What excited me most at the All Candy Expo this year? No, it wasn’t anything from Mars or Hershey’s. Nope, not the weird new inhaled chocolate. As a matter of fact, what I liked most was this new candy from the folks who make that ice cream that’s a bunch of little balls. They’ve taken that product and dehydrated it, making freeze dried ice cream that tastes even yummier than the astronaut variety!

The creaminess is what immediately hits you with this candy. Unlike the regular freeze dried variety, there isn’t any chalky aftertaste. You won’t need to suck down water or milk while you’re eating it, but you still get a delicious ice cream-like feeling (minus the brain freeze, of course). I got to try Neapolitan, mint chip, and banana flavors, and all were good. I liked the Neapolitan the most, since it reminded me of my beloved astronaut ice cream, but the others were equally tasty.

Unfortunately, you can’t get this product yet. (sob) It’s brand new and they were at the Expo looking for manufacturers, distributors, etc., so until that happens you won’t get to try it and I’ll be forced to sit here longingly staring at the empty packets trying to force myself not to lick the interiors for one last crumb….

• Silly Ice Cream Website

One of the hardest things about dieting is denying yourself all the tasty treats that caused you to need to diet in the first place. The candy displays at the checkout line can be the downfall of a dieter who has only the best intentions. The Kit Kats and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups seem to call your name. “Buy me, eat me,” they say. It’s more than even the most dedicated dieter can resist.

The Hershey Company to the rescue! In 2006 and 2007, Hershey rolled out a new line of chocolate bars that have only 100 calories per pack. The slogan is “More Pleasure, Less Guilt.” Each variety in this 100 Calorie line puts a new spin on an old favorite. They come in a box with seven packs per box. Each pack contains two bars, for a total of 14 bars per box at a suggested retail price of $2.99. Each box should last about a week… or, uh, you know… two days….

I recently treated myself by buying four out of the five available varieties and now have on my desk a most scrumptious display of candy: one package each of Hershey’s 100 calorie Pretzel Bars, Crisp Wafer Bars, and York Peppermint Wafer Bars and two empty packages of Reese’s 100 Calorie Peanut Butter Wafer Bars. Yes, dear readers, I love being a Candy Addict!.

While eating several packs in one sitting completely defeats the purpose of buying 100 calorie candy, that is what I am about to do in the interest of sharing important flavor information with the rest of the Candy Addict world.

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New Improved Flavor! Companies everywhere seem to think that changing their products will increase sales. From the “new” Coke to putting purple horseshoes in Lucky Charms, big businesses love to change. And doesn’t it seem that the best tasting treats get changed the fastest?

In the late spring of 2008, the 117 year old Wrigley company – best known for its gum – was purchased for $23 billion by Mars, Incorporated. Mars is well known for making candy (such as M&Ms, Snickers, and Starburst) but also markets rice, coffee, and pet food.

Since acquiring Wrigley, Mars has made quite a few changes. Doing away with the traditional five-sticks-per-pack narrow rectangular package, they now offer Wrigley’s gum in a Slim Packâ„¢ – a larger rectangle that now contains 15 sticks. Anyone could live with the new package, but the new “improved” flavor? Well, let’s just say I wish I’d stocked up on gum prior to the Mars acquisition.

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I’ve been chewing Wrigley’s Spearmint gum forever, and Wrigley’s has been making spearmint-flavored gum forever – at least since 1893 anyway. When I picked up a pack a couple weeks ago and saw “NEW Improved Flavor!” emblazoned across the top, I was scarcely worried at all. After all, Wrigley’s wouldn’t dare change the sweet spearmint flavor that has brought them success for over 100 years. Maybe they’ve made it longer-lasting, I reasoned.

When I unwrapped my happy little stick of gum, I felt a shocking jolt – my delicious off-white gum had morphed into lime green! What? White was good enough for my great-great grandmother, why not for me? Fearless, I began to chew and at first things seemed the same as always. A sweet juice filled my mouth, mmmm.

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You know how there are some candies which remind you of certain types of people? Charms Blow Pops remind me of snarky teenage girls, Mentos reminds me of Europeans riding bikes, Werther’s Originals remind me of dirty old men, Tic Tacs of skinny people… you get the idea. For some reason Toblerone is one of those candies which I associate with two types of people: middle aged men and backpackers in Europe. The former because my Dad always ate Toblerone, and the latter because I can recall seeing many a backpacker in Europe carting around those enormous 10 pound size Toblerone bars to take home as a souvenir.

I should say up front that I actually love Toberlone bars – the quality of the chocolate is great, the nougat gives a lovely texture and the unique shape appeals to me. When I saw bars of Toblerone Fruit & Nut on sale, I was intrigued – mostly because I also think Fruit & Nut combos in chocolate are another thing only older men eat. Toblerone + dried fruit = candy bar for the geriatric market?

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