It seems like your basic caramel has become a thing of the past. Everywhere I look there are all kinds of fancy caramels topped with special salt from Hawaii or the Himalayas. I’ve also seen flavored caramels like pumpkin or even varieties made with tea. I’ve actually never really wanted to try any of these new fangled caramels but after trying these sea salt caramels from Sweet Pete’s, I’ve developed a new point of view.
I love everything about Ritter Sport chocolate. I love that it’s a family-owned business since 1912. I love the cheerful colors of the wrappings. I love the squareness of the bars. I love that there are so many unique flavors – Butter Biscuit, Yogurt, Milk Chocolate with Strawberry Creme – and regular Dark and Milk chocolate, too. Most of all, I seriously love the taste of this chocolate. It’s all incredibly good! I’m talking, “I want to try every variety ever made and will hunt for them across the globe”, obsessively good.
Well, I now know I’m no Swede. I tried Paddywackle’s Swedish-Spice Almond Brittle and I just can’t muster up the taste for it. I really tried. It had all the right components to be delicious… the texture is perfect, the crunch is exquisite, the ingredients are definitely gourmet and of high quality. It has the perfect stick in your teeth-ness that you want and expect out of brittle. It’s buttery and it has almonds. I love the old-fashioned bags the brittle comes in and think the packaging really says “gourmet and hand-made”. But, it’s not quite enough to overcome the unpleasant flavor. The problem is the spice, I think. Maybe I’m not partial to cardamom, or maybe it’s the hint of lemon. I just can’t quite put my finger on what it is I don’t like.
One of my co-workers absolutely LOVED the Swedish-spice brittle. She’s also the type that loves those spicy, ginger, hard candies. She mentioned she had Indian the evening before so maybe her palate was ripe for the flavor. The other 8 or so folks were in consensus and didn’t really care for the spice. One person even commented that it was like eating butter and some “non-toxic, natural” cleaning solution. Another was really impressed with the stick-in-your-teeth factor, but didn’t like the flavor, either. For these reasons, I think it would be worth trying Paddywackle’s other flavors because as I said, all the other details are perfect. Maybe their chocolate almond or original recipe peanut brittle would be a better example for us non-exotic brittle-lovers? I will have to try their other flavors because now I’ve got a craving for brittle!
Editor’s note: I tried the brittle also and thought it was quite delicious. it had a nice flavor with just a little subtle lemony flavor to it. I don’t think I would have even called it “spiced”. I liked it and so did my co-workers that I shared it with.
Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.
Gilliam Candy Company has been around since 1927 but it’s only been under the Quality Candy banner since 2003. Lucky for me Gilliam joined the Quality family because I got to try their Stick Candy.
I remember these hard candy sticks from when I was a kid. The tantalizing colors and stripes would glisten from the shelves and they all looked so luscious it was really hard to pick just one.
I’m afraid you may have the same problem with these sticks. I sat ogling my stick candy in gluttonous glee before I finally chose a few to sample. For those of you who don’t like trying to guess what flavor the stick will be, they’ve got the names of the flavors printed on the ends of the sticks. But if you want to go for the mystery and choose by color, just don’t read the wrapper!
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