Just in time for Halloween, the Twilight film franchise has released New Moon themed Halloween candies. The folks at the National Confectioners’ Association sent me three flavors to try.

Do you remember Sky Bars? For those of you who have never had the pleasure, a Sky Bar is a chocolate bar made of different sections, each of which contain a different filling. So in one chocolate bar, you got caramel, vanilla, peanut butter, and fudge fillings. Awesome.

Well this classic candy is getting a modern makeover. Instead of putting all the fillings in one bar, now some of the segments have their own, individually-wrapped candy bar with different Twilight New Moon characters on different flavors. I tried the Edward caramel and the Bella creme. Edward’s chocolate is etched with a family crest and says “Cullen.” Bella’s is shaped like a heart and says “Bella.” Both are good-sized chocolates.

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I’ve been on hiatus from the candy world ever since I relocated to Montana for graduate school. My days seem to be riddled with homework and the correcting of grammatical mistakes made by the students in the freshmen composition course that I teach. Have you ever tried reading 24 essays for split infinitives, misuse of appositives, and the lack of proper semicolon use? Let’s just say it makes for a very draining experience.

Luckily, the kind folks over at Bubble Chocolate knew just how to perk up my day by mailing me a sample of their chocolate. In what world is free chocolate not a good thing?

I had never heard of this company, which makes sense considering they are new and based on the East Coast. But I have heard of and consumed similar products. Aerated chocolate, the candy term for such a confection, is something I first discovered in New Zealand with Nestle’s Aero, but have seen in many forms since.

For those of you not familiar with aerated chocolate, my best equivalent is to compare crème fraiche to meringue: they are both similar in consistency and appearance, but the latter is much lighter. Bubble Chocolate comes in two varieties: milk and dark chocolate.

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I have a ton of candy left to review from the All Candy Expo, but I decided I needed a small break from upcoming candy to review some of the candy I already had that happens to have a short lifespan.

My good friend Greg was kind enough to pick up some candy for me from his recent expedition to Europe, which resulted in me receiving a box of Pierre Marcolini truffles. For those of you not familiar with Mr. Marcolini’s work, he is a Parisian chocolatier who travels the world in order to find the best ingredients and flavors for his chocolate.

The round, 15-piece box containing small, spherical truffles dusted in cocoa and set in what looks like a couture hatbox is valued at almost $50, so these are most likely out of your typical Candy Addict’s price range. I was super excited to try them knowing I would otherwise probably never taste such a thing.

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I remember that when I first lived in New Zealand I was always experiencing cultural differences that the native Kiwis failed to comprehend about American culture. I mean, they didn’t eat staples like peanut butter and questioned the point of ketchup.

But by far the one thing that drove my Kiwi friends bonkers was my love for cherry. I adore it – ice cream, candy, soda… you name it and cherry makes it better. For some unknown reason, cherry just wasn’t popular down there.

Well, it’s a good thing then that my friends didn’t attend the All Candy Expo and amble by the Gimbal’s Fine Candy booth. Gimbal’s is an interesting small candy manufacturer. They produce a variety of products from jelly beans to Lavaballs, with their factory being certified Kosher and gluten, nut, dairy, egg, soy, gelatin, and transfat free (not all of these products are vegan since some contain bee’s wax).

But of all their products, the one that blew me away the most was their Cherry Lovers. Cherry Lovers is a bag of heart-shaped chews consisting of nine different flavors of cherry. That’s right, nine! Think that’s impossible? See for yourself….

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I had the distinct pleasure of sampling Amella’s Artisan Cocoa Butter Caramels and OMG they are decadent and scrumptious. These caramels have an incredible texture – just a bit chewy and so creamy and buttery that they just melt in your mouth.

Passion Fruit: Out of the three flavors I tried, the passion fruit was my least favorite and it was still excellent. The caramels include real passion fruit, cocoa butter, and Tahitian vanilla and are hand dipped in milk chocolate. The passion fruit flavor is really strong and tangy – if you’re into passion fruit these will make you do the happy dance. Since I think passion fruit is just ok, I’d have preferred more caramel flavor. But even so, yum!

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