Gilliam Candy Company has been around since 1927 but it’s only been under the Quality Candy banner since 2003. Lucky for me Gilliam joined the Quality family because I got to try their Stick Candy.

I remember these hard candy sticks from when I was a kid. The tantalizing colors and stripes would glisten from the shelves and they all looked so luscious it was really hard to pick just one.

I’m afraid you may have the same problem with these sticks. I sat ogling my stick candy in gluttonous glee before I finally chose a few to sample. For those of you who don’t like trying to guess what flavor the stick will be, they’ve got the names of the flavors printed on the ends of the sticks. But if you want to go for the mystery and choose by color, just don’t read the wrapper!

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Get ready for a slew of Quality Candy Company goodness because I’m in possession of a treasure trove of quality goodness! First up: Choco-Crisps, a new release from Quality Candy.

I thought these were going to be some kind of chocolate wafer thingy, but I was surprised to discover they are nothing of the sort. These little guys are hard candies on the outside with chocolate in the middle. The “crisp” part comes in with the candy shell: it’s not as hard as it looks. Rather, it’s thin enough that you can easily bite through to get to the chocolate inside. I really enjoyed the texture of the candy shell. It’s not as thin as, say, an M&M shell, but it’s thin enough to make it fun rather than a lot of work. Plus, it doesn’t get all sharp and painful when you chomp it up – it just adds a crunch factor to the chocolate.

Speaking of the chocolate, that was a nice surprise too. It’s got this really creamy consistency that melts slowly so you can really savor it. The creaminess of the chocolate contrasts with the crunchiness of the candy shell so you get this mix of textures that’s dynamite.

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