We all have our guilty secrets when it comes to candy. Some of us will eat it, even it has fallen to the floor. Some of us will show no hesitation in “sampling†from an opened candy bag in a drugstore aisle. For me, I will eat candy that has long since been removed from the market.
I know, I know… but I can’t help it! With so many limited edition candy products out there, it isn’t always easy to find them all when they’re in season. This past weekend when I was browsing at the Dollar Store, I came across a cornucopia of limited edition candy that had escaped my tasting.
One such product was Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate: Raspberry Flavored with Macadamia pieces. I scoured Los Angeles when I moved back to the United States a year ago to try these, but they never presented themselves in the California area. You can imagine my joy to see these after all this time in Texas of all places.
The bar itself is shaped like a traditional Hershey’s bar with little, rectangular pieces etched in the chocolate mold. The coloration is a lighter brown than most Hershey’s chocolate is, especially for dark chocolate, but I attribute this to the fact that the bar had spent a good deal of time on the shelf.
The candy itself retains a faint smell of raspberry. From the underside, the macadamia nut pieces resemble the distribution and appearance of Hershey’s with Almonds bars, but smaller.
The chocolate tastes aged and greasy, but isn’t horrendous (it reminded me of some of the popular mockolate brands out there). The raspberry flavor and macadamia is pretty minimal. I could detect traces of it, but neither was readily apparently as a complement to the dark chocolate.
The snap is too easy, signifying that indeed this bar has outlived its best consumed by date. As for texture, I can readily identify various grainy elements and chunks within the chocolate, but it wasn’t pleasant by any means.
It’s not fair to knowingly judge a candy bar if its expired, just as you would never eat at a restaurant that used obviously spoiled food. I knew what I was getting into when I bought this bar, and did so more for the sake of saying that I tried it, adding yet another candy to my list of candy I have consumed. Could these things have tasted better when they were fresh? Probably. I can’t give you an affirmative answer without being impartial. I enjoyed the experience more than the candy, and that was what I cared about.
dark chocolate with macadamia nuts is heaven. i can do without the raspberry though.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:20 pm