Monthly Archives: September 2006

Massive Candy Giveaway Update

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Our Massive Candy Giveaway is still in progress – you can enter until October 1! We’ve had a bunch of entries, but your chances of winning are still pretty darn good! (hint – currently, your best odds of winning are in the “link contest”)

We’ve had a couple more companies jump on the bandwagon and offer us some more candy to give away:

  • Ford Gum sent us three more gumball machines so every winner will now get a gumball machine and we’ll give away the final gumball machine as another random prize to a lucky entrant
  • VerMints just sent us a bunch of mints so once the mints arrive I’ll divvy them up into the prize packs
Vermints

Candy Review: Trolli Sour Cherry Bombers

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Cherry Bombers are a new gummi candy from Trolli that I found at my local Walgreens for a mere $1.29. The package said “New,” so I had to have it. Like always, I opened them in the car and started to eat while I drove. They have a very fragrant cherry cough drop smell to them, but they are not mediciney tasting. The scent also has a tang to it that tickled my nose.

They look like a regular gummi cherry at first. It’s a little loose feeling in the middle because it has a secret stash of sugary liquid in there. There is no spelled out “goo in the middle” warning on the package, but the picture does have bomb with a couple of drops coming out of it (and the bag does say “We’re DA BOMB”).

I bit into one and was kind of surprised to get an extra juicy splash of liquid from the center of the cherry-shaped gummi. The sensation is kind of like those liquid-center gums of days gone by. The center is slightly tart and a little tangy in taste. Not overly so in either case, but it is VERY sweet.

The gummis themselves are a very soft style of gummi, like most Trolli Gummies. Overall, these are pretty good gummies. They are a little too sweet to finish the bag in one sitting, but it’s fun to share with unsuspecting friends and coworkers. They turn your tongue bright red!

candy, sweets, gummi, cherry, sour, tart, tangy, gummy, bomb, bomber, bombers

Retro Candy Flashback: Atomic Fireballs

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Atomic Fireballs … who can forget them? Red, round, and wrapped individually in cellophane or a bunch of mini ones in a little yellow box, and HOT! HOT! HOT! These were medieval torture devices when I was little.

When I was 6 years old, my 10 year-old brother offered me one of these deceptive red balls from his Halloween stash. I, innocently, let him place it on my tongue and started to suck on it. Sweet was the first sensation… followed by cinnamon and then the immediate BURN. I spat the devil ball across the room and gasped for air. My brother laughed and called me a wimp. That was one of many brotherly scars on my delicate young psyche.

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Candy Review: CocoaVia Chocolate Covered Almonds

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CocoaVia

All of us have probably read about the health benefits of eating both almonds and dark chocolate, and the marketers of CocoaVia Chocolate Covered Almonds take full advantage of our health concerns when promoting their product. I bought a box of five individually wrapped packages for around $5 at CVS. CocoaVia claims their candy is “formulated to help reduce bad cholesterol” and “promote healthy circulation.” I was most interested in the taste, and was relieved to find a candy that targets the health food crowd without using artificial sweeteners in place of sugar.

After the first bite, the chocolate covered almonds weren’t as sweet as I’d hoped, but I quickly got used to the slightly bitter taste and loved it. I ate two packs, but I could’ve done fine with one. The 1oz bags are surprisingly filling. All the nuts were whole and seemed of good quality, and they were generously coated in dark chocolate.

I’m not trying to delude myself into thinking a pack of CocoaVia should replace my morning oatmeal or afternoon carrots, but they seem to be a healthy alternative to traditional candy. Based on the chocolate covered almonds, I’m definitely willing to try CocoaVia Chocolate Bars and Snack Bars.

candy, sweets, chocolate, dark chocolate, candy reviews, almonds, health, CocoaVia, Mars

Candy Comparison: Sugar-free vs. Sugar-full Licorice Buttons

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Large Licorice Buttons

On my recent (working) vacation I took the opportunity to visit a few candy stores in Cape Cod and stock up on goodies for the foreseeable future. While I was browsing, I noticed that they offered nearly identical licorice buttons in both regular and sugar-free varieties. I thought this might be a good chance to compare the flavors and see how they stacked up against one another.

On first impression, I was drawn more towards the regular variety. They were smooth and appeared soft, while the sugar-free looked to be rather sticky and messy. Once I opened the bag, initial impressions proved to be accurate: both were soft, but the sugar-free was very sticky to the touch.

I tried the regular first, to establish a baseline. They were very good, with plenty of sweetness and a mild but noticeable licorice flavor. They were extremely soft, and for the most part didn’t get stuck in my teeth (a perpetual bane of mine). The sugar-free were up next, and the results were actually not what I expected. To be honest, they tasted almost exactly alike! The flavor was sweet, but not overly so, and the texture was soft. The only difference was that the sugar-free was ever so slightly more sticky, but still not to the point of being annoying.

Overall, if it ever came down to it and I had to live a sugar-free lifestyle (perish the thought!), I really wouldn’t mind it too much if other sugar-free candies were as comparable to their full sugar counterparts as these are. With new advances in artificial sweeteners, I would hazard to say that there are plenty of other sugar-free candies out there deserving of more attention.

candy, sweets, sugar, sugarfree, sugar-free, sugar free, licorice