You may have noticed that we here at Candy Addict go a little nuts over the Hershey’s Limited Edition Kisses. Well, a good friend of mine recently went to Hawaii, and she brought back a bag of the Hershey’s Kisses with Macadamia Nuts. I haven’t quite figured out if these are limited edition or simply limited to sales in Hawaii.

These Kisses feature Mauna Loa macadamia nuts (Hershey’s acquired Mauna Loa in 2004) and were first introduced in Hawaii in 2006. There’s a milk chocolate and dark chocolate version. Happily, I got the milk chocolate version!

Okay, here’s where I fess up that I am not a huge lover of macadamia nuts. Given a choice, I would generally select a non-nut version of a candy, but if I have no choice? Bring on the macadamia nuts! Now, in my favor, these Hershey’s Kisses with Macadamia Nuts don’t boast a strong nutty taste. You might think these Kisses would have a whole nut in the center, but then you would be wrong! These milk chocolate Kisses have teeny little chunks of macadamia nut in them. They are so minuscule, in fact, that they are practically negligible. I do think, however, that there’s a hint of macadamia nut in there that lends a subtle, nutty flavor to the creamy milk chocolate.

So, these might not knock your socks off if you’re a big fan of macadamia nuts, but they are still tasty and will appeal to a large audience.

• Hershey’s Kisses website

Buy Hershey’s Kisses online:

• at Candy Direct
• at Old Time Candy
• at Amazon.com

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The Jolly Rancher Passion Mix bag is going to make some of you very, very happy - because while it does not contain the Holy Grail of Jolly Rancherness (that would be the lemon flavor), it does contain the second best flavor: peach! In my earlier post about the Classic Mix of Jolly Rancher flavors, several comments lamented the demise of the peach flavor. Good news, Candy Addicts, it’s here in all its artificial peachy delicious goodness!

The Passion Mix bag is comprised of five flavors:

Fruit Punch: A strong, delicious flavor of the fruit punch drinks we had as a kid and wish we could justify as an adult. The color is exactly right, too - not as red as a cherry flavor nor as pink as a strawberry, it’s got that beautiful dark pink color we’ve all grown to associate with fruit punch.

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Hershey’s has some great candy hitting stores during the rest of 2008. We’ve already reviewed some of them and thanks to Hershey and the All Candy Expo, we have samples of many of these so look for reviews of these soon. Here is some quick info on the upcoming candy from Hershey.

• Hershey’s Bliss™ – Hershey’s Bliss individually wrapped chocolates feature a smooth, creamy texture for an indulgent personal chocolate experience. Hershey’s Bliss is now available in Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with a Meltaway Center. Hershey’s Bliss chocolate will welcome Raspberry with Meltaway Center to its line in December 2008.
  Candy Addict’s review of Hershey’s Bliss
• Starbucks Chocolate™ – When coffee dreams, it dreams of chocolate.™ Distinctive, artistic and handcrafted, Starbucks Chocolate combines the highest quality chocolate with Starbucks® coffee, tea and coffeehouse flavors. Product offerings include: truffles, tasting squares, signature bars, and chocolate-covered coffee beans. Now available where groceries are sold.
  Candy Addict’s review of Starbucks Chocolate
• Twizzlers® Pull-n-Peel® Cinnamon Fire Candy – New hot cinnamon flavored Twizzlers offer consumers a bigger, bolder licorice flavor. Now available.
  Candy Addict’s review of Twizzlers® Pull-n-Peel® Cinnamon Fire Candy
• Reese’s® Select Clusters – Reese’s Select Clusters wrap pecans, peanuts, peanut butter and caramel in milk chocolate. Individually wrapped, Reese’s Select Clusters will be available in August 2008.
• Hershey®’s All Natural Extra Dark Chocolate with Pomegranate and Infused with Raspberry Flavor Assortment – Hershey’s Extra Dark delivers velvety smooth, rich dark chocolate from a select blend of cacao beans for just the right balance of taste, aroma and sweetness. The line will add two new flavors including Pomegranate tasting squares in June 2008 and a Raspberry-infused flavor assortment in December 2008.
• Cacao Reserve by Hershey’s® Truffle Crunch – The latest addition to the Cacao Reserve by Hershey’s chocolate line, Truffle Crunch delivers a three-layer tasting experience that begins with an intense outer layer of rich chocolate surrounding a silky center of creamy chocolate and delicate cacao bits from the heart of the cacao bean. It’s a deliciously unexpected flavor adventure in 35 percent Milk Chocolate and 65 percent Dark Chocolate. Available August 2008.
• Jolly Rancher® Doubles – A new twist on Jolly Ranchers, Jolly Rancher Doubles combines two bold Jolly Rancher flavors. Combinations include: Cherry-Orange, Grape-Apple and Blue Raspberry-Watermelon. Now available.
• Good ‘N Fiery™ Candy – A new twist on an old favorite. The Good ‘N Plenty® and Good ‘N Fruity® family will welcome a new member with a hot cinnamon flavor – Good ‘N Fiery. Available December 2008.
• Hershey®’s S’mores Snacksters® – The Hershey’s Snacksters line expands with the addition of Hershey’s S’mores Snacksters – a delicious combination of graham cracker cereal squares, mini marshmallows and Hershey’s Milk Chocolate chips housed in 100 calorie packages. Available June 2008.
• Ice Breakers BURN™ Mints – A new mint variety will join the Ice Breakers wellness line delivering a combination of flavors and ingredients designed to enhance the mind, body and spirit. The Peach-Mango flavored Ice Breakers BURN Mints provide a unique, tasty way to add the B complex vitamins of Thiamin, Niacin, B5 and B6 to the day. Available June 2008.
• Ice Breakers® Chewy Sours – New Ice Breakers Chewy Sours deliver an intense sour flavor and exhilarating mouth experience. The soft, chewy fruit-crystal center is wrapped in a crunchy candy shell. Sugar-free Ice Breakers Chewy Sours will be available in two flavors: Strawberry and Pomegranate Lemonade. Available June 2008.
• Ice Breakers® Ice Cubes® White Chewing Gum – The power of whitening gum will bring an extra blast to the cool cube shape of Ice Breakers Ice Cubes Chewing Gum. Frosted with a proprietary process, the sugar-free gum is an extra-cold, refreshing alternative to stick and shell gums. The cool cube shape, reflective of an ice cube, reinforces its refreshing, ultra-cold and now teeth-whitening benefits. Ice Breakers Ice Cubes White Chewing Gum will be available in Wintergreen Splash and Mango Kiwi Cooler flavors. Available December 2008.
• Breath Savers® Strong Mint Menthol and Energy Mint Caffeine – The popular and powerful Breath Savers Mints adds two new varieties. Breath Savers Strong Mint Menthol takes breath freshening to a new level while Breath Savers Strong Energy Mint Caffeine offers a “boast of energy” with a touch of caffeine. Available December 2008.

