Photo by Anthemic Tangle

I love licorice. So when I came across a value pack of mixed Twizzlers flavors it was like Christmas came early. The bag had a bunch of flavors I’d never heard of, along with some that were more familiar. Each flavor is wrapped in its own cellophane pouch so you can take your time making your way through the bag and you can open as many or as few as you like at any given time. Very convenient and a good way to make the bag last!

Strawberry Twists: The most familiar in the bunch were the strawberry twists. These come two to a pack and are about 1/3 the size of a regular Twizzler. These have an artificial strawberry flavor and are a little softer and less waxy than regular Twizzlers. I don’t mind a bit of waxiness in my licorice so I didn’t find the wax factor off-putting in any of the flavors.

The rest of the bag consisted of different Pull-n-Peel flavors. These bits of licorice pull apart into licorice ropes like I used to eat when I was a kid, except these have way more flavor. I have to confess that I love to play with my food. So playing with the Pull-n-Peel flavors was almost as much fun as eating them!

Read More »

I did something recently that I swore I’d never do: I moved to a place with no Trader Joe’s. To the TJ uninitiated, this may seem like no big deal. But for those of you who have enjoyed TJ’s amazing food, drink, and CANDY (at even more amazing low prices), you understand my loss and dismay. So please join me in bidding a fond farewell to three of my all time favorite TJ candies.

Image by Anthemic Tangle
Milk Chocolate Clouds: Behold the chocolate, caramel, pecan glory that is the Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Cloud. Honestly, these are better than any other turtles I’ve ever had. The caramel is buttery and chewy, but doesn’t stick to your teeth. You can fully taste the sweet pecans and somehow they still retain some of their crunch. And, to top it all off: the milk chocolate is sooooo good. Unlike some milk chocolate, it’s not too sweet and is plenty chocolaty. And they don’t skimp on anything: each cloud is jam-packed with chocolate, caramel, nutty gooey goodness. Ah bliss!

Read More »

Our good friends over at Licorice International recently sent me a little licorice care package containing, among other things, a sample of Dutch company Katja’s Apekoppen. Needless to say, I was overjoyed to get the chance to try a new kind of licorice!

Apekoppen, translated as Apeheads, are half brown/half white ape-shaped candies. I briefly skimmed an explanation of the confection and saw that they were actually a melding of banana and licorice flavors – the white part was banana, the black traditional black licorice. I immediately thought they were going to taste, well… disgusting. But, being the brave soul I am, I bravely forged ahead. Happily, I was rewarded with one of the most interesting licorice candies I’ve had in quite some time.

Read More »

As I was perusing the massive Hershey booth at the All Candy Expo, I was surprised to see what appeared to be bags of soft licorice among the typical Hershey offerings, mostly of the chocolate variety. Much to my chagrin, however, everything was under lock and key and I had no idea what exactly these new licorice confections might be. When we finally met with the Hershey representative, she explained that they were launching a new line of soft eating licorice. Naturally, I immediately asked for samples but was disappointed to learn that they didn’t have any available at the show. I was promised a shipment as soon as they were available and went home hoping that day would come quickly.

Needless to say, I was overjoyed to receive a box containing a very nice box and a package of each flavor: black licorice, strawberry, and peach mango. Naturally, being a black licorice fan, I opted to try that one first.

As I started to rip open the bag, I noticed something that both shocked and surprised me… resealable bags! Oh my god! No more folding over the tops of opened bags only to pick them up the wrong way and have the contents dump all over the ground. No more stuffing myself to finish a bag just so they won’t get stale. It’s a revolutionary breakthrough! Ok, so it’s actually just the candy industry catching up to the pet food industry (do dogs really need to have zipper protected kibble?), but it was a beautiful thing nonetheless. Anyway, on to the tasting….

Read More »

Being the uber computer geek that I am, I can’t help but love these Ctrl-Alt-Delete candies, despite the fact that they are made with black licorice (YUCK). I’m sure Caitlin, our licorice expert would LOVE these. If they only made these in red “licorice” I’d definitely have to get some.

Unfortunately, they are all sold out right now and there is no indication of when/if they will be back in stock.

• Ctrl-Alt-Del licorice candy