Brach’s is probably most well known for their caramels and candy corn, but they make a vast array of other products. Like Russell Stover and Palmer, Brach’s is a candy company that exists outside of the big three, but with a pretty ubiquitous presence in the market.

Because most Brach’s candy is sold as bulk mix-and-match penny candy or in discount packs, I never really bought them as a kid, thinking they were inherently inferior (I always bought the candy with the prettiest and/or shiniest wrappers). But after falling in love with their caramel apple candy corn, I viewed this facet of the candy industry with a refreshed perception and was ready to sample a variety of their products.

Their website lists 109 different types of candy they manufacture, so it was difficult choosing what to review. Because I was limited in my selections, I chose to forgo eating some of their better known products, such as their bridge mix, so that I could review a variety of products that differentiated themselves from the staple chocolate-covered raisin. All these were purchased at my local H.E.B.

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I have to confess that before reading Jamie’s review of Chunky, I had only eaten one in my entire life. Why? Well, I think Stewie Griffin from Family Guy said it best:

“Yeah, that’s what kids want in their candy. Fruit. Why don’t you put sunflower seeds in the Ding Dongs while you’re at it?”

But because of Jamie’s professed love for this underrated candy, I bought one shortly after her review. Now, kids might not like fruit in their candy, but as an adult (sorta), I found my tongue had grown accustomed to the flavor I had once disliked.

I wasn’t in love with Chunky, but felt the two of us had patched up a hole that had separated us for so many years. I also believed that would be the last of our meetings. Boy was I wrong.

This past weekend, I popped into the Dollar Tree store to purchase some GooGoo Clusters. To my surprise, stationed right next to them was the new Dark Chunky. I was caught off-guard since I hadn’t heard anything about this product’s release. Though I felt Chunky was O.K., I wondered if dark chocolate was the missing element in the equation.

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I was recently given the opportunity to try a box of Ococoa’s Butter Cup Collection. I thought I knew chocolate. I thought I knew what flavors go well with chocolate (peanut butter, mint, and Sunkist, to name a few). I thought I knew what to expect from a box of chocolates. Then came Ococoa.

I get a lot of mail and have been receiving two to three packages per week for the last few months. When a box arrived last week, I assumed it was a homeschooling product I was expecting and didn’t bother to look at the return address. I got a knife, sliced the tape on the box, opened the flaps, and said, “I smell chocolate….”

That is a very pleasant, very enticing way to open a package.

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There are many food associations for the month of October and Halloween. But personally, I can think of no other recipe that rings as true to this autumnal month than baked apples.

Apples themselves are an odd entity in the candy world, mainly lending themselves to either a sour apple flavoring or through the ever-popular candy apple. Aside from those formats, one rarely finds apple anywhere in the candy world.

So why am I talking about fruit when it is the antithesis of the holiest candy holiday of the year? Because you can’t just serve your guests candy at your Halloween party! Well… you could, but you shouldn’t. That is why instead of my typical candy bar for the month, I thought up a recipe that combines my favorite things about apples and gave them a candy makeover.

In the end, I decided I would combine my favorite elements to create a hybrid between a baked apple and a candy apple. The result is October’s candy recipe for what I call the Grand Apple, the perfect treat to serve any guest, whether they be a sugar-loving child or a nutrition-stubborn parent.

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When Candy Addict last went to the All Candy Expo, the writers came back raving about the Medlow fruit pectin jellies they sampled, and lamented how hard it was to source them locally. Of course I had to laugh – being the only Australia-based writer, I could get these all the time! It made a nice change from all the candies reviewed here that I can’t get my hands on.

I offered to send them some Medlow jellies, and began hunting around for them. They’re readily available, I’ve seen them in several stores here… but sadly, a search of a half dozen stores left me empty handed. Since then, I’ve been searching high and low and they are nowhere to be found. A recent shopping expedition to Sweet As netted me a box of interesting sounding fruit jellies. It was only once I had the box in hand that I realized I’d found the Holy Grail!

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