Reading through this list of upcoming candy from Hershey makes my mouth water!

• Hershey’s coverage at Candy Addict
• Review of Hershey’s Bliss
• Review of Starbucks Chocolate
• Review of Fire Twizzlers
• Hershey’s website

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I’m an easy target for the impulse buys at the grocery store checkout counters. I think it’s a good time to scan the candies and see if there’s anything new, and then of course if something catches my eye, I have to try it. Take, for example, these Ice Breakers in Iced Tea Lemon flavor. I have long been a fan of Ice Breakers candies, and I usually have a container of the Ice Breakers sours in my car. I am also a fan of black tea, so these Ice Breakers sure seemed like a winning combination!

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Thanks to a brilliant merging of the minds at Hershey’s and The Styles Check Company, you can now broadcast your love of confections to any and everyone with whom you dare to share your wealth. Your landlord? Check. The phone company? Check. Your impossible-to-shop-for nephew whose birthday is just around the corner? Check! Forget online bill pay – writing checks is back and better than ever! (And you’ll be doubly excited to drop those babies in the mail when you see the matching address labels.)

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How do you find your bliss? Hershey’s hopes we’ll all find it in their Bliss Chocolates, and they’re banking on three flavors to satiate our palates. I recently sampled all three - Milk Chocolate, Milk Chocolate Meltaway, and Dark Chocolate. I found that only one of the candies left me feeling blissful.

Each variety comes as individually wrapped foil squares in flavor-specific bags. They all have a nice, chocolaty smell, and the color choices for the foil are appealing. I can imagine a cute display of Bliss squares in a candy dish. Cute or not, I’m most interested in taste.

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One of my favorite things besides candy is coffee, so I couldn’t believe my luck when I received a huge, beautifully packaged box of Starbucks Chocolate to review! Yes, folks, Starbucks Coffee Company is now in the chocolate business. Starbucks has partnered with Hershey’s, whose subsidiary Artisan Confections Company, itself comprised of Joseph Schmidt Confections, Scharffen Berger, and Dagoba Chocolate, manufactures the Starbucks Chocolate. Did you get all that? Basically, Starbucks Chocolate is being made by people who know their chocolate.

I have to confess that while I was wowed by the attractive packaging, I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the chocolate. Starbucks coffee is not quite full-bodied or flavorful enough for my taste, so I figured the chocolate would be geared toward a similar palate. I am happy to say that I was wrong. Starbucks chocolate, with just a few exceptions, is rich, full flavored, and thoroughly enjoyable.

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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.

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Our good friends at Hershey’s are at it again - taking two favorite and much loved products and rolling them into one. In this case it’s the lovely malted balls of Whoppers and the peanut butter filling of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Original Whoppers are a small, crunchy malted milk ball covered with a thin layer of chocolate. These Reese’s versions are exactly the same thing, but the chocolate layer is replaced with peanut butter.

This product is another case of something with a lot of potential which just misses the mark. I busted this cute milk-carton inspired packaging open, threw a few of these in my mouth, chomped down and thought, “Oh.” That’s it. No declarations of my undying love for these, no desire to just pour the rest of them right down my throat (as convenient as the packaging would make that!).

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Easter has come and gone, but in the sale aisle of your favorite store it is still alive and well. All Candy Addicts know this magical time of year: the Easter candy sales! I of course was armed and ready for the big day. I mean really, how can you resist an activity that allows you the thrill of the easter egg hunt, the control of the Easter Bunny, and the sweet reward of the Easter basket all in one go? Get thee to the sale aisle!

I went with a plan of action this year. Normally, I just scout for my favorites and get the stockpile ready in my secret candy bunker, but I decided to go with a different plan this year. I still felt the need for something new. I immediately zeroed in on the idea of jelly beans. Why? Well, when you think about it, how can you go wrong with jelly beans? So I decided to pick up a bag of any of the different types I could find.

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