Remember the giddy excitement that welled up inside the pit of your stomach when, upon completing a marathon Trick-or-Treating run, it was finally time to dump the contents of your bloated pillowcase all over the floor?

Amid random carpet crumbs and tufts of dog fur, the next crucial step would then be to sort, categorize, and ultimately pawn off all candy rejects upon easily swayed siblings and casual acquaintances who failed to grasp the unspoken yet inarguable confection hierarchy that still exists to this very day.

In my post-Halloween candy sorting circle, anyone with a shred of sugar sense knew that scoring willing Good & Plenty adoptees was an exercise in sheer futility.

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Decade after decade, household brands like Wonder Bread and Velveeta consistently satisfy the comfort food cravings of middle America, but when a sugar craving strikes, most know that one particular product line offers a semi-elitist fix without breaking the bank — Jelly Belly.

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A powerful mint with a pleasant taste can be difficult to find. Too much “minty-ness” will leave a mouth burning – a sensation I seldom welcome in general. Particularly, I have this problem with peppermint mints. I like the peppermint, but it’s almost too much of a good thing. I also don’t like Big Red gum or Atomic Fireballs for this same reason. It’s like there’s no middle ground with mints. You either get super-minty-burn or a lackluster, vague mint flavor. Psshh, I don’t want that! I’m not particularly fond of mints in general because I can’t find that happy balance. Or so I thought.

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I grew up near the East coast and made my fair share of trips to the beach as a youngster. One of my favorite spots was a local and popular restaurant, the Sanitary Fish Market. What could possibly make a kid actually request to go to a seafood restaurant? Salt water taffy can. Oh, the joy of sticky, sweet goodness. Sure, we were able to watch taffy being made at the State Fair, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the taffy from Sanitary Fish Market. That was the best taffy my 14 year-old self had ever had.

I grew out of taffy as an adult… or so I had thought.

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Get ready for a slew of Quality Candy Company goodness because I’m in possession of a treasure trove of quality goodness! First up: Choco-Crisps, a new release from Quality Candy.

I thought these were going to be some kind of chocolate wafer thingy, but I was surprised to discover they are nothing of the sort. These little guys are hard candies on the outside with chocolate in the middle. The “crisp” part comes in with the candy shell: it’s not as hard as it looks. Rather, it’s thin enough that you can easily bite through to get to the chocolate inside. I really enjoyed the texture of the candy shell. It’s not as thin as, say, an M&M shell, but it’s thin enough to make it fun rather than a lot of work. Plus, it doesn’t get all sharp and painful when you chomp it up – it just adds a crunch factor to the chocolate.

Speaking of the chocolate, that was a nice surprise too. It’s got this really creamy consistency that melts slowly so you can really savor it. The creaminess of the chocolate contrasts with the crunchiness of the candy shell so you get this mix of textures that’s dynamite.

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