Growing up in California, summer was always different from the rest of the country. For unknown reasons (at least to me), California schools let out in late June as opposed to May like everyone else in the country. As a result, summer vacation spans all the way until September (October even when I studied at U.C.L.A.).

What’s weird about this is that the rest of the country is back to their typical regimens while Californians have little to do. So how do Californians spend this month of September? They go to Hawaii!

All my friends were always going to Hawaii because it was still warm enough to enjoy, but the peak tourist season had already elapsed. Unfortunately, my parents had this thing about summer school and quality time with the family. As a result, I still have yet to find myself out on a beach in Maui.

But since I can’t afford to go to Hawaii at the moment, I decided I would bring the island to me. That translates to the candy bar of the month for September being what I call the Vacation Bar.

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For the longest time, my palate’s intelligence for toffee has resembled my career in high school geometry: I liked the class and got a B, but I was nowhere near as good in it as I was in English (chocolate) and Science (gummi). Toffee always seemed likable, but I never ate enough of the stuff to be an aficionado.

Toffee itself is a simple candy made by boiling sugar and mixing it with butter. Though most Americans identify toffee by the way it appears in Heath and Skor bars, it can take several forms. English toffee is a derivative that can be chewy, and honeycomb toffee is aerated, as found in Crunchie and Violet Crumble bars.

Toffee tends to be a flavor spread around by the British, resulting in it being more popular in Europe and its colonies rather than in the U.S. When I was living in New Zealand, I was exposed to a variety of toffees of all different textures and tastes, which were never readily available to me back in the States. This inundation of the sweet created my craving for toffee that still exists today.

When I was offered to write a piece on LalaBoodles’ Gourmet Toffee, I couldn’t turn down the offer. I had never sampled gourmet toffee, and the descriptions of what they produced were so enticing that I circled my mailbox for an entire week until they showed.

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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

When I met Chuao Chocolatier at the All Candy Expo, I knew I had found something special. I have already reviewed their Bonbons and signature ChocoPods, and now I am going to review their creative line of chocolate bars. Chuao’s bars really represent the theme of the company: unique, creative and delicious. The bars come in Caracas, Spicy Maya, Earl Grey and Chinita Nibs Bar flavors.

I was really excited to try these, especially since I am already so smitten with Chuao’s other delicious creations. These bars, like the rest of Chuao’s products, use Venezuelan El Rey chocolate as a base and then enhance its flavor by using fresh unique ingredients. All that aside though, what I was really curious about was tasting these to see if they were going to be bar sized versions of the solid ChocoPods: rich, creamy, and 100% addictive. When I opened the wrappers, just a whiff of their aromas told me a loud “yes!”

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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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