InsaneJournal

Candy reviews
Australian


The Milo Energy Food bar was, I think, past its expiration. I'm really not sure what's going on with it. It says soft on top, crunchy on bottom, but offers no other hints. I know Milo is a type of chocolate milk, and the flavor of the chocolate is quite tasty. The top has a layer of something that might have been caramel or some sort of nougat, but was hard as a rock (not soft at all!), and the bulk of the bar was sort of crisy...maybe crisped rice? Despite being obviously expired, it was really, really good, and I had a hard time not eating it all, but I had to save some for Carla.

British


The Jaffa Bar smelled delicious when I took it out of the wrapping, but didn't taste nearly as good. I think this may have been a bit old, too. (Sadly this seems to be a problem with this particular import shop we got them from. It says the centre is orange-flavored fondant and I don't really know what the consistency is supposed to be like, but this was sort of hard and crumbly and I didn't like it all that much. The taste was okay, but disappointing, and this is coming from someone who absolutely loves orange and chocolate together. It was so sweet it burned my throat, though. Felt like chewing a mouthful of sugar.

Japanese


Matsuri no Hi-Chew (Festival Hi-Chew) comes in two flavors: cotton candy and candied apple. The packages are smaller than regular Hi-Chews, maybe 1/4 shorter. I was afraid they'd be the same price, but they were slightly cheaper. The cotton candy is white with golden chunks of caramelised sugar studded throughout. It just has a yummy, sweet caramelised sugar taste. Not quite what I remember cotton candy tasting like, but really, really good. The candied apple is pink with a white centre and tastes pretty much like a regular apple Hi-Chew, but there are tiny (smaller than the ones in the cotton candy one) crunchy candy bits which I assume are meant to simulate the candied apple coating. I don't believe I've ever actually eaten a candied apple in my life, though I did once have a caramel apple. These were both delicious and if I'll probably buy at least the cotton candy one again if I see it.


Durian Hi-Chew both intrigued and frightened me, but there was no way I couldn't buy it. It didn't smell like much of anything, which surprised me, because durian is known for it's rather overpowering scent. I tried a durian once and it didn't smell like much, either, though, which I think was probably because it wasn't very fresh. I couldn't have told you anymore what it tasted like, except that it wasn't unpleasant, but neither was it great, and I really didn't like the texture. The Hi-Chew version did taste familiar, though. It also tastes sort of like mango. It's not bad, and I'm sure I'll eat the rest of the package, but I definitely don't feel the need to buy them again.

Carla tried a piece and said, "Well, it's freaking horrible. Smells of banana, tastes of banana and onions. BLECH. Give me the real thing over this."

US


I'm a big fan of Snickers and have been wanting to try the Snickers Fudge ever since I saw it on Candy Blog. It says it has peanut butter nougat and fudge with peanuts. The nougat on the bottom tastes pretty similar to the usual Snickers nougat to me. I don't really get a peanut butter flavor from it. The fudge and peanut layer is really tasty, but I find myself missing the caramel of the original Snickers. These were 88 cents at Rite Aid and I don't think I'll be buying any more at that price, but if I find them 2 for $1 at the 99 Cent Store in a couple months I might pick up a few.


The Fast Break bar (or Fist of Death bar, as we call it in our house, though I don't remember why we started calling it that) has been around for a while, but I haven't had one in ages and when I spotted a king size bar at the 99 Cent Store, I thought I'd give it another go. It's not as good as I remembered, though I don't know if that's just because the proportions are different in the king size or what. It's got Reese's peanut butter, which is good, and a smaller amount of chewy nougat, which is not the same kind of nougat as Milky Way or Snickers, but similar. The main thing I noticed was that it was SUPER SALTY. I'm kind of wishing I'd just bought a regular size one. It's not bad or anything, but wow. Salty.


