor”). The “mints” taste like a tropical (rum) drink and don’t have any actual mint taste to them all. I suppose they are called “mints” because they look like mints, have the texture of mints, and come in a mint tin. They taste pretty good - like a rum-flavored candy. It’s not a taste I can see myself ever craving after this tin is finished though.

So, both the Monkey Mints and the Pirate Mints are good, but nothing special. They’re really better as a novelty candy/tin than they are great-tasting. At least they don’t taste like bacon.

• Monkey Mints at mcphee.com
• Pirate Mints at mcphee.com
• Bacon Mints Reviewed

More candy articles about: candy, sweets, mint, mints, banana, bananas, rum, grog, pirate, pirates, monkey, monkeys, mcphee

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Recently, Hershey’s announced the “Elvis Cup”, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup that includes a layer of Banana Creme. You may or may not know (if say, you’re blind), but Elvis loved to eat. One of his favorite foods was fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, thus the inspiration for the new Reese’s cup. Hershey’s just added some chocolate and took away the fried aspect (though I’m sure a local county fair can help you with the fried aspect.)

This “limited edition” candy is being made in honor of the 30th Anniversary of The King’s passing. The candy will be on your shelves sometime in July ‘07, while Elvis’ actual date of death is August 16th. The candy, which will come in mini, standard and “king size”, will also include an instant win contest for a trip for two to Graceland.

• News articles on the Elvis Edition Reese’s
• Reeses.com

More candy articles about: sweets, candy, chocolate, peanut butter, banana, elvis, limited edition, Reeses

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