Monthly Archives: August 2007

Candy Review: Zours Original Fruitz

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Zours
Most sour candies aren’t nearly sour enough for me. I am one of those weird people who will quite happily eat a fresh lemon wedge without flinching. When I happened upon this bag of Zours, which shows two aliens suffering from a serious case of Sour Eye*, I had to give these a try!

The Zours come in four flavors – sour blue raspberry, sour green apple, sour tangerine, and sour watermelon. Without even opening the packet I knew I was going to love these little babies.

A product from the Just Born company (makers of other treasures such as Peeps and Hot Tamales), Zours take almost a week to produce and over 100,000 of them are produced every single day. With that much sour power in one factory and such a rich candy pedigree, these little jelly delights were bound to be good.

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Mood Swing Sweets: The PMS Support Bar

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PMS Support

In what might be the answer to every prayer ever muttered in a Cathy comic strip, Jamieson Laboratories recently unveiled the PMS Support bar, a chocolatear that the company claims can lessen the severity of PMS. For $19.99, the emotional buyer receives 15 small (think fun-sized) chocolate bars – a five day supply, as the company suggests chewing “one chocolate bar three times daily for up to five days or as directed by their health care practitioner.”

The 70-calorie bars are comprised of a chocolate-soy crisp mix and several herbal extracts, the medicinal properties of which have been proven to be effective in treating the major physical and mental symptoms of PMS – irritability, bloating, and depression.

Now, I’m all for candy bars, and I’m certainly not all for PMS, but I’m not sure that chewing fifteen candy bars in five days is really going to make me feel that much better, even if they do include the soothing herbal effects of white willow bark, artichoke leaf, and chasteberry. I’d rather not associate the awesomeness of candy bars with the one craptacular week of every month, thank you very much.

Still, there is solid proof of chocolate’s mood-enhancing properties, and I’m sure that some women will love the PMS Support concept. It may not be the candy bar for me, but it’s nice to know that the option is out there for other women.

chocolate, PMS, women

Candy Review: Ferrero Rocher

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Ferrero Rocher
The Ferrero Rocher is part of a long and varied history of the Ferrero company, started by Pietro Ferrero in 1946 in Alba, a small town in Italy. Dear old Pietro had no idea that his confectionery would end up being eaten by chocolate lovers all over the world, although if you believe the marketing blurb, that was his plan all along.

It was news to me that the Ferrero company is also behind such classics as Nutella spread, Tic Tacs and the Kinder chocolates! Really, that just makes me like them all the more. The Ferrero company is one of the largest confectionery companies in the world, and to this day remains a family business run by the Ferrero sons. Officially launched in 1982, Ferrero Rocher as a product is sold in over 100 countries around the globe – although it took until 1985 for Rocher to be distributed in the US.

A good look around the official Ferrero Rocher site brings up some fun facts – that the Ferrero company purchases approximately 25% of the world’s supply of hazelnuts, and that one weeks’ Rocher production would cover the area of 16 football fields.

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Retro Candy Flashback: Wacky Wafers

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wacky_wafers

I hate bananas, I can’t dance, and I have no idea how to unicycle, but I would gladly dance upon a unicycle across the country in a giant banana costume if it meant the return of my beloved Wacky Wafers.

Wacky Wafers were a delicious candy once manufactured by the Willy Wonka Candy Company, which is now owned by Nestle. Upon acquiring the company, Nestle decided to keep the Wonka staples: Nerds and Everlasting Gobstoppers were both spared. It was curtains for Wacky Wafers, however; a tragic event for Candy Addicts everywhere.

What made Wacky Wafers so great was their composition. They were a beautiful amalgamation of the best elements of other candies: the chalky wafer feel of a Necco, the sugary snap of SweetTarts, and the creative flavoring that is best represented in Wacky Wafers’ surviving sister candy, Bottle Caps.

Each Wacky Wafer had a distinct flavor: you didn’t eat a “yellow” wafer, you ate a banana one. Some argue that Giant Chewy SweetTarts are a decent replacement for Wacky Wafers, but I have to disagree. With a Wacky Wafer, I knew what I was tasting, unlike the “I think it’s cherry, no wait, it’s lime, no… it’s orange?” reaction that I often get from SweetTarts. As I mentioned earlier, I hate bananas, but for some reason, the banana Wacky Wafer was one of my very favorite candies. It had a lovely flavor: sweet but not overwhelmingly so, a bit like a giant banana Runt that had been crushed by a magical, wacky, delicious steamroller.

Perhaps this is all nostalgia: if Wacky Wafers had made it to 2007, would I still love them as much? It’s hard to say. But I’m willing to get on that unicycle to find out, if that’s what it takes. You hear me, Mr. Wonka? My costume is in the mail and I’ve got my dancin’ shoes on.

To see a great picture of various Wacky Wafer packages, take a look at this picture of three different Wacky Wafers packages taken by Dan Goodsell, the author of A Sampler Of Things.

Wonka, banana, discontinued

Candy Review: Black and Red Licorice Piglets

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Black and Red Licorice Piglets

My life continues to have meaning. Recently, I experienced the pain of realizing my subscription to the Licorice of the Month Club was about to run out. Luckily, the good folks over at Licorice International offered to enroll me in their Candy of the Month Club, which I gladly accepted.

This month, I got to try out Black and Red Licorice Piglets. They are identical in shape and size, but obviously differ in color and flavor. In terms of texture, they are both relatively firm, which makes the hard edges a little uncomfortable to eat.

The flavor of the black was nothing extraordinary. The licorice was very mild and slightly sweet, but the effort to chew the somewhat firm candy didn’t really make it worthwhile.

The red was very similar and reminded me a lot of Twizzlers. For the record, that isn’t a good thing. The flavor was that typical “red” with no identifiable fruit basis.

In general, I didn’t love these. With an overly firm, jagged texture, the effort to eat wasn’t rewarded by a fantastic flavor. I wouldn’t throw them into the ocean if I were stranded on a desert isle, but I also won’t be going out of my way to stock up, either.

red licorice, black licorice