The Pop Rocks bar looks at first glance to be something with crisped rice or similar, but the little lumps are actually, of course, pop rocks. The chocolate pretty standard. I found it tasty enough, but the real fun is the pop rocks. So basically if you like pop rocks, and you like the idea of them being delivered to your mouth via chocolate, you'll like this bar. Otherwise there's no reason to bother with it. I love it, though. XD


I noticed the Cherry Mountain by Brown & Haley at Rite Aid the other day on my way out and made a note to try it next time I was there. I love these sort of chocolate & cherry things, even though they're really horribly fake cherry-y. (Probably mocklatey, too, considering it says "a mountain of chocolate flavor".) Anyway, the next time I was at Rite Aid, I picked one up along with a Christopher's Big Cherry, in order to do a comparison.

The Cherry Mountain is slightly smaller and a lot flatter. It's mostly thick chocolate (mockolate) studded with peanut chunks, with a flowing cherry centre that's about the consistency of a Cadbury Creme Egg. It was okay, but not something I ever need to buy again, and definitely not the best of these sort of things I've ever had.

The Big Cherry is taller, probably because it has, as promised on the cover, a whole (maraschino) cherry in the middle. I like maraschino cherries, so that was pretty tasty. It seemed to have a lot more peanuts, and the cherry filling was a different consistency and much brighter pink, though actually had much less cherry flavoring than the Big Mountain (I guess most of the cherry-ness of this comes from the actual cherry).

Honestly, neither were as good as the ones I found in the midwest (I think they were King Bings or something) and I doubt I'll buy either of these again. (I feel a little sick from eating them both together, too. Gah.)


The Cinnabon Cinnamon Cream Pecan Cluster is surprisingly tasty. It smells like a cinnamon roll when you open the package and that's pretty much what it tastes like. The centre is some sort of pressed cinnamon confection then that's topped with pecan bits and coated in white chocolate. I'm not that big a fan of either white chocolate or cinnamon, and I don't really like nuts in my candy, but this all worked really well together. I would definitely consider buying another of these if the 99 Cent Store still has them.


Sugar Mamas are part of the Sugar Daddy & Sugar Babies line. I'd heard of them before this (from a review on Candy Blog), but never seen them. I got a bag of them in the Halloween aisle at the 99 Cent Store the other day and it's mostly gone. XD Sugar Daddies are big, flat caramels on a stick, and Sugar Babies are jellybean-sized caramels. These are in between, as you'd expect from something called Sugar Mamas. They're pretty soft and melt in your mouth easily, not grainy like Sugar Babies or as hard as I remember Sugar Daddies being (Sugar Daddies could stick your jaw shut). The pieces tend to have lots of voids and are not very attractive, but they have a good caramel taste and are just generally yummy. :D


I love Mike & Ikes, so I couldn't resist trying these "lemonade blends". The flavors are regular lemonade, lime lemonade, strawberry lemonade, tangerine lemonade, and raspberry lemonade. They're basically just sours, though not made with sour sugar, so they don't cut up your mouth like Sour Patch Kids and stuff do. I really liked all the flavors.


I almost didn't buy the Ghost Dots because I've kind of figured Dots really aren't For Me. But I couldn't resist. (And they were only 88 cents for the big box...) Opening them up, they have a strong sweet almond smell. They're supposed to be assorted flavors (the same pale blue-green color, but the flavors are a mystery), but they all taste vaguely of almonds and I'm sure that's not any of the flavors they're actually supposed to be. Anyway, I love almond-flavored stuff, so I actually ended up liking these quite a lot.


Recently we went to an arts fair at Virginia Park and one booth had homemade candy by p.o.p. candy. I got the Chai Tea Granola Pecan Butter Crunch Bar and some Pistachio Butter Crunch, both of which were delicious. (And thankfully came in smaller sizes than on the website. I think they were about $3 each.) I like brittle a lot, and I love granola, so that was really a perfect combination. (I didn't taste any tea, thankfully, as I'm not a tea fan.) The pistachio brittle was also delicious. Pistachios are really strong, so it definitely made for a different experience than peanut or almond brittle, which don't tend to have a really strong nutty flavor, IME. Alexander tried the Rosemary Almond Butter Crunch, which would have been my third choice (I love rosemary), had I had some extra cash.