I had the pleasure of reviewing some of Lollipop Labs unusual lollipops this weekend. Given that they have flavors like “Dirty Martini” and “Earl Grey,” I would recommend these lollies more for the discerning Candy Addict than for, say, your five year old.

A couple of general notes: these lollipops don’t have a lot of scent when you open them, but don’t let that fool you. As soon as you lick them you get plenty of flavor. I thought one of the coolest things about them was the way the flavor nuances change as you eat them. Sometimes you’ll get more of one herb than another as you go, while still enjoying the overall main flavor of the lollipop. Neat! Plus, I love that I recognize and can pronounce every ingredient on the labels.

One more thing: if you don’t see a flavor below that appeals to you, Lollipop Labs will custom design the flavor and shape of their lollipops to your specifications. How cool is that?

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Orbit Mist is a new line of gum from The Wrigley Company. It’s touted as a premium gum and contains little crystals – called Micro-Bursts – that the Orbit website says will “deliver a hydrating sensation to consumers.”

Now I can only assume that it means “to consumers who purchase and chew Orbit Mist.” When I first read the description, I had a vision of Orbit Mist boxes shooting “hydrating sensation beams” at random consumers in the grocery store. “Hello, ma’am, welcome to Food Land. How are you?”

“I’m good, tha-” (*Hydrating sensation beam fires.*) “Ohhh, I suddenly feel so… moistly healthy…”

Oh, ah-hem, I’m supposed to be writing a review. Sorry…

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It’s time for the final installment in our attempt to discover delicious diet-friendly candy. All in all, I’d say we’ve been pretty successful. We’ve discovered these three candies so far:

• Reese’s Peanut Butter Wafer Bar
• Hershey’s Crisp Wafer Bar (Awesomely Addictive!)
• Hershey’s Pretzel Bar

On the ballot today is the York Peppermint Wafer Bar. Will it be a flip or a flop? (I don’t know how ‘flip’ applies. That’s just what came out.) The York Peppermint Pattie is a classic combination of dark chocolate and soft peppermint. Can the 100 Calorie version compare to the classic taste? Let’s find out.

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As I strolled down the River Walk of San Antonio, I had some unexpected surprises. It began when I bumped into a teacher from my high school days, an oddity since we are both Californians. The second was a surprise of the tastier variety.

Popping into one of the candy shops along the river, I found a collection of Schooner Pete’s Salt Water Taffy. Like my former American Government teacher, this taffy was a rare find in Texas, much less San Antonio, since it’s manufactured in Oregon, and I don’t usually find stores that stock it outside that region.

Because it was around Christmas when this all occurred, I purchased a bag of the peppermint taffy. I figured I hadn’t gotten around to consuming all that much peppermint this time of year in my attempt to try out different types of candy canes.

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I have been a fan of Chuao for a while, but the shipping charge to get their product to the East Coast is fairly mind-boggling. Fortunately, I have a friend in Southern California who couldn’t think of anything else to buy me for Christmas.

You’ve read about Chuao here before, but these folks don’t rest on their laurels, and are always coming up with new fillings. The little flier that comes with the box of chocolate asserts that they are “unusual” and “unexpected,” and I am interested in pushing the boundaries of the usual bonbon fillings. I was afraid, though, that they’d gone a little too far with a couple of these. One of them turned out to actually be OK, but the other – well, I will leave that for the end, because a little suspense is a good thing, right?

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