Category Archives: Candy For Kids

Candy Review: Mallow Fries

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Mallow Fries

One of my favorite meals is a plain old hamburger and fries. So when I saw that the Giant Size Mallow Burger was reviewed, I had to go out and try the Mallow Fries. Because what’s a marshmallow burger without any marshmallow fries, right?

At first look, I like the way they are packaged in a typical fry container. Surprisingly, they even look like fast food french fries – wrinkly ones that have been sitting out for a while that we all seem to have the misfortune of getting in our drive-thru bag.

The fry container holds about ten nice-sized marshmallow fries. It also comes with a packet of sour strawberry candy gel that’s supposed to look like – yep, you guessed it – a packet of ketchup.

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Retro Candy Flashback: The Little Debbie Nutty Bar

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Nutty Bar

(Image from hades at Flickr)

Is there anything to rival the innocent sweetness of a Little Debbie treat? From the extreme simplicity of their classic goodies to their chemist-friendly ingredient lists to the cute little girl whose portrait adorns every box, the brand embodies pure, sugary nostalgia. Ever since the 1960s, when the CEOs of McKee foods decided to name a line of snack cakes after their granddaughter, this line has brightened many a day.

Crossing paths with Debbie at the supermarket or gas station always brings a smile to my face. These chance encounters bring to mind lunchtimes in preschool and kindergarten, during which Debbie and I became acquainted. Those years were simpler for us all, and whether or not we could expect to find something so tasty in the day’s lunchbox seemed an important issue. Too often, the presence or absence of a Swiss Cake Roll would determine my mood for the afternoon.

Yet for whatever reason, my relationship with Little Debbie has become less intimate in recent years. We see each other, sure, but we don’t touch, or (most importantly) taste. I feel at times that the freckled, curly-haired youth and I have grown estranged. So it came as a pleasant surprise one recent evening when my boyfriend arrived carrying an armful of Little Debbie’s beloved Nutty Bars.

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Japanese Candy Review: Neri Ame

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Neri Ame

I’m a sucker for traditional Japanese food and art. But when it comes to traditional Japanese entertainments, my reaction is often “I guess this is what happens when people don’t have TV.”

Neri-Ame is clearly a combination of food and amusement. And who doesn’t like to play with their food? So despite my skepticism about what the traditional Japanese apparently found entertaining (Kabuki theater, I am looking at you) I had to know what this was about.

Neri-Ame is a little vial of colored stuff packed with a small pair of wooden chopsticks, and according to our friends at J-list, the deal is that you pour the syrup on the chopsticks and “knead in order to create a fluffy-like texture before you consume.” Your first question is no doubt, how do you get a syrup to stay on a chopstick? This turns out to be not too hard, as this stuff is about as thick as it can get and still be sort of a liquid.

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Candy Review: Gummy Lightning Bugs

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Gummy Lightning Bugs

I have to say, I’m a sucker for a cool looking package. So when I saw these Lightning Bugs gummy candies, I knew I had to try them. I mean, how cool would it be to say I’ve eaten a lightning bug? Nobody has to know they’re gummy and not the real thing.

When I first ripped open this package, I immediately scattered everything out onto the table. The first thing I noticed were these purple tongs that came with the candy, and the batteries were already included, which was a plus. There’s nothing worse than opening something up, only to find that you have to run to the store to get batteries for the thing.

After that I saw about fifteen gummy candies in two different colors; red and yellow. Those were apparently the two flavors: strawberry and lemon. Of course I dug right in and immediately picked one up with the tongs. I squeezed the tongs and sure enough, the gummy lit up.

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Candy Review: Dollarama Marshmallow Treats Santa

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Marshmallow Treats Santa

We may be in the midst of a recession, but that doesn’t mean you have to abandon the pursuit of true Candy Addictedness. Welcome to Part 2 of It Came From The Dollar Store: The Cheapo Holiday Candy Special. In Part 1, we reviewed the surprisingly not-terrible Whipped Creme Santa. This second item also features the jolly old elf in candy form – this time in real marshmallow rather than gooey marshmallow creme.

The Marshmallow Treats Santa (no brand name other than “Imported by Dollarama”) is made of that dense, industrial-grade marshmallow that’s also used in those life-sized marshmallow hamburgers you used to see all over the place. It has a generic, but not unpleasant, fruity smell, reminding me of the Leftovers Gummies I reviewed at Halloween. (Seeing as those were kind of terrible, that might not be a good sign.)

Marshmallow Santa’s actually a really good-looking guy – his facial features are well-formed, not blobby, with very good color separation. With his red nose and black eyes, he bears a striking resemblance to the Santa from the old stop-motion Rudolph special. A coating of sugar adds an attractive sparkly effect.

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